joy
sweeping into her soul she dropped her bright head upon his breast and
yielded to his embrace.

"And will you be my wife?"

"Oh, if it is possible--if I can be," she faltered. "Are you sure that
I am not already bound?"

"Leave all that to me--do not fret, even for one second, over it," her
lover tenderly returned. Then he added, more lightly: "I am so sure,
sweetheart, that to-morrow I shall bring you a letter which will
proclaim to all whom it may concern, that henceforth you belong to
me."

He lifted her face when he ceased speaking, and pressed his first
caress upon her lips.

A little later he inquired:

"And have you no clue to the name of your parents?"

"No; all the clue that I have is simply the name of 'Belle' that was
signed to the letters of which I have told you," Edith replied, with a
regretful sigh.

"It is perhaps just as well, dear, after all," said her lover,
cheerfully; "if you knew more, and should ever chance to meet the man
who so wronged your mother, it might cause you a great deal of
unhappiness."

"I have not a regret on his account," said Edith, bitterly; "but I
would like to know something about my mother's early history and her
friends. I have only sympathy and love in my heart for her, in spite
of the fact that she erred greatly in leaving her home as she did,
and, worse than all, in taking her own life."

"Poor little woman!" said Royal Bryant, with gentle sympathy; "despair
must have turned her brain--she was more sinned against than sinning.
But girls do not realize what a terrible mistake they are making when
they allow men to persuade them to elope, leave their homes and best
friends, and submit to a secret marriage. No man of honor would ever
make such proposals to any woman--no man is worthy of any pure girl's
love who will ask such a sacrifice on her part; and, in nine cases out
of ten, I believe nothing but misery results from such a step."

"As in the case of poor Giulia Fiorini," remarked Edith, sadly. "But
maybe she will be somewhat comforted when she discovers that she is
Emil Correlli's legal wife."

"I fear that such knowledge will be but small satisfaction to her,"
her companion responded, "for if she should take measures to compel
him to recognize the tie, he would doubtless rebel against the
decision of the court; and, if she still loves him as you have
represented, he would make her very wretched. However, he can be
forced to make generous settlements