Chapter XLIII

Captain Ernscliffe found that it was almost midnight when he reached home after his visit to the condemned murderer.

He was too excited for sleep, and going to the library he turned up the dimly-lighted gas and prepared to spend the remaining hours of the night among his books.

A pleasant warmth pervaded the luxurious apartment, and the fragrance of some white hyacinths, blooming in vases on the marble mantel, filled the air with sweetness.

They were Queenie's favorite flowers. He remembered the one she had worn on her breast the day he had come upon her in her strange interview with Sydney.

Breaking off a beautiful spray he pressed it to his lips, then pinned it on his coat.

"I wonder where she is now?" he said to himself, with a heavy sigh, as he drew up a chair to the table and laid his head down upon his folded arms.

Something rustled under his touch as he did so, and he looked up quickly.

There was a sealed letter lying upon the table, addressed to himself in an unfamiliar writing. It had been laid there by a servant while he was absent.

Mechanically he tore it open and glanced at the bottom of the page for his unknown correspondent's name.

"Robert Lyle," he read, aloud, with a suddenly quickened heart-beat.

Yes, it was from Robert Lyle--a brief note, coldly and curtly written.

"CAPTAIN ERNSCLIFFE," it simply ran, "I arrived in this city to-day
with your wife. She is now quite well and prepared to defend her
case at any time the lawyers agree upon--to-morrow, if necessary."

That was all. It was brief, cold, and to the point. Yet the reader's heart thrilled with sudden joy.

"She is here in this city; she is well," he said to himself. "Oh, how can I wait until to-morrow?"

But he waited, nevertheless, though burning with anxiety and impatience, and at the earliest permissible hour he was shown into Robert Lyle's private parlor at the hotel where he was stopping.

Mr. Lyle was sitting cozily over his morning paper and cigar, his slippered feet on the fender, his gorgeous dressing-gown wrapped comfortably around him.

He rose in some surprise as his unexpected visitor was ushered in.

"You did not expect me," said Captain Ernscliffe, as they shook hands. "I received your letter at midnight, sir, and came this morning as early as propriety would allow. I want to see my wife, Mr. Lyle," he added, in a trembling voice. "Will you take her my card and see if she will admit me to her presence?"

Mr. Lyle looked at him curiously a moment. He saw that he was struggling with some unexplained agitation, and that he had not come with any hostile intent.

He pointed toward a side door that stood slightly ajar.

"She is in there," he said; "there is no need of formalities. Go in and see her."

With a faltering step Captain Ernscliffe advanced and passed through the partly open door.

He found himself in a beautiful little dressing-room, with hangings of pale-blue silk, exquisitely furnished and pervaded with the delicate perfume of white hyacinth.

Before the bright fire burning in the polished grate a lady was sitting in a low rocker of cushioned blue satin.

He advanced toward her, then started back. He thought he had made a mistake.

For the beautiful woman sitting there in her elegant morning-robe of quilted blue satin was looking down and smiling at something that lay on her arm, nestled close and warm against her breast.

It was the pink face of a very tiny baby, wrapped in costly robes of embroidered flannel, and lace and cambric.

Captain Ernscliffe was going out quite precipitately when a low, startled voice cried out:

"Lawrence!"

He turned back and looked more closely.

Yes, it _was_ Queenie--but then--_that_ baby--where on earth--and at that stage of his cogitations something flashed across his mind.

This, then, was the cause of that long, mysterious illness. What a fool he had been not to suspect it before.

He rushed to her side, and kneeling down upon the carpet, put his arms around the beautiful mother and child.

"My darling," he murmured, in a voice so broken by emotion that he could scarcely speak at all. "My precious Queenie, my own sweet wife, shall we mutually forgive and forget all that is past?"

One stifled sob of joy, and then the woman dropped her face upon his shoulder in silence.

One moment of rapturous stillness while she rested in the close clasp of his strong arm and then he whispered, with his lips against her warm cheek:

"Darling, you will forget my cruelty and come back to me--you and the little one?"

