"Oh, no, my poor child," she began, soothingly; "you do not realize what you are saying. Of course, I know it is all very wrong to deceive a girl in any such way, be she high or low, rich or poor. But just consider how you are situated. You say that your hus—that Sir William has your marriage certificate, and you have nothing to prove your statements with, even if you should present yourself at Heathdale. How do you suppose you would be received there if you should burst in upon them claiming to be Sir William's wife and the mistress of Heathdale if you could not substantiate your statements? My dear, it would be the blindest folly."
"But I have his letters!" cried Virgie, eagerly.
"True, you have his letters, and no doubt his handwriting would be instantly recognized by his family, But they could not prove your position, especially if they are all written after the style of the one which you allowed me to read this afternoon, for in all those pages not once does he speak of you as his wife. You must have something more tangible and conclusive than those," Mrs. Farnum asserted, confidently.
All the light died out of Virgie's face as she began to see that there were terrible difficulties in the way of proving that she was a lawfully wedded wife.
"I have my ring," she said, weakly, and holding up the white, delicate hand on which the heavy circlet gleamed, guarded by a brilliant diamond, but which trembled like a reed shaken by the wind.
"Is it marked with the date of your marriage?" inquired Mrs. Farnum, an anxious gleam in her eye as it rested upon that symbol of wifehood.
"N-o; it was thoughtlessly neglected at the time, because there were so many other things to be attended to, and—and I could not bear to have it taken off to rectify the oversight, after it was once put upon my hand," Virgie confessed, growing white again even to her lips.
"That was unwise, not to say foolish of you," said Mrs. Farnum, deprecatingly, but with a throb of exultation.
"But," added Virgie, after thinking a moment, "he brought me here as his wife. The proprietor of this hotel will tell you so. Dr. Knox, my physician, will tell you so also, as I was introduced to him by my husband as Mrs. Heath; and there are other people in the house who know it."
Mrs. Farnum smiled pitifully.