. On
his head was a red velvet smoking-cap.

"They have brought something to show you, Clement," she went on, as
slowly as if counting her words--"something that you have missed for
many years."

She opened the box and flashed the earrings before his eyes. He started
up, and in a voice of anguish he cried, "The star buttons!"

"He recognizes! he remembers!" cried Vera.

"Remember?" he exclaimed--"remember what? A ship ploughing the Gulf--"
He stopped, pressed his hands madly to his forehead. "Down, down, demon
pain!" Then the words came pouring out like a torrent: "Light breaks
through the night. A ship crosses the Gulf: a woman begs me, for the
sake of her I love, to go with her--to save her father. He is in prison,
he has murdered a man, but he is old: she loves him--she kneels to me. I
promised to help him escape: I did my best. I said Florine could wait.
I left my trunk in an old man's counting-room. We laid our plans, but we
failed in all. The father was shot like a dog; I was captured; I was
sent up the country for trial. Months in prison: free at last to fly to
Florine, to find my bride. Now, now, now, it comes to me. I was too
late: Florine had been murdered by the Indians!"

He flung his arms above his head and fell to the floor. We were in a
state of the wildest excitement.

"Oh, he is saved! I am sure of it!" cried Vera. "Go now, dear young
ladies: he must not see you when he comes to himself. Ze carriage is
waiting. I will see you again."

"But we leave New Orleans to-morrow," said Lilly.

"I will write to you. You are my friends for life."

Lilly hastily scribbled an address on a card. "Here is my address," she
said: "you will surely write?"

"Yes, yes! Heaven bless you!" She seized Lilly's hand and kissed it.
"You shall hear from me: you shall find that Vera Gardine is not
ungrateful."

She hurried us out, closing the door behind us. The way was clear: we
ran lightly through the halls, hardly daring to breathe until we were
safely out of the house and in the carriage.

"Drive to the Catholic cathedral," said Lilly. The carriage-door was
shut, and then we could give vent to our emotions. Lilly was half wild:
she laughed and cried together. "Do you think he will get well?" she
said: "_do_ you think so?"

"How can I tell, Lilly? The buttons seemed to give him enough of a
shock."

"Wasn't it wonderful? Oh, Stella, what a romance! It is all perfectly
clear to me now."

"It's far from being