Then she lifted her head and looked at him with a happy, little laugh and a very bright blush.

"Lawrence, kiss our little boy," she said, putting the little bundle in his arms. "Is he not a pretty babe? I call him Robbie, for my uncle, who has been so good and kind in all my trouble."

"While I have been so cruel and unkind," he said, remorsefully.

"But that is all past now," she said, hopefully. "Oh, Lawrence, I thought you would never return to me again! What caused you to forgive me?"

"That villain--whom I cannot curse now because he was hung this morning--confessed all to me last night. My darling! you were cruelly wronged, and I was mad and blind to believe all the lies he told me at first."

"The best he could tell you was bad enough," she said, remorsefully. "It was wicked, it was terrible of me to have encouraged that clandestine acquaintance and secret love, deserting my home and loved ones for a stranger of whom I knew nothing, except that he was handsome, and that his romantic wooing took my foolish heart by storm.

"Oh, the bitter consequences that have followed that act of girlish folly!

"My own deep disgrace, my father's death from a broken heart, poor Sydney's dreadful murder, mamma and Georgina's everlasting alienation from me?"

She clasped her hands, and tears stood bright as dew-drops in her soft, blue eyes.

"Yes, darling," he said, as he laid his little son back in her arms, "your youthful folly has, indeed, worked out a terrible retribution. If your tragic story could be written it might teach many parents to guard their daughters more carefully, and many a thoughtless girl might grow wiser and profit by your dreadful experience. The fitting text for such a mournful story might be, 'Girls never keep a secret from your parents!'"

"Am I _de trop_?" asked Uncle Robert, putting his gray head and smiling face into the room at that moment.

"Never, Uncle Robert. You are one of us now, and always," said Captain Ernscliffe, bringing him in and giving him a cordial pressure of the hand.

Queenie looked up with the bright tears still shining in her eyes.

He kissed her fondly, then bent over the little babe to hide the dew of tenderness that dimmed his kindly blue orbs.

"I shall have to give up my little pet now," he said, a little sadly.

"No, you shall not, Uncle Robbie. You are to come home with us, and live with us always. You shall not live alone any longer," said Queenie, tenderly and gratefully.

* * * * *

Three years later, when Robbie was the loveliest and most mischievous little, dark-eyed lad that ever delighted a parent's heart, they all went abroad again.

Captain Ernscliffe, who was the fondest and most devoted husband in the world, had taken an absurd fancy that Queenie's roses were fading and that a European tour would improve her health.

So one bright, sunny morning in the month of roses, they found themselves registered as boarders at a famous health resort in Germany.

But after Captain Ernscliffe had smoked his cigar on the balcony, he came into his wife's airy room with a frown on his dark, handsome face.

"I shall have to take you away to-morrow, my dear," he said. "I have found out that your mother and sister are staying here. Of course it would be embarrassing to all parties if we remained."

"Yes, we must go away," she said, but she sighed as she spoke.

It had been a bitter cross to her that her mother and sister would not recognize her.

She loved them still, for the ties of kinship were very strong in her heart.

Now her own motherhood had made her even more gentle and loving than before.

She would have loved dearly to be friends with those proud ones who had discarded her, and to have shown her beautiful little son to his grandmother.

"Yes, we will go away to-morrow," she repeated, brushing away a quick-starting tear. "We must not trouble their peace."

But that evening, when her husband and her uncle had gone out for a walk, and she was alone with Robbie, she heard a timid and hesitating rap at her door.

"Enter," she said, looking up in some surprise.

The door opened, and Lady Valentine came abruptly into the room.

She was paler and graver than of old, and her stately form was draped in the gloomy sables of a widow.

"Georgina!" exclaimed Mrs. Ernscliffe, starting up.

Lady Valentine rushed forward, and threw her arms about the trembling, hesitating figure.

"Little Queenie, my sweet, wronged sister!" she cried, "will you forgive my cruelty to you, and love your Georgie again?"

"I have never ceased to love you, Georgie," was the answer.

Lady Valentine pressed a dozen kisses on the sweet lips and wavy, golden hair.

