have paused before speaking thus of
herself; why she should have shot that quick, flashing glance into her
husband's face as she did so.

She was a very handsome woman of perhaps forty-two or forty-three
years. She was slightly above the medium height, with a magnificently
proportioned figure. Her hair was coal-black, with a tendency to curl;
her eyes were of the same color, very large and brilliant, and
rendered peculiarly expressive by the long raven lashes which shaded
them. Her complexion was a pale olive, clear and smooth as satin; her
features were somewhat irregular, but singularly pleasing when she was
animated; her cheeks slightly tinted, her lips a vivid scarlet, her
teeth white as alabaster.

Later, when Edith saw her arrayed for an evening reception, she
thought her the most brilliantly handsome woman she had ever seen.

As Mrs. Goddard finished speaking, Edith involuntarily glanced up at
Mr. Gerald Goddard, when she was startled to find him sharply
scrutinizing her, with a look which seemed to be trying to read her
through and through.

His glance sent a strange chill running through her veins--a sensation
almost of fear and repulsion; and she found herself hoping that she
would not be obliged to see very much of the gentleman, even though
she was destined to become an inmate of his home.

He was evidently somewhat older than his wife, for his hair was almost
white and his face somewhat lined--whether from time, care, or
dissipation, Edith could not quite determine.

He would have been called and was regarded by the society in which he
moved as a remarkably handsome and distinguished looking man, who
entertained "like a prince," and possessed an exhaustless fund of wit
and knowledge.

Nevertheless, Edith was repelled by him, and felt that he was not a
man to be either trusted or loved, even though she had not been an
hour in his presence before she was made to realize that his wife
adored him.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE VENOM OF JEALOUSY.

And thus Edith became companion to the wife of the wealthy and
aristocratic Gerald Goddard, who was known as one of Boston's
millionaires.

They had a beautiful home on Commonwealth avenue, where they spent
their winters, a fine estate in Wyoming, besides a villa at Newport,
all of which were fitted up with an elegance which bespoke an
abundance of means. And so Edith was restored to a life of luxury akin
to that to which she had always been accustomed,