circumstances. She flushed with painful embarrassment, however, when a
servant came in to wait upon them, and gave her a stare of undisguised
astonishment, which plainly told her that he thought her place was in
the dining-room with the family.

She understood by it that all the servants knew what had occurred the
previous night, and believed her to be the wife of Emil Correlli.

But nothing else occurred to mar the meal, and when it was finished
Edith started to go up to her room again.

She went up the back way, hoping thus to avoid meeting any member of
the family.

She reached the landing upon the second floor and was about to mount
another flight when there came a swift step over the front stairs,
and, before she could escape, Emil Correlli came into view.

Another instant and he was by her side.

"Edith!" he exclaimed, astonished to see her there, "where have you
been?"

"Down to my dinner," she quietly replied, but confronting him with
undaunted bearing.

"Down to your dinner?" he repeated, flushing hotly, a look of keen
annoyance sweeping over his face. "If you were able to leave your room
at all, your place was in the dining-room, with the family, and," he
added, sternly, "I do not wish any gossip among the servants regarding
my--wife."

It was Edith's turn to flush now, at that obnoxious term.

"You will please spare me all allusion to that mockery," she bitterly,
but haughtily, retorted.

"It was no mockery--it was a _bona fide_ marriage," he returned. "You
are my lawful wife, and I wish you, henceforth, to occupy your proper
position as such."

"I am not your wife. I shall never acknowledge, by word or act, any
such relationship toward you," she calmly, but decidedly, responded.

"Oh, yes you will."

"Never!"

"But you have already done so, and there are hundreds of people who
can prove it," he answered, hotly, but with an air of triumph.

"It will be a comparatively easy matter to make public a true
statement of the case," said the girl, looking him straight in the
eyes.

"You will not dare set idle tongues gossiping by repudiating our
union!" exclaimed the young man, fiercely.

"I should dare anything that would set me free from you," was the
dauntless response.

Her companion gnashed his teeth with rage.

"You would find very few who would believe your statements," he said;
"for, besides the fact that hundreds witnessed the ceremony last
night, the papers have published full a