"You told us the reason when you came, didn't you?" Reine says, blankly.
"Not exactly. I will tell you now while Nellie is searching for the note. Of course you knew when I went away I didn't expect to lose my uncle's fortune?"
"I thought you did. Hadn't he said——" begins simple Reine.
"That I should marry Charteris, or lose the money—yes, I know, but I give you my word I never believed it. I honestly thought I could marry Mr. Clyde and return here. I thought it would be an easy matter to wheedle my doting uncle into taking us both back. I never dreamed that you would throw yourself into the breach and help them to their revenge against me."
"I never thought of such a thing myself, until—until Vane asked me!" Reine murmurs, blushingly.
"Do you know why he asked you?" sneers the beautiful girl before her.
"To spite you for having jilted him so publicly, Maud, and, perhaps, because he liked me a little after all," she says, a little wistfully.
"I gave you credit for just a little more sense, Reine," Maud answers, bitterly. "Vane Charteris disliked you exceedingly. He thought you a vixen, neither more nor less. He made you his wife because Mr. Langton literally forced him to it."
"It is not true. Why do you say such things? You are cruel, Maud," the bride cries out, starting indignantly to her feet.
"It is the truth. Nellie, have you found the note yet?"