The pretty ghost was quite strong. It struggled desperately out there in the darkness, but it was no match for Laurie Meredith, and presently he dragged it triumphantly into the conservatory, and tore from it a wig of fair hair and a white complexion mask. This revealed the pretty, flustered face of Jewel's maid, who, in a spangled tarletan dress and wig and mask, had made an ethereal-looking ghost.

"Marie!" exclaimed Jewel, in astonishment and relief.

"Oui, ma'amselle," replied the pretty maid, with a titter.

"So you recognize the ghost?" Laurie demanded.

"Yes," said Jewel. "Oh, Marie, was it you all the time?"

"Pardon, mademoiselle, but—yes. I—I—did not mean to frighten any one, only to tease Jules, the gardener, who is my lover."

"It was a very poor joke. If I were in your place, Jewel, I would dismiss this girl from my employ at once," Laurie Meredith said, sternly.

Marie whimpered, and looked pleadingly at Jewel, who hardened her heart, and said, severely:

"Yes, you may go. You are a mischievous girl, and have given me several frights that I shall never forget."

A strange smile flickered over the girl's face, but she said, humbly:

"I will never do it again—only let me stay, ma'amselle!"

"No, you shall not stay. I discharge you, and without a character," replied Jewel, angrily.

"Oh, mademoiselle, you are cruel. Grant me but a private interview, and I will convince you that I am not to blame," pleaded Marie, humbly; but her eloquence would have had no effect on Jewel but for an expression that appeared in the girl's eyes and startled her into yielding, it was so full of bold meaning and deadly menace.

The glance made Jewel quake, she could not tell why, only that her consciousness of a dark and guilty secret made her nervous and fearful. She hesitated a moment, and the girl, turning her back completely on Laurie, made large eyes of such impudent menace at her that she was compelled to acquiesce.

She looked at her betrothed, and said, sweetly:

"Perhaps I had better hear her defense, Laurie. I do not wish to be too hard on a poor, friendless girl."

"That is very magnanimous of you, Jewel," he replied, admiringly. "Do as you please, only let our young friend here understand that at another such offense she must go."

"Monsieur, I will never do so again!" whimpered Marie again; and she dropped into a mocking courtesy, and followed her mistress up the stairs.

Jewel was trembling with indefinable fear, but she turned boldly on the delinquent maid.

"Now, Marie, if there is anything you can plead in your own defense, do so quickly," she said, sharply.

Marie faced her with an impudent smile bold and taunting.

"Mademoiselle, you dare not discharge me," she replied, coolly.

"Dare not!" Jewel echoed.

"That was what I said," replied the French maid, calmly. "I repeat it. You dare not discharge me, for it would be dangerous to send away the trusty maid who shares your fatal secret."

She saw horror and consternation on the dark, beautiful face. It grew pale as marble, and the eyes dilated in horror.

"Ah, you understand me!" Marie said. "I confess it was naughty in me to play ghost, but then I thought you ought to be punished a little for that terrible deed. She was young and lovely, the girl you killed and flung into the cellar. You see I know all, Miss Fielding, for I watched, and I saw you dragging her down the steps."

"I deny it all!" Jewel gasped, feebly; but Marie laughed her to scorn.

"You deny it, with your victim lying down there under the water in the cellar!"

Jewel saw that denial would be useless.

"Oh, Marie, I did not kill her," she gasped, feebly. "She was weak and sick; she fell down dead in my room, most probably with heart disease. I was frightened. I thought I might be accused of murder, so I hid the body."

"A very unwise thing to do, as you would not get any one to believe that story, especially if I showed them this," replied Marie, drawing from her pocket the piece of bronze bric-À-brac, and showing Jewel a dull red stain on its brightness.

She shuddered, and asked:

"Why have you kept the secret so long?"

"To forward my own interests," Marie answered, promptly. "You will retain me in your service as long as I choose to remain, and you will raise my wages to three hundred dollars per month. I think that is very reasonable, considering everything; and, besides, you ought to be very grateful to me for keeping your awful secret."

Jewel knew that this was quite true. She would have sacrificed her whole fortune rather than that her guilty secret should be betrayed.

"Does any one else know?" she asked.

"I have never opened my lips," Marie replied, truthfully; and Jewel very gladly consented to the terms of her silence.

She went to her lover, and the full glass of wine she had taken was not sufficient to steady her nerves. She trembled like one with a chill, and he begged her to remain at home, declaring that the shock she had received made her look too ill to go to the entertainment.

But not for any consideration would Jewel have remained at home and left the field clear for Laurie to linger by the side of her rival.

"I would not miss it for anything, and I know I shall be better presently," she said; and went back to the parlor and aroused Mrs. Wellings, who all this time had been dozing in her easy-chair, oblivious to all that had happened.

The chaperon was sadly addicted to champagne with her dinner, and was prone to fall asleep afterward—a failing on which Jewel looked very complacently, since she did not have to be bored with the old woman's droning remarks.

Having aroused her to a sense of the impending festivities, she hastily donned her warm cloak, and all three went out to the elegant sleigh which was in readiness to convey them over the glittering crust of snow to the grand entertainment.