"Mamma, you frighten me," cried Xenie, terrified. "Oh, tell me where is Lora? Is she dead?" "No, no--oh, better that she were!" sobbed her mother, wildly. Mrs. St. John grew as pale as death. She shook her mother almost rudely by the arm. "What has Lora done?" she cried. "Where is she? I will go and seek her." She was rushing wildly to the door, but Mrs. Carroll sprang forward, and catching the skirt of her dress, pulled her back. "Not now!" she gasped; "wait a little. That wretched girl has ruined her good name and disgraced us all." Mrs. St. John dropped into a chair like one bereft of life, and her great, black eyes, dilated with terror, stared up into her mother's face. "Yes, it is too true," said her mother, sitting down and rocking herself back and forth, while low and heart-broken moans escaped her white lips. "But, mamma, poor, good, little Lora! it cannot be! She was truth and innocence itself," panted the young widow, in a voice of anguish. "She deceived us all--she was a sly little piece. You will see for yourself, Xenie. She lies ill in her chamber, and--and in a few months there will be a"--she lowered her voice and gave a fearful glance around her--"_a child_!" "Oh! mamma, then she was married? Of course Lora was married! Doesn't she say so?" exclaimed Xenie, confidently. "Oh, yes, she swears to a marriage--a secret one--but look you, Xenie--not a ring, not a witness, not a scrap of paper to prove it! And the man dead--lost at sea!" said Mrs. Carroll, despairingly. "Oh! mamma, then it was----" "Jack Mainwaring--yes. He was courting her this long time, you know. He asked for her, and I wouldn't give my consent. I thought he wasn't good enough for her--a sailor, and only second mate, you know. And Aunt Egerton had promised to give her a season in town this winter, and she might have made a better match than a sailor." Mrs. Carroll broke down again and wept bitterly. "Try to control yourself, mamma," said the young widow, stroking the bowed head tenderly. "And so Jack married her in spite of you?" "Yes," sobbed her mother, "he married her secretly, she says. It was about the same time, or nearly, that you were married. He found out that Lora was going to town to be one of the bridesmaids, and was jealous, I suppose, thinking she might see someone she could like better. So he persuaded her into it, and they were to keep it secret until he came back from this voyage." "And he is lost at sea, you say?" asked Xenie, thoughtfully. "Yes; he went away in a few weeks after the marriage, to be gone six months; but the news came last week of the loss of his ship by fire, and his name was on the list of the dead. You see, Xenie, what a terrible position Lora was placed in. She fainted when she heard the news, and then I found out everything." "Does anyone else know, mamma?" inquired Xenie, anxiously.