She gazed at him in consternation and wonder.
“Grandpapa, you must be raving! You look every day for a letter from Violet, and then forebode that she is dead. What can you mean? Is not Violet safe with her husband, the millionaire?”
“No, no, Amber; she ran away from Harold Castello the same night she was married, and her subsequent fate is wrapped in blackest mystery!”
CHAPTER XLII.
AMBER HEARS STARTLING NEWS.
A spasm of bitter rage tore Amber’s heart at the words of her remorseful grandfather.
Violet had escaped from the loathed husband she had been tricked into marrying.
At any moment she might return to Golden Willows, to denounce the traitors who had wronged her, and to convince Cecil of her love and fidelity!
Amber saw in fancy the whole fabric of her dearly bought happiness tumbling in ruins at her feet.
How Cecil would despise her when he learned all her wickedness, when he found that, under the guise of friendship, she had plotted to separate him from Violet and tried to steal into his darling’s place.
As the humiliating thought came over her, the warm hue of her cheeks faded to awful pallor, her eyes grew dim and glazed, and with a panting sigh, she let her head fall against the back of her chair.