a beautifully furnished
sleeping apartment, upholstered in white and gold of the costliest
description, and flooded by a radiance of brilliant light from a grand
chandelier overhead.

But it was not the magnificent hangings, or the long mirrors, in their
heavy gilt frames, that caught and held the girl's startled gaze.

It was a full-length portrait hanging over the marble mantle, and it
startled her so that she uttered a low cry, and clasped her little hands
together as children do when uttering a prayer.

Her reverie lasted only for a moment. Then she drifted back to the
present. She was in this strange house as a companion, and the first
thing she came across was the portrait, as natural as life itself,
of--Jay Gardiner!

A mad desire came over her to kneel before the picture and--die!

CHAPTER XLIV.

Bernardine did not have much time to study the portrait, for all of a
sudden she heard footsteps in the corridor without, and in another
moment Mrs. King, the housekeeper, had crossed the threshold, and
approached her excitedly.

"I feared you would be apt to make this mistake," she said,
breathlessly. "Your room is in the opposite direction, Miss Moore."

Bernardine was about to turn away with a few words of apology, but the
housekeeper laid a detaining hand on her arm.

"Do not say that you found your way into this apartment, Miss Moore,"
she said, "or it might cause me considerable trouble. This is the only
room in the house that is opened but once a year, and only then to air
it.

"This is young master's room," went on the housekeeper, confidentially,
"and when he left home, after quite a bitter scene with his mother, the
key was turned in the lock, and we were all forbidden to open it. That
is young master's portrait, and an excellent likeness it is of him, too.

"The whole house was recently thrown into consternation by a letter
being received from him, saying that he was about to bring home his
bride. His mother and sister took his marriage very much to heart. The
bride is beautiful, we hear; but, as is quite natural, I suppose his
mother thinks a queen on her throne would have been none too good for
her handsome son.

"My lady has had very little to say since learning that he would be here
on the 20th--that is to-morrow night; and his sister, Miss Margaret, is
equally as silent.

"I think it will be better to give you another room than the one I had
at first intended," said Mrs. King. "