Queenie put her gently into a chair, and then she saw a little, dark-eyed lad looking at her with a great deal of wonder.

"What a lovely boy!" she said, "and it is yours, Queenie, I know, for he looks so like your husband."

"Yes," answered Queenie, proudly; then she led her little son up to her sister.

"Robbie, you must kiss your aunt," she said.

Lady Valentine stayed a long while with Queenie, and many mutual, touching confidences were exchanged by the long-parted sisters. At last she rose to go.

"May I have Robbie a little while?" she asked.

"You may go with your aunt, my dear," said Queenie, kissing the child.

Lady Valentine took his hand and led him away to a room where a gray-haired lady was sitting alone in the fast-falling twilight with a grave, rather sad expression on her handsome old face. Georgie lifted up Robbie and placed him on the lady's knee.

"Grandmother," she said, half-laughing, half-crying, "kiss your grandson."

"It is Queenie's child!" cried Mrs. Lyle, pressing him to her heart, and kissing him, then crying over him in her womanly joy and excitement.

"We must take him to his mother now," said Georgie. "Come, mamma," and Mrs. Lyle followed her without a word.

So when Captain Ernscliffe and Mr. Lyle returned from their walk they found them all together, Queenie's fair face perfectly radiant and every one very happy in this touching reunion.

They were never parted afterwards. When Mr. Lyle and the Ernscliffes returned to the United States Mrs. Lyle and Lady Valentine went with them. Mrs. Lyle had conceived such an affection for her little grandson that she could not bear to be separated from him. Georgina had no ties to bind her to England, so she followed them also. Many years of calm happiness came to Mrs. Ernscliffe afterward, but she never forgot the terrible secret that had almost desolated her life.

She had one daughter, a sweet and lovely girl, who bore the name of one long dead, and sometimes when she kissed and caressed her, Captain Ernscliffe would hear her say, sweetly and gravely:

"Sydney, my darling daughter, you must never have any secrets from your papa and mamma!"

[THE END.]

The Bertha Clay Library

_THE ONLY COMPLETE LIST OF BERTHA M. CLAY STORIES ::: MANY OF THESE TITLES ARE COPYRIGHTED AND CANNOT BE FOUND IN ANY OTHER EDITION._

PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH

To be Published During May

263--A Modest Passion By Bertha M. Clay

To be Published During April

262--Suffered in Silence By Bertha M. Clay

To be Published During March

261--True to His First Love By Bertha M. Clay

To be Published During February

260--Love's Twilight By Bertha M. Clay

To be Published During January

259--When Woman Wills By Bertha M. Clay

* * * * *

258--Withered Flowers By Bertha M. Clay
257--The Love He Spurned By Bertha M. Clay
256--Tender and True By Bertha M. Clay
255--Her Heart's Victory By Bertha Clay
254--Love's Debt By Bertha Clay
253--For Old Love's Sake By Bertha M. Clay
252--Love's Conquest By Bertha M. Clay
251--A Blighted Blossom By Bertha M. Clay
250--The Wooing of a Maid By Bertha M. Clay
249--Mistress of Her Fate By Bertha M. Clay
248--The Flower of Love By Bertha M. Clay
247--A Cruel Revenge By Bertha M. Clay
246--Two Men and a Maid By Bertha M. Clay
245--Baffled by Fate By Bertha M. Clay
244--Two True Hearts By Bertha M. Clay
243--Her Noble Lover By Bertha M. Clay
242--For Lack of Gold By Bertha M. Clay
241--In Defiance of Fate By Bertha M. Clay
240--A Wild Rose By Bertha M. Clay
239--An Exacting Love By Bertha M. Clay
238--Her Heart's Hero By Bertha M. Clay
237--The Unbroken Vow By Bertha M. Clay
236--Love's Coronet By Bertha M. Clay
235--A Woman's Part By Mrs. Alex. Frazer
234--Kitty's Father By Frank Barrett
233--On the Altar of Fate By Mrs. Edward Kennard
232--The Dawn of Love By Bertha M. Clay
231--Lorimer and Wife By Margaret Lee
230--A Dangerous Suitor By Gertrude Franklin Atherton
229--Margaret Byng By F. C. Philips
228--A Vixen's Love By Bertha M. Clay
227--The Courting of Mary Smith By F. W. Robinson
226--Divided Lives By Octave Feuillet
225--Sybil Ross' Marriage By F. C. Philips
223--Unfairly Won By Nannie Power O'Donoghue
222--The Girl in the Brown Habit By Mrs. Edward Kennard
221--Little Mrs. Murray By F. C. Philips
220--The Secret of a Heart By Bertha M. Clay
219--Marrying and Giving in Marriage By Mrs. Molesworth
218--A Broken Life By Mary Cruger
217--A Question of Time By Gertrude Franklin Atherton
216--What Dreams May Come By Frank Lin
215--An Artful Plotter By Bertha M. Clay
214--My Sister's Husband By Patience Stapleton
213--A Terrible Crime By Emma Garrison Jones
212--The Man She Cared For By F. W. Robinson
211--In Love's Bondage By Mrs. Edward Kennard
210--Hester's Husband By Bertha M. Clay
209--Out of Eden By Dora Russell
208--Keep My Secret By G. M. Robins
207--A Country Maid By Mrs. Campbell Praed
206--As Fate Would Have It By Evelyn Gray
205--Her Bitter Sorrow By Bertha M. Clay
204--The Lover's Creed By Mrs. Cashel Hoey
203--Her Father's Sin By Annie A. Gibbs
202--The Siren's Triumph By Genevieve Ulma
201--Love's Temptation By Mrs. Edward Kennard

