ued: "The guests are all invited, and
oh, I can't escape, I can't! I have given my word; I am lost. Thank you,
dear friend, thank you, for your effort to help me; but it is too late,
too late!"

"No, it is not too late," continued Billy; "but in three hours it will
be too late, and you will curse yourself because you did not listen to
me."

"I know I shall; I know it only too well," replied the weeping girl. "I
will not ask you to remain for the--the tragedy."

"I would not witness it," cried Billy, "for all the gold in the world!
When I'm gone, Rita, remember what I've said. Do not wait until it is
too late, but come with me; come now with me, Rita, and let the
consequences be what they will. They cannot be so evil as those which
will follow your marriage. You do not know. You do not understand. Come
with me, girl, come with me. Do not hesitate. When I have left you, it
will be too late, too late. God only can help you; and if you walk
open-eyed into this trouble, He will _not_ help you. He helps those who
help themselves."

"No, Billy Little, no; I cannot go with you. I have given my word. I
have cast the die."

With these words Billy arose, took up his hat, stick, and gloves, went
out into the hall, and opened the front door to go.

"When I'm gone, Rita, remember what I have said and what I'm about to
say, and even though the minister be standing before you, until you have
spoken the fatal words, it will not be too late. You are an innocent
girl, ignorant of many things in life. Still, every girl, if she but
stops to think, has innate knowledge of much that she is supposed not to
know. When I'm gone, Rita, _think_, girl, _think_, think of this night;
this night after the ceremony, when all the guests have gone and you
are alone with him. Kill yourself, Rita, if you will, if there is no
other way out of it--kill yourself, but don't marry that man. For the
sake of God's love, don't marry him. Death will be sweet compared to
that which you will suffer if you do. Good-by, Rita. Think of this
night, girl; think of this night."

"Good-by, Billy Little, good-by," cried the girl, while tears streamed
over her cheeks. As she closed the door behind him she covered her face
with her hands and moaned: "I cannot marry him. How can I kill myself?
How can I escape?"

Meanwhile Madam Jeffreys had donned her black silk dress, made expressly
for the occasion, and was a very busy, happy woman indeed. She did not
know that To