“I mean that since yesterday embarrassing exigencies have arisen that make it impossible for us to desert Molly Trueheart, great as her treachery has been;” and in a few words she told Louise what she already knew--the condition of Molly--that made it imperative on Cecil, for his own honor’s sake, to give her once more the shelter of his name. “You will not have him marry her over again! Good heavens, that will be putting a premium on her treachery, and--and--he hates her now. She could never be his beloved again!” Louise cried, in wild alarm and secret rage. “No he can never tolerate her again, she will never be aught but his wife in name only. He will spend his time apart from her, of course; but to the world she must still appear an honored and beloved wife for the sake of the child that is coming to Cecil. We are all coming back here to stay in order to keep up appearances before prying eyes; but, of course, our intercourse with her will be of the barest sort. She will be despised among us, and it will be a mercy to us all if Providence should remove her from Cecil’s way when the hour of her trial comes,” cried Mrs. Laurens, resentfully. CHAPTER XXVII. Louise Barry went away from that meeting with Mrs. Laurens with a heart burning with secret wrath and jealousy. “Am I going to be foiled like this, betrayed like this by that chit of a girl?” she muttered gloomily. Her prospects did indeed look dark, for if Molly should tell what she knew and get any one to believe her, Louise’s fortune for which she had schemed and plotted would be ruined. “Aunt Thalia would certainly drive me away from her forever if she found out about John Keith and the deception I practiced to gain her fortune,” she thought, fearfully, and her wrath against Molly grew and strengthened with every hour. “I could kill her--the little mar-plot! Why did she marry Cecil Laurens? All would have gone well but for that!” she muttered, clinching her hands angrily again as she had done when Molly’s helpless fingers lay between them. When she reached the Langham where she and old Mrs. Barry had luxurious apartments, she went at once and told her aunt the same garbled story she had told Mrs. Laurens about her summary ejectment from The Acacias. The old lady was furious. “She ought to be hung--that Molly Trueheart!” she exclaimed, viciously, and Louise answered, with equal venom: “Yes, but instead of being punished for her sin they are going to shield her from disgrace and drive poor Cecil Laurens into a new entanglement with her for the sake of a scruple of honor.” “It shall not be. It is the wish of my heart that Cecil should marry you. We _must_ prevent this sacrifice!” Mrs. Barry stormed. “But how, Aunt Thalia?” “Send for that John Keith wherever he is, Louise. I’ll bribe him to take her away before they push Cecil into a second marriage!” Louise grew pale as ashes, and clinched her hands tightly together in her lap.