"I thank you for your information, Mr. Clinton. I shall make no improper use of it, yet there may be a startling _denouement_ to the story you have told me. If so, you will understand what brought me here to-day," the young man said, with an earnestness that impressed the lawyer very much and made him very curious. But Laurie Meredith went away without confiding anything, for he felt that such a step would be premature. But his brain was reeling with the wild suspicions that chased each other through it. "I am almost persuaded that the girl is Flower herself!" he thought. "Yet, in that case, she knows me--knows me as the husband for whom she ceased so soon to care, and secure in her fancied sure disguise, laughs at me and my love--even pledges her faith to another before my eyes! Who could have believed that lovely, gentle little Flower could be so heartless and wicked? Will she dare to marry him, knowing herself bound to me? Yet she told him her lover had proved false, and that she had heard that he was dead. What if there has been treachery somewhere? Jewel--she has loved me always, and there has been something of the tiger-cat in her jealousy of Azalia Brooke. What if--" He could think collectedly no longer, but flung himself down on his bed, while wild, blissful visions chased each other through his brain. * * * * * Jewel was expecting her lover that evening, and he came promptly. She thought she had never seen him so handsome, his brown eyes were so bright, his cheeks glowing with feverish color. Artfully he led her on to talk of her past life, and at last said, curiously: "Do you know, dear Jewel, that you have never told me the name of your birthplace?" "It was Springville, Georgia," she replied, without a suspicion of the anxiety with which he awaited her reply. But when he talked on indifferent subjects awhile, he took leave, and the next day she was astonished to receive a short note from him, bidding her a hasty adieu, as he had been called away from the city for a few days on a matter of business. "He has followed _her_--he has gone to Washington to be near Azalia Brooke!" she exclaimed, angrily; and her eyes blazed with such intense jealous fury that she seemed on the point of going mad. A terrible purpose began to form in her mind. CHAPTER XLII. Jewel ordered her carriage, dressed hastily, and was driven to the residence of Mrs. Meredith. That lady and her daughters were sitting cozily in their warm, luxurious morning-room, each engaged in a fascinating piece of fancy work, when Jewel was shown into the room. The handsome elderly lady and her two placid, brown-eyed daughters presented quite a contrast to the visitor, who burst impetuously into the room with crimson cheeks and blazing eyes, and, scarcely waiting for the customary greeting, exclaimed in an excited voice: "Mrs. Meredith, where has Laurie gone?"