he girl
intently the while.

"I could almost swear that I am getting the tremens again, or that my
eyes deceive me," he muttered. "If ever I saw Gerelda Northrup in the
flesh, that is she!"

He stopped short, and touched her on the shoulder, his eyes almost
bulging from their sockets.

"Miss Northrup-- I-- I mean Mrs. Varrick--is this you? In the name of
Heaven, speak to me!"

She looked at him, her great dark eyes studying his face with a troubled
expression.

"Varrick!" she muttered below her breath. "Where have I heard that name
before? And your face too! Where have I seen it? It recalls something
out of my past life," she muttered.

With a low cry he bent forward.

"Then it _is_ you, Gerelda-- Mrs. Varrick?"

Rosamond Lee, whose face had grown from red to white, sprung excitedly
to her feet.

"What mystery is this?" she cried. "What do you mean by calling this
girl Mrs. Varrick? There is a friend of mine--a Mr. Hubert Varrick--who
is soon to be married to a Jessie Bain. You haven't the two mixed, have
you, sir?"

Frazier turned impatiently to her.

"I have seen the announcement of Hubert Varrick's marriage to Jessie
Bain," he returned, his face darkening. "But the question is: how dare
he attempt to marry another girl while he has a wife living. I do not
know who you may be, madame," facing Rosamond impatiently. "You say that
you know Hubert Varrick well, yet you do not appear conversant with his
history. He married this young girl sitting beside you, who was then
Miss Gerelda Northrup. On their wedding journey the steamer 'St.
Lawrence' was lost, and she was supposed by all her friends to have
perished in the frightful accident."

While he had been speaking, Gerelda--for it was indeed she--had been
watching him intently.

As he proceeded with his story, a great tremor shook her frame.

With a low cry she sprung to her feet.

"Oh, I remember-- I remember _all_ now!" shrieked Gerelda. "I-- I was on
the train with Hubert whom I had just married. Then we went on the
steamer. We had a quarrel, and he told me that he did not love me, even
though he had wedded me, and I-- Oh, the words drove me mad! There was a
great rumbling of the boiler, a crashing of timbers, and I felt myself
plunged in the water. But my head--it pains so terribly! I scarcely felt
the chill of the water. The next I remember I was lying in a cottage,
with a young girl bending over me. My God! it was Jessie Bain, my enemy.
I remem