d--she is the cousin--she has no wish
to deprive you of him. But is it possible that you are attached to a
man who has treated you so meanly?" asked Dodger, in surprise.

"There was a time when he treated me well, when he appeared to love
me," was the murmured reply. "I cannot forget that he is the father of
my child."

Dodger did not understand the nature of women or the mysteries of the
female heart, and he evidently thought this poor woman very foolish to
cling with such pertinacity to a man like Curtis Waring.

"Do you mind telling me how you came to marry him?" he asked.

"It was over four years ago that I met him in this city," was the
reply. "I am a San Francisco girl. I had never been out of California.
I was considered pretty then," she added, with a remnant of pride,
"faded as I am to-day."

Looking closely in her face, Dodger was ready to believe this.

Grief and privation had changed her appearance, but it had not
altogether effaced the bloom and beauty of youth.

"At any rate, he seemed to think so. He was living at the Palace
Hotel, and I made his acquaintance at a small social gathering at the
house of my uncle. I am an orphan, and was perhaps the more ready to
marry on that account."

"Did Mr. Waring represent himself as wealthy?"

"He said he had expectations from a wealthy relative, but did not
mention where he lived."

"He told the truth, then."

"We married, securing apartments on Kearney Street. We lived together
till my child was born, and for three months afterward. Then Mr.
Waring claimed to be called away from San Francisco on business. He
said he might be absent six weeks. He left me a hundred dollars, and
urged me to be careful of it, as he was short of money, and needed
considerable for the expenses of the journey. He left me, and I have
never seen or heard from him since."

"Did he tell you where he was going, Mrs. Waring?"

"No; he said he would be obliged to visit several places--among
others, Colorado, where he claimed to have some mining property. He
told me that he hoped to bring back considerable money."

"Do you think he meant to stay away altogether?"

"I don't know what to think. Well, I lived on patiently, for I had
perfect confidence in my husband. I made the money last me ten weeks
instead of six, but then I found myself penniless."

"Did you receive any letters in that time?"

"No, and it was that that worried me. When at last the money gave out,
I began to