ed, told her that her mistress was engaged just at present,
but, if madam would walk into the reception-room and wait a while, she
had no doubt that Mrs. Stewart would soon be at liberty. "Would madam
be kind enough to give her a card to take in?"

Mrs. Goddard pretended to look for her card-case, first in one pocket
of her wrap, then in another.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, "I must have left my cards at home! How
unfortunate! But it does not matter," she added, with one of her
brilliant smiles; "I am an old acquaintance, and you can simply
announce me when I am admitted."

The girl bowed and went away, leaving the visitor by herself in the
pretty reception-room, for she had been told not to disturb her
mistress until she should ring for her.

Mrs. Goddard looked curiously around her, and was impressed with the
elegance of everything in the apartment.

Exquisite paintings and engravings graced the delicately tinted walls;
choice statuettes, bric-a-brac, and old-world curios of every
description, which she knew must have cost a small fortune even in the
countries where they were produced, were artistically arranged about
the room.

There was also an air of refinement and rare taste in the draperies,
carpets, and blending of color, which proclaimed the occupant of the
place to be above the average lady in point of culture and
appreciation of all that was beautiful.

Impressed with all this, and looking back to her meeting with Mrs.
Stewart, on the evening of the ball at Wyoming--remembering her beauty
and grace, and the elegance of her costume, madam's heart sank within
her, and she seemed to age with every passing moment.

"Oh, to think of it!--to think of it, after all these years! I will
not believe it!" she murmured, with white, trembling lips, as she
arose and nervously paced the room.

Presently the sound of muffled voices in a room beyond attracted her
attention.

She started and bent her ear to listen.

She could catch no word that was spoken, although she could
distinguish now a man's and then a woman's tones.

With stealthy movements she glided into the next room, which was even
more luxuriously furnished than the one she had left, when she
observed that the portieres, draping an arch leading into still
another apartment, were closely drawn.

And now, although she could not hear what was being said, she suddenly
recognized, with a pang of agony that made her gasp for breath, the
voice of her husband i