Azalia Brooke was touched by the devotion of the pretty maid to whom
she was thus a second time indebted for the preservation of her life.
She believed that the girl was really fond of her and true to her, and
in spite of her lowly position she regarded her as a valued friend.
She had rewarded her handsomely for rescuing her from the terrible
cellar to which Jewel had cruelly consigned her, and the grateful girl
had been eager to quit the service of the mistress she feared for that
of the beautiful, gentle English girl.
Little by little she had become acquainted with much of the history of
the two girls, and now it crossed the mind of Azalia to confide all to
her, under a pledge of secrecy.
"Marie is so bright and clever that perhaps she may suggest something
that will throw light on my dark fate," she thought.
So the piteous story of her girlhood was told with bitter sobs and
raining tears to the good Marie, who listened with pity and sympathy
for the lovely young victim, and deep indignation against the foes who
had wronged her so heartlessly.
"And you were his wife--Mr. Meredith's wife? How dare he then think
of making Miss Fielding his bride?" she demanded, in her excitable
_mélange_ of French and English so impossible to reproduce on paper,
pieced out as it was with expressive gestures.
"I believed myself his wife," Azalia said, with burning cheeks; "but
Jewel declares that he deceived me, that the marriage ceremony was a
sham. Perhaps it was, else how dare he betroth himself to Jewel beneath
my very eyes?"
Marie's twinkling dark eyes looked up with a strange gleam.
"He may not recognize you under this new name--he may believe you
dead," she said.
"But Jewel has told me that he did recognize me, Marie."
"Pouf! Miss Fielding's statements are not to be taken for the truth,"
Marie answered at once, contemptuously; then she added, thoughtfully:
"But the marriage paper he gave you--I should like to know who stole
that."
Azalia could not help owning that she had always suspected Jewel, and
almost ere the words left her lips Marie sprung to her feet, excitedly.
"Oh, why didn't I think of it before?" she exclaimed.
"Of course she has them, for she has some papers that I have seen her
gloating over several times, with such a happy face, that I thought
they were love letters! But now I do not doubt that they were the
papers you speak of--your marriage-certificate, and perhaps the diary
of your dead father that she stole from the cabin of the mulatto Sam."
Azalia's beautiful, despairing face flushed suddenly with hope.
"Oh, Marie, if we could only get possession of those papers!" she
exclaimed, eagerly.
"And why not?" answered Marie, radiant.
Azalia flung her beautiful white arms about the maid's neck.
"Oh, Marie, you are a darling! You will try to get them, I know it by
your face."
"Of course I shall," said the maid.
She laughed outright at the thought of outwitting wicked Jewel. The
maid really enjoyed putting her clever powers to use, and she at once
began to devise schemes for obtaining the papers she had seen Jewel
exult over on several occasions.
"But I shall have to leave your service for awhile," she said.
"I will manage without you, for I am sure that Lady Ivon will let her
maid help me sometimes," said Azalia.
"Then I shall go back to Miss Fielding and pretend that I am heartily
disgusted with the English aristocracy, and ask to be taken into her
service again."
Azalia looked very grave.
"One hates to be underhand and deceitful," she said; but Marie laughed
her objections away.
"One must fight the devil with fire," she said, coolly; and went on
disclosing her plans. "If I get taken into her service again it will
not be long before I shall go through her baggage," she said. "If I
find that she has not got the papers with her, I shall disappear and go
immediately to Boston. Mrs. Wellings is not with her this time, so I
know she has left her to keep the house and the servants in order. It
will be no trouble for me to get into the house to visit my friend the
chamber-maid, and no trouble for me to get something I forgot when I
left there. You understand?"
"Yes. Oh, Marie, I will make you rich for this! I am heiress to a great
fortune, and you will see that I shall reward you generously," Azalia
exclaimed, gratefully.
Marie's face beamed with delight.
"Then I will send for the old _père_ and _mère_ from Paris. I will
set them up in a little shop on the boulevard--what you call it, the
avenue? _Bon!_" she cried, jubilantly.
Early the next morning Marie made her appearance at the grand hotel
where the Merediths were staying, and by an artful story contrived to
ingratiate herself again into the favor of Jewel.
"I will tell you a secret, but pray do not breathe it to any one. I am
but a poor maid, and no one might believe me," she said, "but, Miss
Fielding, I am afraid that Miss Brooke has designs on my life. Last
night I found a little box of dynamite upon the door, and when I flung
it out of the window there was a loud explosion. I do not know what I
have done to her to incur her anger, but it certainly looked as if she
had attempted my life."
Jewel agreed with her, and took her into her employ again, while her
heart sunk with disappointment at Azalia Brooke's escape from her
clever snare.
"She seems to bear a charmed life. Three times she has escaped my
vengeance!" she thought, uneasily.
But she consoled herself with the thought that yesterday's work had at
least accomplished one good turn, as it had brought the clever Marie
back into her service. She would have to contrive still another plan to
get rid of her dangerous rival.