"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.