r every
second. The beating of her heart rose up and deafened her. It was like
someone beating a tattoo in the church. She could not hear another word
of the service. And she was suffocating with the nauseous sweetness of
the bridal flowers. Wildly she looked around her. Where was Trevor? He
would help her. He would understand--he always understood. But she sought
him in vain. There was only the long line of bridesmaids behind her and
a sea of indistinct faces on each side.

She lifted her head and gasped. She felt as if she were being smothered
in flowers. Their heavy perfume stifled her. She understood now why some
people wouldn't have flowers at their funerals. She had always thought it
odd before.

She was slipping more and more rapidly down that fatal slope. The
sunlight that lay in a great bar of vivid colours across the church
danced before her eyes. She no longer saw the bridal couple in front of
her. They had faded quite away, and in their stead was a terrible abyss
of flowers--bridal flowers that made her sick and faint.

She swayed as she stood. Who was that speaking? Certain solemn words had
pierced her reeling brain. She heard them as if they came from another
world--

"Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder."

Those words would be uttered over her next. Perhaps they were meant
for her even now. Surely it was her own wedding and not Hilda's,
after all! She was being married, and she wasn't ready! Oh, it was
horrible--horrible! And where was Trevor, or Bertie, or someone--anyone--
to hold her back from that dreadful, scented darkness?

Ah! An arm supporting her! A steady hand that took the flowers away!
Trevor at last! She turned and clung to him weakly, crying like a
frightened child. Her knees would not support her any longer, they
doubled under her weight. But he lifted her without effort, almost as if
she had been a child indeed, and carried her away.

He bore her to an open door that led out from the vestry, and there in
the fresh air Chris revived. He set her on her feet, and made her lean
against him. Jack hovered in the background, but he dismissed him.

"She is all right again. Go and tell your mother. It was an atmosphere to
asphyxiate an ox."

Chris laughed very shakily. "I'm so sorry, Trevor. Did I make a scene?"

She would have withdrawn from his support, but he kept his arm about her.
"No, dear. I chanced to be looking at you, and I saw you were going to
faint. I