he first person who received one was
Rosamond Lee.

Her amazement and rage knew no bounds. She had never heard from Jessie
Bain since the hour she was sent out in that terrible storm. Nor had she
ever seen Hubert Varrick since, nor heard from him. Somehow it had run
in her mind that he might have met the girl, and she had told him all
that had happened; and she decided that, under existing circumstances,
she had better remain away from the wedding.

"There is no use in my remaining in this house, with this fussy old man
and woman," she said flinging down the invitation, which she had been
reading aloud to her maid. "I only came to this lonely place with the
hope of winning handsome Hubert Varrick, and I have fooled away my time
here all in vain, it seems. We had better get away at once."

Despite the protestations of old Mr. and Mrs. Bassett, Rosamond Lee and
her maid left the house that very day.

The servants of the place were indeed glad to get rid of them; and as
they were being driven away in the Bassett carriage, the maid, looking
back by chance, saw every one of them standing at an upper window,
making wild grimaces at them, which Rosamond Lee's maid venomously
returned, saying to herself that she should never see them again.

Rosamond Lee's home was in New York City, and it was not until she got
on the train bound for the metropolis that she gave full vent to her
feelings and railed bitterly against the unkindness of fate in giving a
grand man like Hubert Varrick to such a little nobody as that miserable,
white-faced Jessie Bain.

"I hope she will never be happy with him!" she added, in a burst of
bitterness.

When they reached the city, they drove directly to the boarding-house
where they were accustomed to stop. As strange fate would have it, it
was the very boarding-house beneath whose roof Jessie Bain and Margaret
had found shelter when Jessie had come to New York in search of work.
The landlady was very glad to welcome back Miss Rosamond Lee and her
maid.

"You came back quite unexpectedly, Miss Lee," said the landlady. "We can
get your room ready, however, without delay. There is a young girl in
the little hall bedroom that your maid has always had. Still, as she
doesn't pay anything, she can be moved. By the way, I want you to take
notice of her when you see her. She's as pretty as a picture but she's
not quite right in her head.

"She was brought here by a young girl who took pity on her, and