"Yes, they were very kind--yet they never knew how much I needed love and kindness. They had only themselves to care for. The professor had always been wild over my voice. I was reckless, desperate. I allowed him to have his own way with me. He took me to Europe, procured musical instructors for me and in time I made my _debut_ in opera." "And from thenceforward it has been _veni, vidi, vici_," smiled Walter. "Yes," she replied, with the calmness of indifference "I have been what the world calls very fortunate. I have won fame and gold--I have been loved and sought--I have had all the best the world has to give except"--here her low voice sank still lower--"except happiness." "Poor child!" he said, involuntarily. "Except happiness," she repeated, looking at him with her large, soft, mournful eyes. "That was impossible, you know." An answering sadness came into Walter's blue eyes. "Is happiness always to be an impossibility to you, Lina?" he asked. "Always," she answered, with patient resignation. "Lina, have you ever seen Gerald Huntington since that night?" he broke out. "Never!" she replied, with a shudder, and her pale face grew paler still. "And you have never guessed why he repudiated you in the very moment he made you his bride?" "Never," she answered again. "There was some secret connected with it; something he found out when he saw the picture of my mother. I cannot tell what it was--I have no idea." "I saw Gerald Huntington at the opera last night," he said, startlingly. Jaquelina sprang to her feet, and looked at him in a very panic of terror. "You saw _him_," she said, her breath coming and going in fluttering gasps. "Oh, Mr. Earle!" she cried out in wild hope and anxiety; "did Uncle Charlie ever try to get me freed from him, if indeed I was ever bound? for it seemed to me a mere farce--nothing more." "He did not try, Lina--you were gone, and it seemed as if you were dead," Walter said, hesitatingly. "He did not try--and Gerald Huntington is here? Oh, Mr. Earle! do you think he has recognized me? Why is he here? What does he mean to do? Oh, if I had never returned here!" Jaquelina cried, rapidly and excitedly. Before Walter could reply the door was pushed open, and Violet Earle came quickly into the room. "Walter--you _here_!" she cried. CHAPTER XXXII. Walter Earle looked at his sister in surprise. He had left her rather unwell and complaining of a headache. Even now her eyes were dull and heavy, and her cheeks were flushed a feverish crimson. "Violet, I would have waited for you if I had known you would come," he said. "I preferred to come alone," she replied, a little shortly. Then she went to Jaquelina and held out her hands. "How do you do, Lina?" she said. "You must allow me to congratulate you on your brilliant success."