ever once dreamed that her betrothed lover would decide
against her.

It fairly took her breath away, and a sudden new sensation shot through
her heart that had never found lodgment there before.

She drew back and said no more, a deathly pallor overspreading her face.
She did not interfere again, and she suffered them to arrange the
invitations after that to please themselves.

She rose quietly at length and made her way to the window, great tears
rising to her sightless eyes.

They did not even notice her absence, but chatted and laughed quite the
same.

After they had finished Harry proposed that they should take the
invitations to be mailed. This Iris gayly assented to, and they left the
room without once making any excuse to Dorothy for leaving her there
alone.

The fact was that they were not even aware that she had seated herself
in the bay window behind the great, heavy _portieres_.

For the first time Dorothy wished that Iris had not come. She was
already beginning to feel the weight of the iron hand that was soon to
crush her--jealousy.

She awaited their coming with the greatest impatience, but it was long
hours ere they returned.

CHAPTER XIV.

Harry Kendal did not intend being untrue to Dorothy when he let himself
drift into that platonic friendship with Iris, the beauty, which had
developed into such a dangerous flirtation.

Gradually the girl's fascinations seemed to overpower him, and before
he quite realized it, Iris had become part and parcel of his life.

On the way to the postoffice a little event had happened which had
almost changed the current of his life.

They had taken the short cut from Gray Gables to the postoffice, which
lay over the hills, and were walking along arm in arm when suddenly
Iris' foot slipped upon a stone, and she stumbled headlong in the path
with a little, terrified cry.

In an instant Harry had raised her, and to his utter consternation she
clung to him half fainting.

"Oh, Mr. Kendal--Harry--I--I have sprained my ankle! I can not walk!"
she said; and a low cry of pain broke from her lips.

He gathered her close in his arms, and did everything in his power to
soothe her.

"I am so sorry--so sorry that I let you undertake this trip with me. Let
me carry you back to the house."

"My--my ankle is not sprained," she faltered; "it was only wrenched a
little as it turned over against that stone. We will sit down on this
log a few moments, and after