the public, and with the intention of fastening
more securely the chain that bound her to the villain who had so
wronged her.

"Oh, it is a plot worthy to be placed on record with the intrigues of
the Court of France during the reign of Louis the Thirteenth and
Richelieu!" Edith exclaimed. "But in this instance they have mistaken
the character of their victim," she continued, throwing back her proud
little head with an air of defiance, "for I will never yield to them;
I will never acknowledge, by word or act, the tie which they claim
binds me to him, and I will leave no effort untried to break it.
Heavens! what a daring, what an atrocious wrong it was!" she
exclaimed, with a shudder of repugnance; "and I am afraid that, aside
from my own statements, I cannot bring one single fact to prove a
charge of fraud against either of them."

She fell into a painful reverie, mechanically folding the paper as she
sat rocking slowly back and forth trying to think of some way of
escape from her unhappy situation.

But, at last, knowing that it was about time for Mrs. Weld to have her
dinner, she arose to go down to join her.

As she did so the paper slipped from her hands to the floor.

She stooped to pick it up when an item headed, in large letters
"Personal" caught her eye.

Without imagining that it could have any special interest for her, she
glanced in an aimless way over it.

Suddenly every nerve was electrified.

"What is this?" she exclaimed, and read the paragraph again.

The following was the import of it:

"If Miss Allandale, who disappeared so suddenly from New
York, on the 13th of last December, will call upon or send
her address to Bryant & Co., Attorneys, No. ---- Broadway,
she will learn of something greatly to her advantage in a
financial way."

"How very strange! What can it mean?" murmured the astonished girl,
the rich color mounting to her brow as she realized that Royal Bryant
must have inserted this "personal" in the paper in the hope that it
would meet her eye.

"Who in the world is there to feel interested in me or my financial
condition?" she continued, with a look of perplexity.

At first it occurred to her that Mr. Bryant might have taken this way
to ascertain where she was from personal motives; but she soon
discarded this thought, telling herself that he would never be guilty
of practicing deception in any way to gain his ends. If he had simply
desired her address he