"Yes; I did not stop to lock it after me; I hurried straight up here, but—expecting to have a very different interview from what I have had," responded the woman, with a heavy sigh. "Now, lady, you have my story," she continued, after a moment of silence, "you can see that I have been deeply wronged, and though from a moral standpoint, I have every claim upon Emil Correlli, yet legally, I have none whatever; and, unless you can prove some flaw in that ceremony of night before last—prove that he fraudulently tricked you into a marriage with him, you are irrevocably bound to him."
Edith shivered with pain and abhorrence at these last words, but she did not respond to them in any way.
"I came here with hatred in my heart toward you," the other went on, "but I shall go away blessing you for your kindness to me; for, instead of shrinking from me, as one defiled and too depraved to be tolerated, you have held out the hand of sympathy to me and listened patiently and pityingly to the story of my wrongs."
As she concluded, she dropped her face upon the head of her child with a weary, disheartened air that touched Edith deeply.
"Will you tell me your name?" she questioned, gently, after a moment or two of silence. "Pardon me," she added, flushing, as her companion looked up sharply, "I am not curious, but I do not know how to address you."
"Giulia Fiorini. Holy Mother forgive me the shame I have brought upon it!" she returned, with a sob. "I have called him"—laying her trembling hand upon the soft, silky curls of her child—"Ino Emil."
"Thank you," said Edith, "and for your confidence in me as well. You have been greatly wronged; and if there is any justice or humanity in law, this tie, which so fetters me, shall be annulled; then, perchance, Monsieur Correlli may be persuaded to do what is right toward you.
"No, lady, I have no hope of that," said Giulia, dejectedly, "for when a man begins to tire of the woman whom he has injured he also begins to despise her, and to consider himself ill-used because she even dares to exist."
"Perhaps you would wish to repudiate him," suggested Edith, who felt that such would be her attitude toward any man who had so wronged her.
"Oh, no; much as I have suffered, I still love Emil, and would gladly serve him for the remainder of my life, if he would but honor me with his name; but I know him too well ever to hope for that—I know that he is utterly selfish and would mercilessly set his heel upon me if I should attempt to stand in the way of his purposes. There is nothing left for me but to go back to my own country, confess my sin to my parents, and hide myself from the world until I die."