like
ceiling of her little room.

She saw there Sidney in her white dress going down the aisle of the
church; she saw the group around the altar; and, as surely as she lay
there, she knew that Max Wilson's eyes would be, not on the bride, but
on the girl who stood beside her.

The curious thing was that Carlotta felt that she could stop the wedding
if she wanted to. She'd happened on a bit of information--many a wedding
had been stopped for less. It rather obsessed her to think of stopping
the wedding, so that Sidney and Max would not walk down the aisle
together.

There came, at last, an hour before the wedding, a lull in the feverish
activities of the previous month. Everything was ready. In the Lorenz
kitchen, piles of plates, negro waiters, ice-cream freezers, and Mrs.
Rosenfeld stood in orderly array. In the attic, in the center of a
sheet, before a toilet-table which had been carried upstairs for her
benefit, sat, on this her day of days, the bride. All the second story
had been prepared for guests and presents.

Florists were still busy in the room below. Bridesmaids were clustered
on the little staircase, bending over at each new ring of the bell and
calling reports to Christine through the closed door:--

"Another wooden box, Christine. It looks like more plates. What will you
ever do with them all?"

"Good Heavens! Here's another of the neighbors who wants to see how you
look. Do say you can't have any visitors now."

Christine sat alone in the center of her sheet. The bridesmaids had been
sternly forbidden to come into her room.

"I haven't had a chance to think for a month," she said. "And I've got
some things I've got to think out."

But, when Sidney came, she sent for her. Sidney found her sitting on a
stiff chair, in her wedding gown, with her veil spread out on a small
stand.

"Close the door," said Christine. And, after Sidney had kissed her:--

"I've a good mind not to do it."

"You're tired and nervous, that's all."

"I am, of course. But that isn't what's wrong with me. Throw that veil
some place and sit down."

Christine was undoubtedly rouged, a very delicate touch. Sidney thought
brides should be rather pale. But under her eyes were lines that Sidney
had never seen there before.

"I'm not going to be foolish, Sidney. I'll go through with it, of
course. It would put mamma in her grave if I made a scene now."

She suddenly turned on Sidney.

"Palmer gave his bachelor dinner at