By BERTHA M. CLAY

200--Fair as a Lily.
199--Strong in Her Love.
198--A Heart Forlorn.
197--A Soul Ensnared.
196--Her Beautiful Foe.
195--For Her Heart's Sake.
194--Sweeter Than Life.
193--An Ocean of Love.
192--A Coquette's Victim.
191--Her Honored Name.
190--The Old Love or the New?
189--Paying the Penalty.
188--What It Cost Her.
187--A Poisoned Heart.
186--True Love's Reward.
185--Between Love and Ambition.
184--A Queen Triumphant.
183--A Heart's Worship.
182--A Loveless Engagement.
181--The Chains of Jealousy.
180--A Misguided Love.
179--A Supreme Sacrifice.
178--When Hate and Love Conflict.
177--The Price of Love.
176--A Wife's Devotion.
175--The Girl of His Heart.
174--A Pilgrim of Love.
173--The Queen of His Soul.
172--A Purchased Love.
171--An Untold Passion.
170--A Deceptive Lover.
169--A Captive Heart.
168--A Fateful Passion.
167--From Hate to Love.
166--Her Boundless Faith.
165--On With the New Love.
164--Lost for Love.
163--Glady's Wedding Day.
162--An Evil Heart.
161--His Great Temptation.
160--The Love of Lady Aurelia.
159--The Lost Lady of Haddon.
158--The Sunshine of His Life.
157--Love's Redemption.
156--A Maid's Misery.
155--Every Inch a Queen.
154--A Stolen Heart.
153--A Tragedy of Love and Hate.
152--A Bitter Courtship.
151--Lady Ona's Sin.
150--The Tragedy of Lime Hall.
149--A Wife's Peril.
148--Lady Ethel's Whim.
147--The Broken Trust.
146--Lady Marchmont's Widowhood.
145--A Sinful Secret.
144--The Hand Without a Wedding Ring.
143--How Will It End?
142--One Woman's Sin.
141--The Burden of a Secret.
140--A Woman's Witchery.
139--Love in a Mask.
138--The Price of a Bride.
137--A Heart of Gold.
136--A Loving Maid.
135--For Love of Her.
134--The Sins of the Father.
133--A Dream of Love.
132--A Woman's Trust.
131--A Bride from the Sea, and Other Stories.
130--The Rival Heiresses.
129--Lady Gwendoline's Dream.
128--Society's Verdict.
127--A Great Mistake.
126--The Gambler's Wife.
125--For a Dream's Sake.
124--The Hidden Sin.
123--Lady Muriel's Secret.
122--Dumaresq's Temptation.
121--The White Witch.
120--The Story of an Error.
119--Blossom and Fruit.
118--The Paths of Love.
117--A Struggle for the Right.
116--The Queen of the County.
115--A Queen Amongst Women and An Unnatural Bondage.
114--A Woman's Vengeance.
113--Lord Elesmere's Wife.
112--His Wedded Wife.
111--Irene's Vow.
110--Thrown on the World.
109--A Bitter Reckoning.
107--From Out the Gloom.
106--Wedded Hands.
105--A Hidden Terror.
103--Two Kisses, and The Fatal Lilies.
102--Dream Faces.
101--A Broken Wedding Ring.
100--In Shallow Waters.
99--For Life and Love, and More Bitter Than Death.
98--James Gordon's Wife.
97--Repented at Leisure.
96--The Actor's Ward.
95--A Woman's Temptation.
94--Margery Daw.
92--At Any Cost, and A Modern Cinderella.
91--Under a Shadow.
90--In Cupid's Net, and So Near and Yet So Far.
89--A Coquette's Conquest.
88--If Love Be Love.
87--Beyond Pardon.
86--Guelda.
85--A Woman's Error.
84--Lady Latimer's Escape, and Other Stories.
83--A Fatal Dower.
82--A Dead Heart, and Love for a Day.
81--Between Two Loves.
80--The Earl's Atonement.
79--An Ideal Love.
78--Another Man's Wife.
77--A Fair Mystery.
76--A Guiding Star.
75--A Bitter Bondage.
74--Thorns and Orange Blossoms.
73--Her Martyrdom.
72--Between Two Hearts.
71--Marjorie Dean.
70--A Heart's Bitterness.
69--Fair But Faithless.
68--'Twixt Love and Hate.
67--In Love's Crucible.
66--Glady's Greye.
65--His Perfect Trust.
64--Wedded and Parted, and Fair but False.
63--Another Woman's Husband.
61--The Earl's Error, and Letty Leigh.
60--A Heart's Idol.
59--One False Step.
58--Griselda.
57--Violet Lisle.
56--The Squire's Darling, and Walter's Wooing.
55--Golden Gates.
54--The Gipsy's Daughter.
53--A Fiery Ordeal.
52--Claribel's Love Story; or, Love's Hidden Depths.
51--For a Woman's Honor.
50--A True Magdalen; or, One False Step.
49--Addie's Husband, and Arnold's Promise.
48--Her Second Love.
47--The Duke's Secret.
46--Beauty's Marriage, and Between Two Sins.
45--Lover and Husband.
44--The Belle of Lynn; or, The Miller's Daughter.
43--Madolin's Lover.
42--Hilary's Folly; or, Her Marriage Vow.
41--A Mad Love.
40--A Nameless Sin.
39--Marjorie's Fate.
38--Love's Warfare.
37--Weaker Than a Woman.
36--On Her Wedding Morn, and Her Only Sin.
35--A Woman's War.
34--The Romance of a Young Girl; or, The Heiress of Hilldrop.
33--Set in Diamonds.
32--Lord Lynne's Choice.
31--Redeemed by Love; or, Love's Conflict; or, Love Works Wonders.
30--The Romance of a Black Veil.
29--A Woman's Love Story.
28--A Rose in Thorns.
27--The Shadow of a Sin.
26--A Struggle for a Ring.
25--A Thorn in Her Heart.
24--Prince Charlie's Daughter.
23--The World Between Them.
22--The Sin of a Lifetime.
21--Wife in Name Only.
19--Two Fair Women; or, Which Loved Him Best?
17--Lady Castlemaine's Divorce; or, Put Asunder.
16--His Wife's Judgment.
15--Lady Darner's Secret.
14--A Haunted Life.
13--Evelyn's Folly.
12--At War With Herself.
11--For Another's Sin; or, A Struggle for Love.
10--One Against Many.
9--Her Mother's Sin; or, A Bright Wedding Day.
8--Hilda's Lover; or, The False Vow; or, Lady Hutton's Ward.
7--A Dark Marriage Morn.
6--Diana's Discipline; or, Sunshine and Roses.
5--The Mystery of Colde Fell; or, "Not Proven."
4--Lord Lisle's Daughter.
3--A Golden Heart.
2--Dora Thorne.
1--A Bitter Atonement.

