"I am innocent! I was never Bertram Chesleigh's mistress!" Golden cried. "I am his own true----" she stopped with a moan of anguish. "Go, I must not tell--I must keep my promise! Oh, Elinor, you are my cousin. Do not be so hard and cruel!" "How dare you claim me as your cousin?" cried Elinor, angrily, "Get up from the floor and stop making a simpleton of yourself. You have got to go away from here. Do you understand me?" Golden rose to her feet and looked steadily into Elinor's face with flashing blue eyes. A spirit was roused within her that quite equaled her cousin's. "Elinor," she answered, "I understand you, but let me tell you here and now, that I defy your commands. You have no authority over me, and I am the mistress of my own actions. I shall remain in Mrs. Desmond's service as long as I choose to do so. Your whole treatment of me has been such as to merit no consideration at my hands, and it shall receive none." If angry looks could have killed, little Golden would never have survived her defiant speech, for Elinor's dark eyes glared upon her with the deadly fury of an enraged tigress. "You will not go," she hissed. "Perhaps you think to stay here and resume your old sinful relations with Bertram Chesleigh." Before Golden could reply to the cruel taunt, there was an unthought-of interruption. Little Ruby, awakened by Elinor's angry tones, sprang upright in the bed, and cried out in the utmost surprise and resentment. "What is the matter? Why are you scolding my nurse, Miss Glenalvan?" Elinor turned to Ruby with an instantaneous change of manner. "Why, you little darling," she cried, with honeyed sweetness, "what an absurd idea! You must have dreamed it all. I was only asking Mary about a gold cuff-button I had dropped on the floor. I am very sorry I disturbed you in your refreshing sleep." She left the room before the child could challenge her plausible excuse, and returned to Celine. "I was right, ma'am," the maid cried, triumphantly. "I see it in your face." Elinor dropped into a chair, and the change in her face was quite striking enough to have excited the woman's exclamation. She was as white as death, her black eyes gleamed with vindictive rage, her thin lips were set in a cruel line. "Yes, you were right," she said, in a low, intense voice, "Celine, that girl must go away from here." "Did you tell her so?" asked the woman. "Yes, and," helplessly, "she defied me. Oh, what am I to do?" "She would not go for you?" "No she is determined to stay. But," passionately, "she must go, and go this very day. If she remains, and Mr. Chesleigh sees her, all is lost. He will recognize her instantly." "I expect you would give a great deal to get the girl out of your way," said the maid, artfully. CHAPTER XXVIII. Elinor lifted her flashing eyes, and looked at the maid, struck by her significantly-uttered words.