rtain what the trouble was. No; the more I
dwell upon it, the more I am convinced that what he has done was a scheme
to secure my property, and then leave me to my fate. I can think of no
other object that he could have had."

Alas! Virgie realized long after how she had wronged a noble man with
these dreadful suspicions, and even while she was giving utterance to
them, her heart was heavy with a sense of injustice done the man whom,
even then, she loved most fondly.

Mr. Knight shook his head in a doubtful manner at her last words, and yet
he looked perplexed.

"You think I am too hard," Virgie continued, bitterly "but does not even
the provision which he made for me before leaving New York look as if he
did not intend to return to me?"

"You refer to the five thousand dollars which he deposited for you; it was
a very generous amount, truly."

Of course I could not begin to use such a sum in the few weeks that he
pretended he should be away; while the additional five hundred dollars
which he sent me through his sister goes to prove that he had no intention
of ever coming back to me, yet did not wish me to suffer for lack of
means."

"I do not like the aspect of that transaction at all," responded Mr.
Knight, emphatically. "It looks to me as if his sister had had more to do
with the matter than rightly belonged to her. Who knows but what she may
have been opposed to her brother's marriage and has been at the bottom of
all the trouble?" he concluded, reasoning with a shrewdness which he did
not realize.

But Virgie could not be convinced.

"I do not believe that," she said, with a sigh; "it looks to me as if he
was ashamed--conscience-smitten--and did not have the moral courage to
communicate with me himself."

Yet, even as she said it, she knew that such a course was utterly at
variance with his character, as she had known it.

"Well, Mrs. Alexander--or Mrs. Heath, I suppose I ought to call you--I
will not say more to dissuade you from your purpose; but let me advise
you, as a sincere friend, to go to England and ascertain for yourself just
how matters are, before you proceed any further."

Virgie started to her feet, with crimson cheeks and flashing eyes.

"Go to England!--to Heathdale! to find another woman queening it there in
<i>my</i> place!--to be brow-beaten and insulted by that proud family!--to be
disowned by the man who has already wronged me beyond all forgiveness!
Never, sir!"

"You could at