room, and then went out to give his orders for the embalming of the
body.

* * * * *

In the little room she called her own, Marian Hazelton sat, her
beautiful hair disordered, and her eyes dim with the tears she had shed.
She knew that Wilford was dead, for Morris had told her so, and as if
his dying had brought back all her olden love, she wept bitterly for the
man who had so darkened her life. She did not know that at the last he
knew she was so near. She had not expected to see him with Katy present;
but now that it was over, she might go to him. There could be no harm in
that. No one but Morris would know who she was, she thought, and she was
making up her mind to go, when there came a timid knock upon the door,
and Katy entered, her face very pale, her manner very calm, as she came
to Marian, and kneeling down beside her, laid her head in her lap with
the air of a weary child who has sought its mother for rest.

"Poor little Katy!" Marian said, caressing her golden hair. "Your
husband, they tell me, is dead."

"Yes," and Katy lifted up her head, and fixing her eves earnestly upon
Marian, continued: "Wilford is dead, but before he died he left a
message for Genevra Lambert. Will she hear it now?"

With a sudden start, Marian sprang to her feet, and holding Katy from
her, demanded: "Who told you of Genevra Lambert, and when?"

"Wilford told me months ago, showing me her picture, which I readily
recognized," was Katy's answer, and a flush of fear and shame came to
Marian's cheek as she continued:

"Did he tell you all? And do you hate me as a vile, polluted creature?"

"Hate you, Marian? No. I have pitied you so much, knowing you were
innocent. Wilford told me all, but he thought you were dead," Katy said,
flinching a little before Marian's burning gaze, which fascinated even,
while it startled her.

It is not often two women meet bearing to each other the relations
these two bore, and it is not strange that both felt constrained and
embarrassed as they stood looking at each other. As Marian's was the
stronger nature, so she was the first to rally, and with the tears
swimming in her eyes she drew Katy closely to her, and said:

"Now that he is gone I am glad you know it. Mine has been a sad, sad
life, but God has helped me bear it. You say he believed me dead. Some
time I will tell you how that came about; but now, his message--he left
one, you say?"

Carefully Katy repeate