ary stopped.
Then we heard the voice of the dean and we lifted our heads. I turned to
offer Mrs. Stillwater a prayer book. Then I saw her face. It was
ghastly, and her eyes were fixed in a wild stare upon the face of the
dean, whose eyes were upon the open book from which he was reading.
Quick as lightning she covered her face with her veil and so remained
until we all knelt down for the opening prayer. When we arose from our
knees, Rose was gone."

Cora paused for a few moments.

"Go on, go on," said Mr. Fabian.

"We did not leave the church. Grandfather evidently took for granted
that Rose had left on account of some trifling indisposition, and he is
not easily moved by women's ailments, you know. So we stayed out the
services and the sermon. When we returned to the hotel we found that
Rose had retired to her room suffering from a severe attack of neuralgic
headache, as she said."

"What did you think?"

"I thought she might have been suddenly attacked by maddening pain,
which had given the wild look to her eyes; but the next day I had good
reason to change my opinion as to the cause of her strange demeanor."

"What was that?"

"We all left the hotel at an early hour to take the train for West
Point. Mrs. Stillwater seemed to have quite recovered from her illness.
We had arrived at the depot and received our tickets, and were waiting
at the rear of a great crowd at the railway gate, till it should be
opened to let us pass to our train. I was standing on the right of my
grandfather, and Rose on my right. Suddenly a man looked around. He was
a great Wall Street broker who had dealings with your firm. Seeing
grandfather, he spoke to him heartily, and then begged to introduce the
gentleman who was with him. And then and there he presented the Dean of
Olivet to Mr. Rockharrt, who, after a few words of polite greeting,
presented the dean to me, and turned to find Rose Stillwater."

"Well! Well!"

"She was gone. She had vanished from the crowd at the railway gate as
swiftly, as suddenly, and as incomprehensibly as she had vanished from
the church. After looking about him a little, my grandfather said that
she had got pressed away from us by the crowd, but that she knew her way
and would take care of herself and follow us to the train all right. But
when the gates were opened we did not see her, nor did we find her on
the train, though Mr. Rockharrt walked up and down through the twenty
cars looking for her, and f