stead, I will send away this hateful girl who is
trying to thwart all my hopes and plans for Olive and Ela!"

She saw by the pallor of his face and the flash of his eyes that she had
gone too far, and her heart sank as he said, haughtily:

"Take care that you do not transcend your authority, madame, in thus
threatening to send away the future fair mistress of my home! Yes, I
will trifle with you no longer. You shall hear the truth, and govern
yourself accordingly. Dainty Chase is my promised bride, and we will be
married on the first of August, my happy birthday!"

She could have killed him for the pride and joy that rang in his voice,
as he towered above her, proclaiming the truth. An insane rage rose
within her, as she hissed:

"It is as I feared and suspected. The sly minx has made a fool of you,
and you will be insane enough to marry her; but she does not love you.
She only angled for you because you are rich! She had a lover in
Richmond, poor like herself, whom she threw over as soon as she found
she had a chance to win you. Already he has followed her here, and they
have had two secret meetings in the grounds at twilight. Even the
servants are gossiping about it."

His eyes blazed, his face grew ashen, and his teeth clinched, as he
stormed in bitter wrath:

"It is a hellish falsehood!"

"Do you say so? Then here are the proofs--the notes she lost, that were
picked up by a servant, and brought to me. Read them, and be convinced!"
she cried, in coarse triumph.

His eyes flashed on her like sheet lightning, as he clinched them in his
hand.

"Read them!" she repeated, sharply; and she shrank back in bitter
humiliation, as he thundered:

"Do you forget I am an Ellsworth--a descendant of that grand old race
whose motto is: 'Honor before everything'?"

"Well?" she cried, cringingly.

"Do you think that an Ellsworth--a born Ellsworth, I mean, not one by
the accident of marriage, like you--could stoop to the meanness of
invading another person's private correspondence? It is the act of a
hound, not a gentleman! No; I will not read these papers; but I will
restore them to their owner, and she shall explain or not, as she will,
the foul aspersion you have cast upon her honor in declaring she has
another lover. I trust in her as I do in Heaven!" and he rushed
violently from the room in search of Dainty.

CHAPTER IX.

"ALL THAT'S BRIGHT MUST FADE."

"I believe my faith in thee
Strong as my