d the most formal of greetings! He
had been false to her--a crime no woman feels disposed to forgive.

"I had to come in here as this is the only way to my dressing-room,"
Meredith explained as he rose to his feet.

Joyce thanked him coldly and watched him pass through the heavy curtains
which separated the two rooms and was the only apology for a door. When
he was gone, she writhed in anguish. Oh, if she could have crushed her
pride and called out to him to come back!

It was not so easy, however, and she hardened her heart for the task
that lay before her.

While dressing, her trembling fingers almost refusing their work, she
wondered how Mrs. Dalton would behave when they met again? If she would
have the audacity to speak to Ray? A woman of her sort would be equal to
any impertinence. Why had she not returned to her husband, who, Honor
had said, was willing to take her back? At all events, Joyce was
infinitely glad she was on the spot to curtail the woman's opportunities
for further mischief. It was worth the risk of the journey.

When she slipped on her evening gown, a rich, black _crepe de chine_,
she was seized with consternation when she remembered that it fastened
at the back. Under no circumstance would it meet without assistance. A
maid, or an ayah?--Both were equally impossible to procure at a moment's
notice.

She made several futile efforts, then looked about her in dismay! What
was to be done? Flushed, and in despair, she cast a glance at the
curtains behind which lay her only hope. Her husband had often
officiated with the hooks and eyes, and was otherwise expert as a maid.
The only alternative was to forego the ball and her great reprisal; and
this was unthinkable now that all her hopes were centred on revenge. Had
Joyce belonged to a lower order of society, she would probably have
gratified her wrath by making a scene and scratching out the woman's
eyes, or tearing out her hair in handfuls. As it was, the picture of
Mrs. Dalton seated as a wall-flower, openly despised and neglected by
the man she had tried to seduce from his allegiance, appealed powerfully
to her imagination.

Timidly she called, "Can you help me, please?"

There was no answer.

"Ray!" her voice was still more diffident, but her call met with
immediate response. Ray who had not yet begun to change for dinner, was
with her in an instant.

"I cannot dress without help. Will you please?" she asked frigidly.

Meredith took inf