"She is cruel, heartless! her father's child, not mine," cried poor Mrs. Fitzgerald, trying to steel her heart against the truant. But one cold, snowy day toward the last of February--could they ever forget that day--a card was brought to the lady in her boudoir. She glanced at it, and turned deadly pale. The card bore a name she had reason to hate. HARRY HAWTHORNE. It fell from her trembling hands, and Cissy, glancing at it, exclaimed, joyously: "We shall hear of Geraldine at last!" "I cannot see him!" moaned Mrs. Fitzgerald, tremblingly. "Oh, yes, you will. Come! I will go down with you. Courage! You will fall in love with your son-in-law at sight, and forgive him for stealing your daughter!" cried Cissy, encouragingly, taking her hand to lead her down. And in a few more moments they stood in the presence of a man so strikingly handsome and debonair that Mrs. Fitzgerald could not help from thawing toward him a little as Cissy presented him. He was well-dressed, princely in manners and appearance. As far as looks and culture went, her favorite, Lord Putnam, could not surpass the New York fireman. He looked disappointed somehow, and after the first few words were passed, ventured straight to the point. "Mrs. Fitzgerald, I think your daughter has told you of me. We are betrothed, you know, and I hope her heart has not turned against me with her accession to fortune. May I hope that you will also smile on my suit, and permit me to see Geraldine?" They stared at him in amazement, the two startled women. Why, what could he mean, with those strange words and that confident air? Cissy recovered from her trance of surprise first, and exclaimed: "Mr. Hawthorne, what can you mean? Geraldine is not here. We supposed she was with you!" "With me?--how strange! Why, Miss Carroll, I haven't seen her since Christmas Eve. Do not tell me that harm has come to my darling!" CHAPTER LIV. "WILL YOU BID ME GODSPEED." "I reach into the dark, O Love! I reach into the dark. I cannot find thee; and my groping hands Touch only memories and phantom shapes. "I call into the dark, O Love! I call into the dark. There comes from out the hush above, below, No answer but my own quick-fluttered breath." Harry Hawthorne had sprung to his feet, pale with emotion, as he stood before Cissy, repeating the words: "With me? How strange! Why, I have not seen her since Christmas. Do not tell me that harm has come to my darling!" With the utterance of his words a terrible comprehension dawned on Mrs. Fitzgerald. She understood that she had been horribly deceived, that Geraldine had not gone away to marry her lover, but had been entrapped into some terrible fate. The fear of Clifford Standish's vengeance for the scorn she had heaped on him pierced her heart like a knife-thrust. For two weeks Geraldine had been missing.