wondered that she lived through it from moment to moment.

It was Lester Armstrong who was speaking at that moment, and she was
obliged to clutch her hands tightly together to keep from screaming
aloud as she heard him say to his companion:

"I have always been a free lance among the pretty girls, drifting about
much after the fashion of the bee wherever my fancy listed, and it will
be more than irksome to yoke myself in the matrimonial harness to this
girl. She is not of the kind--face, figure, temperament, anything--that
is calculated to arouse my admiration. I detest your baby-faced
creatures of her stamp, but she's heiress to a million, and I have
concluded to swallow the gilded pill.

"There's one thing I assure you of, before she is married to me a
fortnight I'll break that cursed temper of hers, if I have to break her
neck or her heart, or both, to do it. She shall find that I'm her lord
and master from this hour henceforth, and my word is law."

"I'd advise you not to rush the scheme for getting that big sum of money
until you have gained her confidence a little. More flies can be caught
with molasses than vinegar, you know."

"I shall have little patience with her," declared her lover. "I detested
her the first instant my eyes rested upon her, and I am positive the
feeling will grow upon me with every passing hour, instead of
diminishing."

"It is easy enough to guess the reason for that," laughed the other.
"You are in love with the queenly Gertrude, who has already more adorers
than she can count. It is common report that you are the beauty's
favorite, however, and if you weren't both so confoundedly poor, you'd
make a first-class couple. As it is, of course it's not to be thought
of."

"Except in one way," cut in the other in a sharp, dry, hard voice. "If
this girl whom I marry to-night were to die suddenly on the wedding
trip, for instance, I would come in for her fortune; then, when the
excitement blew over, I could go to Gertrude and say--"

The sentence was never finished, for at that moment the door of the
vehicle was suddenly wrenched open, and with a piercing cry Faynie
sprang out into the raging storm and the inky blackness of the night.

A terrible imprecation broke from the lips of the handsome scoundrel by
her side.

"I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that that little fool tricked us by
feigning unconsciousness, and has heard every word we uttered. Of
course, it's to be regretted, but th