I
only grieve, dear, that I cannot give you back your husband in his honor
and integrity as you once regarded him," added this loving and confiding
wife, to whom no misery seemed so great as that caused by the default
and desertion of a husband.

"Oh, do not name him to me!" burst forth in pain from the lips of Rosa
Blondelle; "oh, I hope, as long as I may live in this world, never to be
wounded by the sound of his base name, or blasted with the sight of his
false face again."

Sybil Berners shrank in dismay from the excited woman, who continued,
vehemently:

"Do you wonder at this? I tell you, madam, it is possible for love to
die a sudden and violent death, for mine has done so within the last
three days."

"I am deeply grieved to hear you say so, for it proves how much you must
have suffered--how much more than even I had imagined. But try to take a
little comfort. I and my own dear husband will be your friends, will be
a sister and a brother to you," said Sybil earnestly, with all the
impulsive, unlimited generosity of her youth and her race, awakened by
her sympathy with the sorrows of this young stranger.

"Oh, madam, you--" began Rosa, but her voice broke down in sobs.

"Take comfort," continued Sybil, laying her little brown hand on that
fair golden head, "take comfort. Think, you have not lost all. You have
your child left."

"Ah, my child!" cried Rosa, in a tone like a shriek of anguish, "my
child, my wronged and ruined babe! The sight of him is a sword through
my bosom! my child that _he_ robbed and made _me_ an accomplice in
robbing--it is maddening to think of it."

"Then do not think of it," said Sybil, gently, and still caressing the
bowed head; "think of anything else--think of what I am going to say to
you. Listen. While you remain in this crowded and noisy hotel, you can
never recover calmness enough to act with any good effect. So I wish you
to come home with me and my dear husband to our quiet country house, and
be our cherished guest until you can communicate with your friends, or
come to some satisfactory decision concerning your future course."

While Sybil spoke these words, the young stranger raised her head and
looked up with gradually dilating eyes.

"Come, now; what say you? Will you be our dear and welcome guest this
autumn?" smiled Sybil.

"Oh, _do_ you mean this? _can_ you mean it?" exclaimed Rosa, in
something like an ecstasy of surprise and gratitude.

"In our secluded co