"If you take my advice you will stay and say nothing about it," replied the maid. "If you go to another place you are just as likely to encounter the same difficulty. You are too pretty to be a servant. I have told you that already."
"But I cannot remain here and encounter the persecutions of Mr. Desmond," replied Golden, decidedly.
"I do not believe he will annoy you again," said Celine, confidently. "He has found out that you are honest, and he will be afraid to pursue you any further. The child is so pleased with you it would be a pity to forsake her. You may take my word for it that monsieur is too much afraid of his wife to bother you again. Why, she is so jealous that if she knew her husband had kissed you, she would want to cut your ears off."
Golden shivered at Celine's vivid words.
"It is better I should go, then," she said, with a sigh. "I would not, for the world, create trouble between husband and wife."
"You had better stay," said Celine. "I shall not tell of you, and you may be pretty sure master won't. So Mrs. Desmond need never know."
"It is better I should go," said Golden, decidedly; and then she threw herself down upon a lounge and burst into tears.
"Oh! why are women so weak, and men so cruel?" she wildly sobbed.
"It's their nature," replied Celine, but Golden made her no answer. She only continued to weep heart-brokenly.
"I am the most miserable girl on earth," she sobbed. "I wish that I had never been born!"