nd at
the words, 'I am Jerrie Tracy,' she felt an electric thrill pass over
her, like what she had experienced when watching the acting in some
great tragedy; then all was darkness, and she knew no more until Jerrie
was bending over her and she heard her mother saying:

'Leave her to me, Miss Crawford. You have done harm enough for one day.
You have killed my daughter!'

'No!' Maude cried, exerting all her strength. 'She has not hurt me. She
must not go, I want her; for if what she said is true, she is my own
cousin. Oh, Jerrie, I am so glad!' and throwing her arms around Jerrie's
neck, Maude sobbed convulsively.

As yet Maude saw only the good which had come to her, if the news were
true; the evil had not yet been presented to her, and she clung tightly
to Jerrie, who, nearly distraught herself, did not know what to do. She
knew that Mrs. Tracy looked upon her as an intruder, and possibly a
liar; but she cared little for that lady's opinion. She only thought of
Frank and what he would say.

Lifting up her head at last from the pillow where she had lain it for a
moment, while Maude's thin little hands caressed the golden hair, she
saw him standing at the foot of the bed, taller, straighter than she had
seen him in years, with a look on his face which she knew was not
adverse to herself.

'Jerrie,' he said, slowly and thickly, for something choked his speech,
'I can't tell you now all I feel, only I am glad for you and Arthur, but
gladder for myself.'

What did he mean? Jerrie wondered; while Maude's eyes sought his
questioningly, and his wife said, sharply:

'You are talking like a lunatic! Do you propose to give up so easily to
a girl's bare word! Let Jerrie prove it, before she is mistress here.'

Then into Maude's eyes there crept a look of terror and pain, and she
whispered:

'Yes, Jerrie, prove it. There were papers in your hand, and a bag, and
you said, "It is so written here." Bring the papers and read them to
us--here in this room. I can bear it. I must hear them. I must know.'
'Better let her have her way,' Frank said; and Dolly could have knocked
him down, he spoke so cheerfully; while Jerrie answered:

'I can't read them myself aloud. They are written in German.'

'But Marian can. I saw her there. Let them all come up; they will have
to know,' Maude persisted.

After a moment, during which a powerful tonic had been given to his
daughter, Frank went down to his guests, who were eagerly discussin