his wife."

The red spots faded to a sickly yellow in the invalid's cheeks. "Why
should you ask this of me?" she cried. "Why should you wish to
destroy the happiness of my child's life? She loves Arthur Stuart,
and I know that he loves her! It is the one thought which resigns me
to death; the thought that I may leave her the beloved wife of this
good man."

The Baroness leaned lower over the pillow of the invalid as she
answered: "I will tell you why I ask this sacrifice of you."

"Perhaps you do not know that I married Judge Lawrence after the
death of his first wife. Perhaps you do not know that Preston
Cheney's legitimate daughter is as precious to me as his illegitimate
child is to you. Alice is only six months younger than Joy; she is
frail, delicate, sensitive. A severe disappointment would kill her.
She, too, loves Arthur Stuart. If your daughter will let him alone,
he will marry Alice. Surely the illegitimate child should give way
to the legitimate.

"If you are selfish in this matter, I shall be obliged to tell your
daughter the true story of her life, and let her be the judge of what
is right and what is wrong. I fancy she might have a finer
perception of duty than you have--she is so much like her father."

The tortured invalid fell back panting on her pillow. She put out
her hands with a distracted, imploring gesture.

"Leave me to think," she gasped. "I never knew that Preston Cheney