that his face was very
pale and stormy--and this was something unusual with calm, placid,
courteous Jack.

"'For Heaven's sake, don't nag me any more, mother,' he cried, 'or you
will drive me mad! Constant dripping will in time wear out even a stone.
I have ruined my life to satisfy one of your whims; surely that ought
to suffice. If I can't have peace in the house, I will take my hat and
walk out of it. I can not endure this eternal nagging, that I must treat
Jessie better--more as becomes a betrothed lover. You know very well
that I do not love her. My marriage with her will be all your doing. My
heart is with Dorothy; and when a man loves as I loved her, even if that
love is destroyed, no one can ever fill the same niche in his
affections. It is an impossibility. So, have done with this subject,
mother, at once and forever.

"'I shall marry Jessie, because I am pledged to do so. I will make her
life as happy as I can. She need never know that my heart is not hers,
although she will bear my name.'

"I--I--never knew how I groped my way into an adjoining room," continued
Jessie, "and there I sank down unconscious.

"How long I remained there I never knew. When I came to, Mrs. Garner,
greatly frightened, was kneeling beside me and laving my face with
eau-de-Cologne.

"And I knew by the fearful look in her eyes that she suspected that I
had found out about Jack not caring for me.

"'Tell me what is the matter, my little Jessie!' she said, clasping me
in her arms and pillowing my head on her breast.

"In broken gasps I told her, adding that I was going away--back to the
poverty from which they had taken me, and Jack should never see my face
again. Oh! how she prayed and pleaded with me on her bended knees,
crying out:

"'If you love me, Jessie, do not break from Jack. I am sure he did not
mean all he said. He was only incensed a little at me. He would not have
you know it for the whole wide world. Oh, believe me, Jessie! Do not try
to break my heart by your rash action. The marriage invitations have
gone forth. What could we say to the people? Think of the scandal,
Jessie, and save us from it. Let my words be a prayer to you. I am older
than you are, Jessie. Let me tell you how this will be:

"'There might be in his heart only deep respect for you, but when he
marries you, he will learn to love you. Every man loves his wife.'

"Against my own will and my better judgment, I allowed her to persuade
me.

"I m