"I fear so," said Hope. "But what's our life to us without our honor, especially to a woman? He is the true Cain that destroys a pure virgin." Then he put both his hands on her shoulder, and said, "Look at me, Grace." She looked at him full with eyes as brave as a lion's and as gentle as a gazelle's. In a moment his senses enlightened him beyond the power of circumstances to deceive. "It's a lie," said he; "men are always lying and circumstances deceiving; there is no blush of shame upon these cheeks, no sin nor frailty in these pure eyes. You are his wife?" "I am!" cried Grace, unable to resist any longer. "Thank God!" cried Hope, and father and daughter were locked that moment in a tender embrace. "Yes, papa, you shall know all, and then I shall have to fall on my knees and ask you not to punish one I love--for--a fault committed years ago. You will have pity on us both. Walter and I were married at the altar, and I am his wife in the eyes of Heaven. But, oh, papa, I fear I am not his lawful wife." "Not his lawful wife, child! Why, what nonsense!" "I would to Heaven it was; but this morning I learned for the first time that he had been married before. Oh, it was years ago; but she is alive." "Impossible! He could not be so base." "Papa," said Mary, very gravely, "I have seen the certificate." "The certificate!" said Hope, in dismay. "What certificate?" "Of the Registry Office. It was shown me by a gentleman she sent expressly to warn me; she had no idea that Walter and I were married, but she had heard somehow of our courtship. I try to thank her, and I tried, and always will, to save him from a prison and his family from disgrace." "And sacrifice yourself?" cried Hope, in agony. "I love him," said Mary, "and you must spare him." "I will have justice for my child." Grace was in such terror lest her father should punish Walter that she begged him to consider whether in sacrificing herself she really had not been unintentionally wise. What could she gain by publishing that she had married another woman's husband "I have lost my husband," said she "but I have found my father. Oh take me away and let me rest my broken heart upon yours far from all who know me. Every wound seems to be cured in this world, and if time won't cure this my wound, even with my father's help, the grave _will_." "Oh, misery!" cried Hope; "do I hear such words as these from my child just entering upon life and all its joys?" "Hush, papa," said Grace; "there is that man." That man was Mr. Bartley. He looked very much distressed, and proceeded at once to express his penitence. CHAPTER XIX. A WOMAN OUTWITS TWO MEN.