Having written this letter, Florence proceeded to write another:—
"Dear Mrs. Trevor—
"I have thought of your kind offer of yesterday. Indeed, I have scarcely ceased to think of it since I left you. It is with great, great sorrow that I must decline it. You and your kind son had better think no more about me. I am not what I seem: I am not a good girl nor a nice girl in any way. If I were straight and simple and honest I could be the happiest of the happy in your house; but I am not, and I can never tell you what I really am. Please forget that you ever knew me.
"Yours, with gratitude,
"Florence Aylmer."
CHAPTER XXIII.
BERTHA'S JOY.
Bertha Keys found herself in a state of pleasurable excitement. She was in the highest spirits.