Esther Bennett is dead; and the Judge, when he heard of it, brought his fist down upon his knee, exclaiming: “There’s one nuisance less in the world! Pity Madame Geraldine couldn’t follow suit!” But Geraldine bids fair to live to a good old age, though she is now seldom seen in the streets of Boston, where the story of her perfidy is known, and where her name has become a by-word of reproach. A crushed and miserable woman, she drags out her days in the privacy of her own home, sometimes weeping passionately as she reviews her sinful life, and again railing bitterly at Lilian, not for anything in particular, but because she is unhappy, and wishes to blame some one. In Lilian there is little change. Weak-minded, easily influenced, and affectionate, she has apparently forgotten her disappointment, and almost every day finds her at Lawrence’s handsome house, where Mildred welcomes her with her sweetest smile. In all the city there is no one so enthusiastic in their praises of her cousin as herself, and no one who listens to said praises as complacently as her Uncle Robert. He is very fond of his daughter-in-law, very glad that she was not a beggar’s child, and very grateful for the gold she brought him. In his library there are _two_ portraits now instead of one, and he often points them out to strangers, saying, proudly: “This was taken for my wife, the famous beauty, Mildred Howell; while this, is my son’s wife, another Mildred Howell, and the heiress of untold wealth. Hers is a strange history, too,” he adds, and with a low bow, the strangers listen, while in far less words than we have used, he tells them the story we have told,—the story of Mildred with the starry eyes and nut-brown hair. THE END. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ POPULAR NOVELS BY _Mrs. Mary J. Holmes_. 1.— TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE. 2.— ENGLISH ORPHANS. 3.— HOMESTEAD ON THE HILLSIDE. 4.— ’LENA RIVERS. 5.— MEADOW BROOK. 6.— DORA DEANE. 7.— COUSIN MAUDE. 8.— MARIAN GREY. 9.— DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHT. 10.— HUGH WORTHINGTON. 11.— CAMERON PRIDE. 12.— ROSE MATHER. 13.— ETHELYN’S MISTAKE. 14.— MILLBANK. 15.— EDNA BROWNING. 16.— WEST LAWN. 17.— EDITH LYLE. 18.— MILDRED (_New_). “Mrs. Holmes is a peculiarly pleasant and fascinating writer. Her books are always entertaining, and she has the rare faculty of enlisting the sympathy and affections of her readers, and of holding their attention to her pages with deep and absorbing interest.” All published uniform with this volume. Price $1.50 each. Sold everywhere, and sent _free_ by mail, on receipt of price, BY G. W. CARLETON & CO., Publishers, New York.