As they disappeared from sight, he sank back behind the easel that supported his Roman picture, groaning in spirit with remorse and humiliation.

A little later he stole unseen from the room, and, crossing the hall, opened the door of the reception-room, which he had seen Edith and her mother enter.

He had determined to give the young girl the letter that would serve to release her from her hateful fetters; he would, perhaps, experience some comfort in the thought that he had rendered her this one simple service that would bring her happiness; then he would go away--hide himself and his misery from all who knew him, and live out his future to what purpose he could.

We know how he carried out his resolve regarding the confession of Anna Correlli; and the picture which met his eye, as he opened that door and looked upon the mother and daughter clasped in each other's arms, was one that haunted his memory during the rest of his life.

As soon as Royal Bryant comprehended the import of Anna Correlli's confession, he turned to Edith with a radiant face and open arms.

"My darling! nothing can keep us apart now!" he murmured, in tones vibrant with joy, "you are free--free as the air you breathe--free to give yourself to me! Come!"

With a smile of love and happiness Edith sprang into his embrace and laid her face upon his breast.

"Oh, Roy!" she breathed, "all this seems too much joy to be real or to be borne in one day!"

"I think we can manage to endure it," returned her lover, with a fond smile. "I confess, however, that it seems like a day especially dedicated to blessings, for I have other good news for you."

"Can it be possible? What more could I ask, or even think of?"

exclaimed Edith, wonderingly.

Roy smiled mysteriously, and returned, with a roguish gleam in his eyes:

"My news will keep a while--until you give me the pledge I crave, my darling. You will be my wife, Edith?" he added, with tender earnestness.

"You know that I will, Roy," she whispered; and, lifting her face to his, their mutual vows were sealed by their betrothal caress.

The young man drew from an inner pocket a tiny circlet of gold in which there blazed a flawless stone, clear as a drop of dew, and slipped it upon the third finger of Edith's left hand.

"I have had it ever since the day after your arrival in New York," he smilingly remarked, "but coward conscience would not allow me to give it to you; however, it will prove to you that I was lacking in neither faith nor hope."

"Now for my good news," he added, after Edith had thanked him, in a shy, sweet way that thrilled him anew, while he gently drew her to a seat. "I met Giulia Fiorini on the street this afternoon."

"Oh, Roy! did you?"

"Yes; she is here, searching for Correlli. I recognized her and the child from your description. I boldly resolved to address her, as I feared it might be my only opportunity. I did so, asking if I was right in supposing her to be Madam Fiorini, and told her that I was searching for her, at your request. She almost wept at the sound of your name, and eagerly inquired where she could find you. I took her to my office, where I told her what I wished to prove regarding her relations with Correlli, and that, if I could accomplish my purpose, it would give her and the child a claim upon him which he could not ignore. She at once frankly related her story to me, and stated that when they had first arrived in New York from Italy, Correlli had taken her to Madam ----'s boarding-house, where he had made arrangements for himself, wife and child--"

"Oh, then that settles the question of her claim upon him!" Edith here interposed, eagerly.

"Yes--if we can prove her statements, and I think we can; for when I told Giulia of my visit to madam, and how I had failed to elicit the slightest information from her, she said that she knew where one of the servants--who was in the house when she went there--could be found, for she had stumbled across the girl in the street and learned where she is now living. She gave me her address, and I went immediately to interview her. Luck was in my favor--the girl was at home, and remembered the 'pretty Italian girl, who was so sweet-spoken and polite;' she also knew where her previous fellow-servant could be found, and a.s.serted that they would both be willing to swear that madam herself had told them to 'always to be very attentive to the handsome Italian's wife, for she made more out of them than out of any of her other boarders.' So, I flatter myself that I have gathered conclusive evidence against the man," Roy added, in a tone of satisfaction. "I shall interview Monsieur Correlli at once, and perhaps, when he realizes that his supposed claim upon you is null and void, he may be persuaded to do what is right regarding his wife and child."

The lovers then fell to talking of their own affairs, Edith relating what she had so recently learned from her mother, and concluded by mentioning the plan of readoption, suggested by Mrs. Stewart, in order to avoid the gossip of the world.

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.

AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER.

The morning following his conference with his betrothed, our young lawyer went early to seek an interview with Emil Correlli.

He was fortunate enough to find him at the hotel where he had told him he could be found if wanted.

In a few terse sentences he stated the object of his visit, cited the evidence he possessed of Correlli's bigamous exploit, and then startled that audacious person by summarizing the contents of the late Mrs. G.o.ddard's confession.

"If you are not already sure of the fact," the lawyer emphatically added, "allow me to inform you that your sister was never the wife of Mr. Gerald G.o.ddard, as that gentleman had been married previous to his meeting with Miss Correlli. It was supposed that his first wife was drowned in Rome, but the report was false, as the woman is still living."

"I do not believe it," angrily exclaimed Emil Correlli, and yet, in his heart, he felt that it was true, for it but verified his own previous suspicions. "I tell you it is all a lie, for G.o.ddard himself told me, only two days after my sister's death, that, if I chose to look, I would find the record of his marriage to her in the books of the ---- Church in Rome."

"That is true; Mr. G.o.ddard supposed the marriage to have been legal, because, at the time he deserted his lovely wife for Miss Correlli, he did not know that he was lawfully bound to her. But, later, both he and your sister learned the truth, and the secret of their unfortunate relations embittered the lives of both, especially after they discovered that the real Mrs. G.o.ddard is still living," Roy exclaimed.

"How do you know this?" hoa.r.s.ely demanded his companion.

"I have recently seen and conversed with Mrs. G.o.ddard, and all the facts of her history are in my possession."

"Who is she? Under what name is she known?"

"That is a question that I must refuse to answer, as the revelation of the lady's ident.i.ty cannot affect the case in hand; unless--it should come before the courts and the truth be forced from me," Roy replied.

"Then why have you told me this wretched story?" cried the man, almost savagely.

"A lawyer, in fighting his cases, is often obliged to use a variety of weapons," was the significant response. "I thought it might be just as well to warn you, at the outset, that your sister's reputation might suffer in the event of a lawsuit, during which much might be revealed which otherwise would remain a secret among ourselves."

To convince Correlli of the truth of his disclosures Mr. Bryant announced that he had in his possession, at that moment, a copy of Mrs. G.o.ddard's confession, and proceeded to read it, having first declared that the original was in his office safe.

Emil Correlli, was ghastly white when Roy stopped, after reading the entire confession. He realized that his case was hopeless; that he had been ignominiously defeated in his scheme to possess Edith, and nothing remained to him but to submit to the inevitable.

"Now I have just one question to ask you, Mr. Correlli," Roy remarked, as he refolded the paper and laid it upon the table for him to examine at his leisure. "What is your decision? Will you still contest the point of Miss Allandale's freedom, or will you quietly withdraw your claim, and allow it to be publicly announced, through the Boston papers, that that ceremony in Wyoming was simply a farce after all?"

"You leave me no choice," was the sullen response; "but," with a murderous gleam in his dusky eyes, "if you had brought the original confession with you to-day, you would never have gone out of this house with it in your possession."

"Excuse me for contradicting you, sir; but I think I should," Roy returned, with the utmost courtesy. "I took all proper precautions before coming to you, as it was--although not because of any personal fear of you. No less than three persons in this house, and as many more outside, know of my visit to you at this hour. And, now, since you have decided to yield to my requirements, I have here some papers for you to sign."

He drew them forth as he spoke, spreading them out upon the table, after which he arose and touched the electric b.u.t.ton over the mantel.

"What is that for?" curtly demanded his companion.

"To summon witnesses to your signature to these doc.u.ments."

"Your a.s.surance is something refreshing," sneered the elder man. "How do you know that I will sign them?"

"I feel very sure that you will, Mr. Correlli," was the quiet rejoinder; "for, in the event of your refusal, there is an officer in waiting to arrest you upon the two serious charges before mentioned."

The baffled man snarled in impotent rage; but before he could frame a retort, there came a knock on the door.

Roy answered it, and bade the servant without to "show up the gentlemen who were waiting in the office."

Five minutes later they appeared, when Emil Correlli, without a demur, signed the papers which Roy had brought and now read aloud in their presence.