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My God! it was Jessie Bain, my enemy. I remember it all now. I wonder that memory did not come back to me when I heard the name Jessie Bain. She did not know that it was I who was Hubert Varrick's wife, or she would have let me die." The effect of Gerelda's words was startling upon Rosamond. "What are you going to do about it?" she asked, eagerly. "Do?" echoed Gerelda.
A few minutes later she recovered her composure and hurried to Mrs. Varrick's room. Mrs. Varrick reached out her hand to Jessie, and the next moment they were sobbing wildly in each other's arms. Little by little the girl's noble spirit in all its grandeur gained the ascendency.
Yes, Rosamond Lee was standing by the window, looking as sweet and bland as a great wax doll. But it was on the face of her companion that Jessie's eyes were riveted. It seemed to her in that instant that the heart in her bosom fairly stood still, for the face she saw was Hubert Varrick's! "He has had ever so much trouble," the girl went on.
Hubert Varrick's strained ears had caught the words as he bent over her, and as he heard them his rage knew no bounds, for it was clear enough to him now that Jessie Bain, the girl he loved, had been the victim of Rosamond Lee's cruelty. The blood fairly boiled in his veins. He felt that he could never look upon Rosamond Lee's face again.
No sound save a low gasp broke the terrible stillness. She had kissed the little prayer-book as she had so laughingly and thoughtlessly promised to do, ere she uttered the words that would make her Hubert Varrick's wife. And what had happened to her? She was gasping for breath dying! The little book fell unheeded at her feet, and her head drooped backward.
"Now listen to what I have to say, and heed it well: The day that has seen her turned from this roof shall witness my leaving it. You should have trusted and shielded her, no matter how dark appearances were against her. I am going to find Jessie Bain, and when I do I shall ask her to marry me!" There was a wild shriek from Mrs. Varrick's lips at this, but Hubert did not heed it.
The sparkle of the tiny diamonds will delight her as nothing else has done in her whole life." A discordant laugh broke from Mrs. Varrick's lips. "Ay, the glitter of diamonds pleases her. How well you know the girl!" she cried shrilly. "But for glittering diamonds she might have lived a happy enough life of it.
His valet came in search of him. He found him at the end of the conservatory, standing motionless as a statue among the shrubbery. "Master," he said, "your bride bids me say to you that you have barely time to get into your traveling clothes." He was shocked at the horrible laugh that broke from Varrick's lips. Had his master gone mad? he wondered.
"I wish to inspect your drawings," he said, tersely, as he waved the young man to a seat. Frank Moray laid them down upon the table. There was something in Varrick's manner that startled him, for he had always been courteous and pleasant to him before. Varrick ran his eyes critically over the pieces of card-board, the frown on his face deepening.
"I do not know of any reason why I should keep anything from you, mother," he said. "This letter is Jessie's acceptance." A grayish pallor stole over Mrs. Varrick's face. Even in death for she supposed herself to be dying the ruling passion that had taken possession of her life, was still strong within her.