The girl starts and looks up, bewildered.
"I said, you will be your uncle's heiress," Mrs. Odell repeats.
And Reine, growing a trifle paler, shakes her head
"Not if he has died so suddenly," she answers. "He intended to alter his will, but he had not done so when I left him. The old will left everything to my cousin, Maud Langton. It is more than probable that I am penniless."
"It does not seem to distress you, losing the fortune, I mean," the pale invalid remarks, with some surprise.
"It does not," the girl answers, calmly; "I never cared to have my uncle's money; I know that Vane will take care of me," she adds, with tender confidence.
And again Mrs. Odell's sad, white face grows sadder.
"Dear, you forget that you have no assurance that your husband is living," she exclaims abruptly.
Reine presses the small white hand that loosely wears the wedding-ring upon her poor aching heart, and lifts her dark, solemn eyes to the lady's face.
"My own heart tells me he is living," she says, with passionate energy. "He cannot be dead, my darling, just as I had almost won his heart. He lives to bless me yet with his love. Ah, if I only knew where to find him," she breathes, with despairing earnestness.