ick instinct assured her that words of comfort were of no
avail in this first moment of bitter awakening. She knew that it were
better to say all that she deemed it her duty to say, now, while her
hearer was passive; and stepping nearer the couch, she said:

"Dr. Vaughan, who saw you in the company of a man so well known to him
that to see a young girl in his society he knew could mean no good,
came to me this morning with a brief account of your meeting of last
night. He is too good a physiognomist not to have discovered, readily,
that you were not such a woman as could receive no contamination from
such as Lucian Davlin. He feared for you, believing you to be another
victim of his treachery. Your coming to this hotel assured him that
you were safe for the time, at least; and this being a subject so
delicate that he, a stranger, feared to approach you with it, he
desired me to come to you, and, in case his fears were well founded,
to save you if I could. My poor, poor child! you have cast yourself
upon the protection of a professional gambler; a man whose name has
been associated for years with that of a notorious and handsome
adventuress. If he has any fear or regard for anything, it is for her;
and your very life would be worth little could she know you as her
rival. Judge if such a man can have intentions that are honorable,
where a young, lovely and unsophisticated girl like yourself is
concerned."

She paused here, but Madeline never stirred.

"Come with me," continued Olive, drawing a step nearer the motionless
girl; "accept me as your protector, for the present, at least. Believe
me, I know what you are suffering now, and near at hand you will find
that which will aid you to forget this man."

Madeline slowly raised herself to a sitting posture and turned towards
the speaker a face colorless as if dead, but with never a trace of a
tear. Her eyes were unnaturally bright, and her lips were compressed,
as if she had made, and was strong to keep, some dark resolve.

"What is it that I am to find?" she said, in a low, intense tone.

"A girl, young as you, and once as beautiful," replied Olive, sadly,
"who is dying of a broken heart, and her destroyer is Lucian Davlin."

Madeline gazed at her absently for a moment. "I suppose I had ought to
hate you," she said, wearily; "you have made my life very black.
Lucian Davlin will soon be here,--will you please go?"

"Surely you are going with me?" said Olive, in amaz