"Let me show you the paper containing her advertisement," added the matron. "I brought it with me."
As she spoke, she produced a copy of a paper several weeks old, a paragraph of which was marked, and handed it to Bernadine.
"You can read it over and decide. Let me know when I come to you an hour later. I should advise you to try the place."
Left to herself, Bernardine turned to the column indicated, and slowly perused the advertisement. It read as follows:
"Wanted—A quiet, modest young lady as companion to an elderly woman living in a grand, gloomy old house in the suburbs of a New England village. Must come well recommended. Address Mrs. Gardiner, Lee, Mass."
"Gardiner!"
The name fairly took Bernardine's breath away, for it was the name bestowed upon her by the young man who had wedded and deserted her within an hour.
The very sight of it made her heart grow sick and faint. Still, it held a strange fascination for her. She turned to look at it again—to study it closely, to see how it appeared in print, when, to her amazement, she caught the name "Jay Gardiner" in a column immediately adjoining it.
She glanced up at the head-lines, and as she did so, the very breath seemed to leave her body.
It was a sketch of life at Newport by a special correspondent, telling of the gayety that was going on among the people there, particularly at the Ocean House. Nearly, half a column was given to extolling the beauty of young Mrs. Gardiner, née Sally Pendleton, the bride of Doctor Jay Gardiner, her diamonds, her magnificent costumes, and smart turn-outs.