“You will oblige me, Juliette, by never making such foolish remarks again. I never saw Pansy Laurens; but if my wife resembles her, that is nothing but a chance likeness. Mrs. Falconer was a Miss Wilcox, of Louisville, and has never been in Richmond until to-day.”
“Oh, uncle, are you sure? For indeed she frightened me with her awful likeness, although I believe she is prettier than that Laurens creature,” gasped Juliette.
“Prettier—well, I should say so! My wife is the loveliest creature on earth!” exclaimed the jovial colonel.
But Juliette, still shivering, sighed:
“How can I live in the same house with that face and voice?”
CHAPTER XVIII.
A FALSE SMILE.
Colonel Falconer began to grow angry at Juliette’s foolishness, as he called it to himself. Drawing back from her, he said stiffly:
“If you cannot live in the same house with my wife, Juliette, you are quite at liberty to seek a boarding house anywhere you choose, and I will pay your board and furnish you pin money.”
Juliette sprang upright in a perfect fury, shrieking out:
“You are planning to get rid of me already!”