then by a
mighty effort she controlled herself, and answered in a broken voice:

"I-- I made a solemn pledge to your mother, the day I left your house,
that I would never cross your path again, that I-- I should do my best
to avoid you and steal quietly away out of your life. I-- I signed the
paper and left it in your mother's hands. That, and that alone,
satisfied her. Then I went away out of your life, though it almost broke
my heart to do so. I-- I have kept my promise to her. I meant to go away
and to never look upon your face, even though I knew that Heaven had
answered my prayer and given me your love--which I prize more than life
itself--when everything else in this world was taken from me."

As Varrick listened, a terrible whiteness had overspread his face.

"Answer me this, Jessie," he asked; in the greatest agitation: "Why did
you sign the other paper which you left with my mother that day? Answer
me, Jessie--you must!"

"I signed no other paper than that which contained the promise I have
just spoken to you about," the girl returned earnestly, puzzled as to
what he could mean.

For answer, he drew forth the note which he had taken from his mother's
writing-desk and placed in his breast pocket, and put it in Jessie's
hand.

"This note has been written by my mother," he said, "and this is your
signature, which I would know anywhere in the world, my darling," he
went on, huskily. "Oh, my love, my love! explain it to me!"

She had taken the paper from his hands, and run her eyes rapidly over
the written words. They seemed to stand out in letters of fire. Her
brain whirled around; her very senses seemed leaving her.

"Oh, Hubert! Hubert! listen to me!" she cried, forgetful of her
surroundings, as she flung herself on her knees at his feet. "This is
not the paper I signed, although the signature is so startlingly like my
own that I am bewildered. I signed a paper which said that I would never
cross your path again; but not this one--oh, not this one! I-- I never
saw this paper before. Oh, Hubert-- Mr. Varrick-- I plead with you not
to believe that I could ever have signed a paper acknowledging that I
took your mother's diamond bracelet! I have never taken anything which
did not belong to me in all my life. I would have died first--starved on
the street!"

Words can not describe what the thoughts were that coursed through
Hubert Varrick's brain as he slowly raised her.

"Tell me, Jessie," he cried, "did