EAGLE SERIES A weekly publication devoted to good literature NO. 426
July 25, 1905

"Get Acquainted With Smith's"

The Big Three

You are now looking at the three most popular authors in America. Ten million copies of their novels have been sold and they are now exclusively engaged to supply =Smith's Magazine= with all their new work.

Get a copy of the current number and look it over. It's the best published at =TEN CENTS=

SMITH PUBLISHING HOUSE, _NEW YORK_

Transcriber's Notes:

Some missing punctuation has been added without being noted below when the original text has extra spacing suggesting that the error could have been caused by light inking of the plates rather than incorrect typography.

Some inconsistent hyphenation has been retained (e.g. "woodwork" vs. "wood-work").

A table of contents has been added.

Some archaic spellings ("hightened", "vender") have been retained.

Carets are used to denote superscript text (e.g. M^cVEIGH). Underscores (_) denote italics. Equals signs (=) denote bold.

_Front Matter_

Added period after "Alex" in listing for "253--A Fashionable Marriage."

Removed unnecessary period after "By" in listing for "207--Little Golden's Daughter."

Removed unnecessary period after "(Barclay North)" in listing 176.

Removed unnecessary period in "(A Wilful Young Woman)" in listing 70.

_Bride of the Tomb_

Page 2, changed "weath" to "wreath."

Page 4, removed "an" from "an another."

Page 5, added missing period after "testily."

Page 9, changed "ye you" to "yet you" and changed question mark to period after "fair Necropolis of the dead."

Page 19, changed ? to ! after "it was all for you." Changed "Lillie" to "Lily."

Page 27, changed "shubbery" to "shrubbery."

Page 28, added missing comma after "revive."

Page 36, changed "eat" to "ate."

Page 38, changed "pedling" to "peddling."

Page 39, changed "spring" to "sprang."

Page 41, changed "they not the heart" to "they had not the heart" ("had" is missing from Street & Smith edition but was present in original Family Story Paper appearance--thanks to Deidre Johnson for confirming this).

Page 49, capitalized 's' in "She tore off the bed-covers."

Page 53, changed "thererefore" to "therefore" and "terrible" to "terribly."

Page 55, changed "Good-nigh" to "Good-night" and "Lilly" to "Lily."

Page 60, removed unnecessary comma after "well" in "I may as well go then."

Page 61, changed "leige" to "liege."

Page 62, moved misplaced end quote in sentence beginning "No, I won't." and changed "Horace" to "Harold" in sentence beginning "Now, then." The "Horace" error is found in both the original Family Story Paper appearance of the novel and the later Street & Smith reprint; however, it is clearly a mistake as the character is referred to as Harold in every other instance.

Page 71, changed double quote to single quote before "And have you lost your heart?"

Page 72, changed "oblivous" to "oblivious."

Page 77, changed "necessrry" to "necessary."

Page 79, removed stray quote after "the old house with the stone wall."

Page 80, added missing period at end of page.

Page 81, changed "queston" to "question."

Page 84, moved close quote in quoted poem to correct position.

Page 85, changed single quote to double quote after "win him from me!"

Page 87, changed "mein" to "mien."

Page 92, changed "reconnoisance" to "reconnoissance."

Page 93, added missing period to end of second paragraph.

Page 95, changed single quote to double quote after "I have not tasted food for two days!"

Page 96, changed "Colvilie" to "Colville."

Page 98, changed "Lilly" to "Lily."

Page 102, changed "braggadocia" to "braggadocio."

Page 106, changed "deamed" to "dreamed."

