hom her
untamed soul worshiped as only such a fierce and selfish nature could
worship a human being.

But she made no sign or sound to betray her presence, for she was
curious to hear the remainder of this strange story--to learn how her
beautiful rival had risen from disgrace and obscurity to her present
prosperity and enviable position in society.

"Of course," Mrs. Stewart resumed, "Mr. and Miss Livermore were both
thrown into a state of great excitement at such an unexpected
manifestation; but my words told them that there was some sad and
mysterious story connected with my life and the rash deed I had
committed, and they resolved to still surround me with their care and
protection until I should recover--if that were possible--instead of
committing me to a hospital, as many would have done.

"They bound both the clergyman and the undertaker to the strictest
secrecy; then I was immediately conveyed to Miss Livermore's own room,
where that noble girl cared for me as tenderly as a mother would nurse
her own child. For weeks I hovered between life and death, then slowly
began to mend. When I was able, I related to my kind friends the story
of my wrongs, to receive only gentle sympathy and encouragement,
instead of coldness and censure, such as the world usually metes out
to girls who err as I had erred. As I grew stronger, and realized that
I was to live, my mother-heart began to long for its child. Miss
Livermore agreed with me that it would be better for me to have her,
and went herself to make inquiries regarding her. But the nurse had
moved and none of her neighbors could give any information about her,
except that for a time she had charge of an infant, but after its
parents had come to claim it, she had moved away, and no one could
tell whither she had gone.

"From this I knew that my old friend, Edith Allendale, had responded
nobly to my appeal--that she had taken my child and adopted it as her
own. At first I was inclined to be disappointed, and contemplated
writing to Edith, telling her what had happened and ask her to
surrender the little one to me; but after thinking the matter over
more at length, I reasoned that it would be best to let everything
rest just as it was. I knew that my darling would be tenderly reared
in her new home; she would grow up to a happy womanhood without ever
knowing of the blight that rested upon her birth, or that her father
had been a villain, her mother a wronged and ruined