"Well, I declined all his overtures toward reconciliation, and a few months after he married Azuba Aylesford, the actress. The marriage was not a happy one, and within two years she deserted him, going off with some Western actor, whose name I never heard. Cameron secured a divorce--but that is all, really. Grandpa died in the meantime, and when the mortgage was paid off on the farm, there was so little left that I came to New York to earn my bread. So, there, it was not so much of a love story after all," sadly. "Oh, yes, it was very interesting, and it may have a happy ending yet. I rather pity poor Mr. Clemens." "You should not, for he does not deserve it--false to two women, as he was!" flashed Cissy. Then she kissed Geraldine, saying: "Good-night, dear one, and don't let us refer to this painful subject again." CHAPTER XLIV. "HOW CAN I REPAY THEIR BOUNTY WITH SUCH TREACHERY?" "Last night I was weeping, dear mother, Last night I was weeping alone; The world was so dark and so dreary My heart it grew heavy as stone; I thought of the lonely and loveless-- All lonely and loveless was I; I scarce could tell how it was, mother, But, oh, I was wishing to die." While Geraldine and Cissy were exchanging confidences, Miss Erroll, the governess, was keeping an unhappy vigil in her own room. In her hand she held the letter that Geraldine had brought to her the day before, and as often as she read it she groaned in anguish. The letter was from Clifford Standish, the actor. It ran, curtly: "You have begged me not to betray you, to let you keep the position you hold in Mrs. Fitzgerald's family unmolested. Of course, you expect to pay a price for my charitable silence. "Very well. Here are my conditions: "I love Geraldine Harding, and her scorn has made me reckless, desperate. "I am determined to get her into my power, and humble her towering pride. "You must help me to carry out my designs. "In brief, I am determined to kidnap her and conceal her in a safe place, where she cannot escape my attentions. She came very near to loving me once, and I think if I am given a good opportunity, I may win her heart again. "I am arranging a place for her, and by to-morrow I shall have everything ready for my pretty bird. "Some plan must be perfected then by which to get possession of the girl. "As you are in the same house with her, and know all her comings and goings, your woman's wit ought to be able to suggest some plan of procedure without drawing suspicion on yourself. "Set your wits to work, and write to me to-morrow what you can do to help me. "And remember that the penalty of refusal will be exposure of your past to the girl's mother, and expulsion in disgrace from your comfortable situation. C. S."