“Lady, I am no more a French maid than yourself. I disguised myself and answered Castello’s advertisement for a maid to further my own designs. My eyes are brown, to be sure; but my skin is as white, my hair as golden as yours, only that both are darkened by a brown dye that changes my appearance entirely. Else I should not dare venture into Castello’s presence for fear of recognition.”
“Who, then, are you, and why——” began Violet, but the maid interrupted:
“I am your friend and Castello’s enemy! When I talked to you so strangely in the boudoir it was all for effect, because I knew he was listening at the door. I bided my time to tell you the truth, and to help you to escape from the fiend’s power!”
Violet’s eyes began to glow with hope and joy.
“Oh, may Heaven bless you and reward you for your goodness!” she cried, clasping the speaker’s neck with grateful arms.
But with a long-drawn sigh, full of remorseful grief, the woman shrank away, answering, fearfully:
“Lady, you might not wish to touch me if you knew who and what I am. Have you ever heard the name of Lena Lavarre?”
CHAPTER XXIX.
“MY OWN HONOR MADE ME KEEP THE AWFUL SECRET.”
“Lena Lavarre!” cried Violet, with a start and shudder, and the woman shrank away still farther.
“You have heard my name—my story! You shrink from me!” she cried, humbly.