"I cannot tell. Ring for the housekeeper. Perhaps she may know better how to apply the remedies," he replied, still holding the light form in his arms, and gazing with a dazed expression on the beautiful, unconscious face. The housekeeper came, and declared, in a fright at first, that the girl was dead. Then she turned Mr. Leith out of the room, loosened Golden's clothing, and rubbed her vigorously. In about ten minutes the quiet eyelids fluttered faintly, and a gasping sigh parted the white lips. The housekeeper beckoned Mrs. Leith to her side. "She lives," she whispered, softly, "but she had better have died." "I do not understand you," Mrs. Leith replied. "I have made a discovery," continued the old housekeeper. "The girl has deceived you, madam. She is a bad lot, for all her sweet, childish, innocent face." "Deceived me--how?" Mrs. Leith demanded. "She is not an innocent maiden, as she appeared. Oh, Mrs. Leith, can you not see for yourself? The wretched creature is likely to become a mother in a few short months." "You are jesting. She is barely more than a child," Mrs. Leith broke out, incredulously. "It's the Lord's truth, madam. Faugh! the wicked little piece! A pity I hadn't let her die!" sniffed the virtuous housekeeper, with a scornful glance at the reviving girl. CHAPTER XXXIV. Mrs. Leith drew back her trailing silken skirts from contact with poor Golden's recumbent form as if there were contamination in her very touch. "I have been terribly deceived," she said, "I had begun to like the girl very much. She suited me more than any maid I have had for a long while, and I thought her quite pure and respectable. Do the best you can for her, Mrs. Brown, for I shall send her away as soon as she is able to walk." Heedless of Golden's large, blue eyes that unclosed and fixed themselves reproachfully upon her, she swept from the room and sought Mr. Leith, to whom she confided the housekeeper's discovery. The grave-faced lawyer looked shocked and distressed, unaccountably so, the lady thought. "I can scarcely credit it," he said. "She has such an innocent and child-like face." "Such faces are sometimes deceiving," remarked the lady. "This instance proves the fact." "What do you intend to do with the poor child!" Mr. Leith asked, with an unconscious sigh. "I shall send her away, of course," Mrs. Leith replied, decidedly. "Oh, _cruel, unnatural mother_!" said a faint, reproachful voice, behind her. She turned with a start and saw that Golden had followed her. The poor child stood trembling in the doorway, her dress in disorder, her beautiful hair broken loose from its fastenings, and streaming over her shoulders, her great, blue eyes blazing like stars in her lovely, pallid face, her sweet lips curled in scorn as she pointed her finger at Mrs. Leith, and exclaimed: "Oh, cruel, unnatural mother! Is your life so pure that you can afford to sit in judgment on me?"