glance at the elder lady.

"Certainly; and, strange to say, we were speaking of you almost at the
moment that your card was brought to us," she returned. "Edith has had
an important communication handed her to-day, which I thought you
ought to have, since you are her attorney, without any unnecessary
delay."

"Oh! it is most wonderful, Roy! This is it," said the young girl,
producing it from her pocket. "But first I must tell you that in Mrs.
Stewart I have discovered mamma's old friend--the writer of those
letters of which I told you. She did not die in Rome, as was feared."

"Can that be possible?" exclaimed Mr. Bryant.

"Yes, dear. It is a long story, and I cannot stop to tell it all now,"
Edith went on, eagerly, "but I must explain that she has discovered an
important document that proves what makes me the happiest girl in New
York to-day. We met at Mrs. Wallace's this afternoon, where some one
addressed me as Miss Allandale, when she instantly knew that I must be
her child. Isn't it all too wonderful to seem true?"

After chatting a little longer over the wonderful revelations, he
suddenly remembered the "important communication" which Mrs. Stewart
had mentioned.

"What was the matter of business which you felt needed early
consideration?" he inquired.

Instantly Edith's lovely face was suffused with blushes, and Mrs.
Stewart, thinking it would be wise to leave the lovers alone during
the forthcoming explanations, excused herself and quietly slipped into
an adjoining room.

Edith immediately went to the young man's side and gave her letter to
him.

"Roy, this is even more wonderful than what I have already told you,"
she gravely remarked. "Read it; it will explain itself better than any
words of mine can do."

He drew the contents from the envelope, and began at once to read the
following confession:

"For the sake of performing one right act in my life, I wish
to make the following statement, namely: I hereby declare
that the marriage of my brother, Emil Correlli, to Miss
Edith Allen, who, for several weeks, has acted as my
companion, was not a legal ceremony, inasmuch as it was
accomplished solely by fraud and treachery. Miss Allen was
tricked into it by being overpersuaded to personate a
supposed character in a play, entitled 'The Masked Bridal.'
The play was written and acted before a large audience for
the sole purpose of deceiving Miss Allen an