The fate of her supposed suicide had been chronicled, first by the descriptive reports of the bridge officers, at their respective stations, and secondly by the busy newspaper scribes who haunt police stations for the necessary matter to fill their allotted space in the columns of the various dailies.
Elizabeth, holding her babe on her arm, read the report of her supposed entrance to the great unknown world, on the very night of Mrs. Sinclair's visit to her grandparents and her own discharge from the Hospital, and smiling bitterly, she muttered to herself, "Yes, that is true. I am dead, dead and buried. Now nothing remains but the walking ghost of Lizzie Merril and"--here she looked sadly down upon the face of the sleeping child and added, "the mother of this innocent babe." Then she wrapped the shawl a nurse had given her, closer around the infant and hurried onward through the gloomy night:--whither she did not know.
Almost at that moment a young man turned the corner of the street and brushed past her, so near that his arm accidentally touched her shoulder. For a moment she stood perfectly still, then with a piercing cry, woman and child fell heavily forward and were caught in Maurice Sinclair's arms.
The weapon tempts her--see--she feels its edge-- Then breaks the contract--and returns the pledge.
The man whom Julia Webber addressed by the French appellation, Monsieur, returned that evening, true to his word. He was received with smiles by the mistress of the house, who told him, in all sincerity, of Stella's still unconscious condition, and urged him to wait a little before presenting himself to the bewildered girl. Steeped in the ways of evil and deceit as he was, still he discovered no treachery in Julia Webber's words, and departed somewhat reluctantly, but in perfect faith as to his ultimate success.
Julia Webber's desire for revenge was being fulfilled almost upon the hour of its conception.
It was now nearly noon of the day following Stella's entrance to her house, and yet the fascination of her new guest's presence was still strong upon her. She had decided upon her course of action during that period of outward calm and inward perturbation, while she stood beside the sleeper's unconscious form.