t before last, in the presence of many, many people," she
said, in a hoarse, passionate whisper. "Do you think you can deceive
me? Do you dare to lie to me?"

"I have no wish to deceive you. I would not knowingly utter a
falsehood to any one," Edith gravely returned. "I know, of course, to
what you refer; but"--throwing back her head with a defiant air--"I
will never answer to the name by which you have called me!"

"Ha! say you so! And why?" eagerly exclaimed her companion, regarding
her curiously. "Can you deny that you went to the altar with Emil
Correlli?" she continued, excitedly. "That a clergyman read the
marriage service over you?--that you were afterward introduced to many
people as his wife?--and that you are now living under the same roof
with him, surrounded by all this luxury"--sweeping her eyes around the
room--"for which he has paid?"

"No, I cannot deny it!" said Edith, with a weary sigh. "All that you
have read in that paper really happened; but--"

"Aha! Well, but what?" interposed the woman, with a malicious sneer
that instantly aroused all Edith's spirit.

"Pardon me," she said, drawing herself proudly erect and speaking with
offended dignity, "but I cannot understand what right you, an utter
stranger to me, have to intrude upon me thus. Who are you, madam, and
why have you forced yourself here to question me in such a dictatorial
manner?"

"Ha! ha! ha!" The mirthless laugh was scarcely audible, but it was
replete with a bitterness that made Edith shiver with a nameless
horror. "Who am I, indeed? Let me assure you that I am one who would
never take the stand that you have just taken; who would never refuse
to be known as the wife of Emil Correlli, or to be called by his name
if I could but have the right to such a position. Look at me!" she
commanded, tearing the veil from her face. "We have met before."

Edith beheld her, and was amazed, for it needed but a glance to show
her that she was the girl who had accosted Emil Correlli on the street
that afternoon when he had overtaken and walked home with her after
the singular accident and encounter with Mrs. Stewart.

"Aha! and so you know me," the girl went on--for she could not have
been a day older than Edith herself, Although there were lines of care
and suffering upon her brilliant face--seeking the look of recognition
in her eyes; "you remember how I confronted him that day when he was
walking with you."

"Yes, I remember; but--"

"But