ts, which had once
been bright and stylish. Her appearance, apart from her dress, was far
from attractive; her lean face had dull red blotches upon it, her eyes
looked wild and shining, and her gray hair straggled out from her tawdry
bonnet. It scarcely needed the evidence of a strong smell of spirits to
prove that she had been taking drink.

Penny instinctively shrank back from the threshold, but still held the
door in her hand. The woman made no attempt to enter. Fixing her too
bright eyes upon Penny's face with a scrutinizing glance, she said in a
raucous whisper:

"I was told that Sergeant Spence was likely to be here; but it seems I've
come to the wrong rooms."

Penny was silent for a moment, dreading she knew not what.

"Sergeant Spence may be here any moment," she answered, rousing herself.
She was praying that he might come quickly.

"Oh, indeed! So he may be here any moment," said the woman in louder
tones. "I suppose my fine fellow is courting you now," she went on,
staring boldly into Penny's frightened face. "Well, I've no fault to
find with his taste. He used to have an eye for a pretty face, and
you're a good-looking girl, though you're but a little one."

"What do you want with Sergeant Spence?" asked Penny, as her courage
began to return. Why should she fear this coarse, black-eyed woman. She
could have nothing in common with Arthur. But why should she seek him
thus openly in his own dwelling? Her fears began to return.

The strange visitor advanced across the threshold; Penny retreated before
her. The color deepened in her already florid face as the woman cried
fiercely:

"What do I want with him? I mean to force him to take me back to my
rightful place, that's what I want with him!"

Her voice, raised angrily, awoke the child, who gave a shrill cry of
fright. The woman stared at the cot in astonishment. Penny stooped and
lifted the little one, and faced the stranger once more as she pressed
the child to her bosom.

"Is that your baby?" the woman almost whispered, as she caught the gleam
of Penny's wedding ring. Then she cried wrathfully:

"What! Has he dared to marry you? Oh, the treacherous villain! Surely
you're not Arthur Spence's wife!"

In spite of the fear that fell upon her, Penny grew at once strangely
calm. This must be some disreputable relative of her husband's--though
she had thought him alone in the world. He was an orphan. This could
not be Arthur's m