back to her. And
she also valued the fact that in no worldly sense was she the richer for
having been Ralph Dacre's wife. He had had no private means, and she was
thankful that this was so. She could not have endured to reap any
benefit from what she now regarded as a sin. She had borne her
punishment, she had garnered her experience. And now she walked once
more with unshackled feet; and though all her life she would carry the
marks of the chain that had galled her she had travelled far enough to
realize and be thankful for her liberty.

The train rattled on through the night. Anxiety came, wraith-like at
first, drifting into her busy brain. She had hardly had time to be
anxious in the rush of preparation and departure. But restlessness paved
the way. She began to ask herself with growing uneasiness what could be
awaiting her at the end of the journey. The summons had been so clear
and imperative. Her first thought, her instinct, had been to obey. Till
the enforced inaction of this train journey she had not had time to feel
the gnawing torture of suspense. But now it came and racked her. The
thought of Tommy and his need became paramount. Did he know that she was
hastening to him, she wondered? Or had he--had he already passed beyond
her reach? Men passed so quickly in this tropical wilderness. The solemn
music of an anthem she had known and loved in the old far-off days of
her girlhood rose and surged through her. She found herself repeating
the words:

"Our life is but a shadow;
So soon passeth it away,
And we are gone,--
So soon,--so soon."

The repetition of those last words rang like a knell. But Tommy! She
could not think of Tommy's eager young life passing so. Those words were
written for the old and weary. But for such as Tommy--a thousand times
No! He was surely too ardent, too full of life, to pass so. She felt as
if he were years younger than herself.

And then another thought came to her, a curious haunting thought. Was
the Nemesis that had overtaken her in the forbidden paradise yet
pursuing her with relentless persistence? Was the measure of her
punishment not yet complete? Did some further vengeance still follow her
in the wilderness of her desolation? She tried to fling the thought from
her, but it clung like an evil dream. She could not wholly shake off the
impression that it had made upon her.

Slowly the night wore away. The heat was intense. She felt as if she
were sittin