Page 107, changed "The" to "They" in "They had lived their evil life."

Page 109, added missing close quote after "home to your mother."

Page 112, changed "frienzied" to "frenzied."

Page 114, added missing quote after "Perhaps so."

Page 119, changed "drectly" to "directly."

Page 120, changed "disorered" to "disordered." Changed "she" to "he" after "Pray explain yourself."

Page 121, changed "Whan" to "What."

Page 124, changed "Collville's" to "Colville's" and "familar" to "familiar."

Page 133, changed "detect-tive" to "detective."

Page 138, added missing period after "her yearning look."

Page 143, changed "happest" to "happiest."

_Queenie's Terrible Secret_

Page 3, changed "which to" to "to which" and rearranged final sentence in paragraph beginning "No, indeed." It was scrambled in the original edition.

Page 7, changed "meantim" to "meantime" and "Erscliffe" to "Ernscliffe." Added missing quotes to separate "so sweet a flower" from "Doubtless you."

Page 10, added missing open quote before "now I begin."

Page 12, added missing period after "perplexing mystery."

Page 13, added missing open quote before "Why, Papa." Changed "Sidney" to "Sydney" and "Georgiana" to "Georgina."

Page 15, changed "Sidney" to "Sydney."

Page 16, changed period to question mark after "wronged you."

Page 18, changed "confied" to "confined."

Page 19, changed "Au contrairie" to "Au contraire."

Page 23, added missing quote before "my head whirls" and changed "cologue" to "cologne."

Page 26, added missing close quote after "about my sister." Changed "stilled crowned" to "still crowned."

Page 27, changed "distaught" to "distraught."

Page 30, changed "CHAPTER IX" to "CHAPTER XI" and "endeaver" to "endeavor."

Page 33, changed "?" to "!" after "Au revoir, Mrs. Ernscliffe." Changed "?" to "." after "screams and cries."

Page 34, changed "sudder" to "shudder."

Page 35, changed "?" to "!" after "touch me."

Page 37, changed "?" to "!" after "declare to gracious."

Page 40, changed "?" to "." after "blushed deeply."

Page 41, changed "Hold you peace" to "Hold your piece."

Page 42, added missing quote after "demented little sister."

Page 46, added missing quote after "I don't blame you."

Page 48, the "h" in "sharply" is accidentally inverted in the original book. Added a missing period at the end of the page.

Page 49, changed "?" to "!" after "I don't know what you mean."

Page 50, changed "?" to "!" after "for this cruel sin." Added missing period after "hundred dollars."

Page 52, changed "quite" to "quiet."

Page 53, Removed duplicate "she" from "she she said to herself" and added missing close quote after "will not tell her."

Page 55, changed "!" to "?" in "Who killed him?" and changed "te" to "to" in "in time to see."

Page 56, removed extraneous ", or" from sentence that originally read "walk, or at a slower and more reasonable gait."

Page 57, changed "idenity" to "identity."

Page 63, added missing open quote before "Ah, Captain Ernscliffe."

Page 64, changed "." to "?" in "Will you take me home?"

Page 67, changed "ligh" to "light." Changed "were" to "where" in "hotel where La Reine Blanche." Changed "pearl-handed" to "pearl-handled."

Page 71, joined erroneously split paragraph (starting "I could not wait") and changed single to double quote after "husband!"

Page 77, changed "did I say!" to "did I say?"

Page 80, changed "dusk" to "dusky."

Page 82, added missing quote before "what ails your husband?"

Page 84, changed "you lips" to "your lips" and "were she was playing" to "where she was playing."

Page 92, removed duplicate "the" from "told him the the truth."

Page 93, removed unnecessary quote before "Queenie lifted her head."

Page 96, changed "availabe" to "available."

Page 99, changed "CHAPTER XXXVI" to "CHAPTER XXXIV."

Page 107, added missing "to" to "not so hard to tell." Changed "?" to "!" after "hope for the best."

Page 108, removed comma from "great cruel, world."

Page 115, added missing close quote after "share it equally."

Page 119, changed "condemed" to "condemned."