lessness the transition was
overpowering, and the miserable wife and mother rescued upon the
extreme verge of utter lifelong ruin, fell forward upon her knees,
sobbing and laughing alternately.

From the hour when she learned of her husband's second marriage she
had ceased to pray, abandoning herself completely to the cynicism and
vindictiveness that overflowed her soul like a wave of Phlegethon;
but now the fountain of gratitude was unsealed, and she poured out a
vehement, passionate, thanksgiving to God. Alternately praying,
weeping, smiling, she knelt there, now and then re-reading portions
of the letters, to assure herself that it was not a mere blessed
dream, and at length when the strain relaxed, she dropped her head on
a chair, and like a spent feeble child, cried heartily,
unrestrainedly.

Mr. Palma wrote that after years of fruitless effort he had succeeded
in obtaining from Peleg Peterson a full retraction of the charges
made against her name, whereby General Laurance had prevented a suit
against his son. Peterson had made an affidavit of certain facts,
which nobly exonerated her from the heinous imputations with which
she was threatened, should she attempt legal redress for her wrongs,
and which proved that the defence upon which General Laurance relied,
was the result of perjury and bribery.

In addition to the recantation of Peterson, Mr. Palma communicated
the joyful intelligence that Gerbert Audre, who was believed to have
been lost off the Labrador coast fifteen years before, had been
discovered in Washington, where he was occupying a clerical desk in
one of the departments; and that he had furnished conclusive
testimony as a witness of the marriage, and a friend of Cuthbert
Laurance.

The lawyer had carefully gathered all the necessary links of
evidence, and was prepared to bring suit against Cuthbert Laurance
for desertion and bigamy; assuring the long-suffering wife that her
name and life would be nobly vindicated.

Within his letter was one addressed to Mrs. Orme by Peleg Peterson,
and a portion of the scrawl was heavily underlined.

"For all that I have revealed to Mr. Palma and solemnly sworn to, for
this clearing of your reputation, you may thank your child. But for
her, I should never have declared the truth--would have gone down to
the grave, leaving a blot upon you; for my conscience is too dead to
trouble me, and I hate you, Minnie! Hate you for the wreck you helped
to make of me. But