Judge St. Claire asked:

'Is that all?'

'Yes,' Marian said; 'All except Mr. Tracy's letters to Gretchen. Oh,
no,' she added; 'there is something more;' and feeling in the bag, she
drew out two small papers, one crumpled and worn, as if it had been
often referred to, the other folded neatly and tied with a white ribbon.

This Marian opened first, and found it to be a certificate, written in
English, to the effect that Mrs. Arthur Tracy, _nee_ Marguerite
Heinrich, died at such a date and was buried by the Rev. Mr. Bellows,
the resident rector of the English church; the other was in Arthur's
handwriting, and the directions he had written to his wife, as to what
she was to do and how to find Tracy Park.

'Yes,' Judge St. Claire said, coming forward and taking the paper from
her hand, 'this is what the station-master saw the poor woman examining
that night in the storm. She probably dropped it into the bag without
stopping to fold it. There can be no doubt.'

Then a deep silence reigned for a moment in the room, until Mrs. Tracy,
who, all through the reading had stood like a block of granite by the
window, turned and walking swiftly up to Jerrie, said, in a bitter tone:

'Of course there is no mistake. I do not doubt that you are mistress
here, and am ready to leave at once. Shall we pack up and quit
to-night?'

'Dolly!' 'Mother!' came angrily and sternly from both Tom and Frank, and
'Oh, mamma, please,' came faintly from Maude, while Jerrie lifted up her
head, and looking steadily at the cruel woman, said:

'Why are you so hard with me? I cannot help it. I am not to blame. I
mean to do right; only wait--a little. I am so sick now--so dizzy and
blind. Oh, somebody lead me out where I can breathe. I am choking here.'

It was Tom who reached her first, and passing his arm around her, took
her into the open air and to a seat under the tree where once before she
had almost fainted, as she did now, with her head upon his shoulder, for
he put it there, and then pushed her hair back from her face as he said
lightly:

'Don't take it so hard; if we can stand it, you can!'

Then Jerrie straightened up and said:

'Oh, Tom, do you want to kill me now?'

'What do you mean?' he asked, and she replied:

'Don't you know you said under the pines that you would kill any
claimant to Tracy Park who might appear against you?'

'I remember it,' Tom said, 'but I didn't think then that the claimant
would be Jerrie, my cousin,' a