Jewel saw that the excited woman could bear no more, and retreated, muttering as she went: "Shall I send for the doctor?" "No; oh, no! I only want rest. I shall be all right presently. Flower, why are you hanging about the door? Go at once, as I bid you just now!" The door closed between her and her startled, wounded daughters, and she flung herself back in her chair, muttering, fiercely: "Oh, how horrible it is! He was a fiend, no less; and all that he did before seems light in comparison to this! Ah, to think how I have been fooled and wronged--it is enough to turn a saint into a devil! There is only one comfort left. Let me find out the truth, and I will take vengeance on them in their graves by torturing her--I will; I swear it!" * * * * * Jewel had been on her way to a clairvoyant's when Flower met her in the hall. On leaving her mother's room she went on to seek the wonderful woman who was reputed to be able to read the past and the future. The beautiful girl had spent a sleepless night, brooding over what she chose to consider her wrongs, and she was determined to thwart Laurie Meredith's design of marrying her sister if she could possibly accomplish it. Thinking that some knowledge of future events might be of assistance in her aims, she decided to consult the clairvoyant. She remained almost two hours at the humble home of the fortune-teller, and when she came out her face was flushed, and her eyes sparkled with a hopeful light. The strange woman had said to her: "Your mother has a carefully hidden secret. Find it out, and you shall triumph over your enemies." CHAPTER VI. True to his word, Laurie Meredith called at the home of Flower next day to ask her mother's consent to his betrothal to the lovely girl who had won his heart. "My darling, what is it?" he cried, eagerly, as he drew her to his breast. "You have not repented your promise to be mine?" "No, no," she whispered; and he soon learned the story of Maria's death, Mrs. Fielding's terrible excitement, and her refusal to see any one--even her daughters. "It is very strange. One would not have supposed she would be so fond of her old servant as to turn gray with grief," he said, feeling that there was something mysterious about Mrs. Fielding's case, yet not dreaming of the terrible influence that mystery was fated to bear upon his own future. Flower was so frightened at her mother's condition that she dared not go to her and tell her that Laurie Meredith wished to see her. She persuaded her lover to wait until her mother should be herself again. "Or until poor Maria's funeral is over, at least. Then she will be calmer and more composed, Laurie, dear."