id not dream he could do anything so wrong; but
doubtless he will settle down now, and I shall expect to see him a member
of Parliament; he has everything in his favor."

"Who is--Margie?" Virgie asked, in the same tone as before, though she had
shivered at the last words of Mrs. Farnum; they were bitterly cruel.

"Why, Margaret Stanhope--one of the loveliest girls in Hampshire County.
She and Will have been engaged for years. You remember that Lady Linton
spoke of their always having been 'pleased with the prospect of the
match.'"

"Oh!" gasped Virgie, clasping her hands over her aching heart, and for a
moment everything seemed to fade from her vision, and a great darkness to
envelop her.

Mrs. Farnum thought she was going to faint; but the weakness passed, and
then she arose in all the majesty of her terrible agony and righteous
indignation.

"Madam," she began, standing straight and proud before the astonished
woman, "If what you have told me is true; if Sir William Heath has been
engaged to Margaret Stanhope for years; if he has pretended to marry her
since his return to England, then the greatest wrong that ever was
perpetrated has been done, and he has made a dupe of her and--broken my
heart. As sure as there is a just God, I am Sir William Heath's lawful
wife, and He will vindicate me. My child is his daughter, and the heiress
of Heathdale, and Margaret Stanhope has been shamefully betrayed. I shall
never allow such a crime to prevail. I shall sail for Liverpool on the
very next steamer, to expose this villainy and to assert my legal rights
and my daughter's claim to her position as a Heath of Heathdale. She, at
least, shall not suffer dishonor, if the lives of two women have been
ruined by the villainy of one man. Did he suppose, because England is
three thousand miles from America, that he could perpetrate this wrong
with impunity? I tell you it shall never be! I will face him in the home
of his <i>unimpeachable ancestors,</i> and see if he dares to repudiate his
lawful wife!"

Chapter XVI.

"My Child Is the Heiress of Heathdale!"

Mrs. Farnum looked frightened at Virgie's startling threat, and she
realized at once that she had underrated the character of the woman with
whom she had to deal.

She saw that she was capable of great decision and prompt action; that
beneath her gracious sweetness, and gentle, winning manner, there lay a
reserve force and strength upon which she had not reckoned