in vain.

When her brother joined them at the end of the week a dullness of despair
had come upon her. Again she saw herself trapped and helpless, lacking
even the spirit to attempt escape. She greeted Jack almost abstractedly,
and he observed her throughout the evening with anxiety in his eyes. When
it was over he drew her aside for a moment as she was bidding him
good-night.

"What's the matter, little 'un? What's wrong?" he whispered, with his arm
about her.

She clung to him for an instant with a closeness that was passionate.
But, "It's nothing, Jack," she whispered back. "It's nothing."

Then Fletcher Hill came up to them, and they separated. Adela and Dot
went up to bed, and the two men were left alone.

* * * * *

So at length the great day dawned, and nothing had happened. The only
news that had reached them was a remark overheard by Adela in the
dining-room, to the effect that Harley had thrown up his post and gone.

Dot dressed for her wedding with a dazed sense of unreality. Her attire
was of the simplest. She wore a hat instead of a veil. It was to be a
quiet ceremony in the early morning, for neither she nor Hill desired any
unnecessary parade. When she descended the stairs with Adela, Jack was
the only person awaiting her in the hall.

He looked at her searchingly as she came down to him, then without a word
he took her in his arms and kissed her white face. She saw that he was
moved, and wondered within herself at her own utter lack of emotion. Ever
since she had lain against Bill Warden's breast, the wild sweet rapture
of his hold had seemed to paralyze in her all other feeling. She knew
only the longing for his presence, the utter emptiness of a world that
held him not.

She drove to the church with her hand in Jack's, Adela talking
incessantly the whole way while they two sat in silence. It was a bare
building in the heart of the town, but its bareness did not convey any
chill to her. She was already too numbly cold for that.

She went up the aisle between Jack and Adela, because the latter
good-naturedly remarked that she might as well have as much support as
she could get. But before they reached the altar-steps Fletcher Hill came
to meet them, and Adela dropped behind.

He also looked for a moment closely into Dot's face, then very quietly he
took her cold hand from Jack and drew it through his arm. She glanced at
him with a momentary nervousness as Jack