As yet Maude saw only the good which had come to her, if the news were true; the evil had not yet been presented to her, and she clung tightly to Jerrie, who, nearly distraught herself, did not know what to do.  She knew that Mrs. Tracy looked upon her as an intruder, and possibly a liar; but she cared little for that lady’s opinion.  She only thought of Frank and what he would say.

Lifting up her head at last from the pillow where she had lain it for a moment, while Maude’s thin little hands caressed the golden hair, she saw him standing at the foot of the bed, taller, straighter than she had seen him in years, with a look on his face which she knew was not adverse to herself.

‘Jerrie,’ he said, slowly and thickly, for something choked his speech, ’I can’t tell you now all I feel, only I am glad for you and Arthur, but gladder for myself.’

What did he mean?  Jerrie wondered; while Maude’s eyes sought his questioningly, and his wife said, sharply: 

’You are talking like a lunatic!  Do you propose to give up so easily to a girl’s bare word!  Let Jerrie prove it, before she is mistress here.’

Then into Maude’s eyes there crept a look of terror and pain, and she whispered: 

’Yes, Jerrie, prove it.  There were papers in your hand, and a bag, and you said, “It is so written here.”  Bring the papers and read them to us—­here in this room.  I can bear it.  I must hear them.  I must know.’  ‘Better let her have her way,’ Frank said; and Dolly could have knocked him down, he spoke so cheerfully; while Jerrie answered: 

‘I can’t read them myself aloud.  They are written in German.’

’But Marian can.  I saw her there.  Let them all come up; they will have to know,’ Maude persisted.

After a moment, during which a powerful tonic had been given to his daughter, Frank went down to his guests, who were eagerly discussing the strange story, which not one of them doubted in the least.

In her haste to reach Maude, Jerrie had dropped the bag and the two papers, which Judge St. Claire picked up and held for a moment in his hand; then passing the papers to Marian, he said: 

’It can be no secret now, and Jerrie will not care.  What do the papers contain?’

Running her eyes rapidly over them, Marian said: 

’The first is a certificate of marriage between Arthur Tracy and Marguerite Heinrich, who were married October 20th, 18—­, in the English church at Wiesbaden, by the Rev. Mr. Eaton, then the officiating clergyman.  The second is a certificate of the birth and baptism of Jerrine, daughter of Arthur and Marguerite Tracy, who was born at Wiesbaden, January 1st, 18—­, and christened January 8th, 18—­, by the Rev. Mr. Eaton.’

Then a deep silence fell upon the group, while Tom stood like one paralyzed.  He understood the situation perfectly, and knew that if Jerrie was mistress there, he could never hope to be master.