"You must not think of the troubles of other people, my dear," said Mrs. Tudor, briskly, noting the thoughtful expression of the fair young face. "Such cases as I have just read you are fortunately rare. I should not have read you the scandals. Young girls like to hear about the marriages best. Ah! here is one that is interesting--a grand wedding which is to take place at Whitestone Hall, in Allendale, to-morrow night. I have read of it before; it will be a magnificent affair. The husband-to-be, Mr. Rexford Lyon, is very wealthy; and the bride, Miss Pluma Hurlhurst, is quite a society belle--a beauty and an heiress." Poor Daisy! although she had long expected it, the announcement seemed like a death-blow to her loving little heart; in a single instant all her yearning, passionate love for her handsome young husband awoke into new life. She had suddenly awakened to the awful reality that her husband was about to marry another. "Oh, pitiful Heaven, what shall I do?" she cried, wringing her hands. "I will be too late to warn them. Yet I must--I must! It must not be!" she cried out to herself; "the marriage would be wrong." If she allowed it to go on, she would be guilty of a crime; therefore, she must prevent it. Pluma was her mortal enemy. Yet she must warn her that the flower-covered path she was treading led to a precipice. The very thought filled her soul with horror. She wasted no more time in thinking, she must act. "I can not go to poor old Uncle John first," she told herself. "I must go at once to Pluma. Heaven give me strength to do it. Rex will never know, and I can go quietly out of his life again." The marriage must not be! Say, think, argue with herself as she would, she could not help owning to herself that it was something that must be stopped at any price. She had not realized it in its true light before. She had had a vague idea that her supposed death would leave Rex free to marry Pluma. That wrong could come of it, in any way, she never once dreamed. The terrible awakening truth had flashed upon her suddenly; she might hide herself forever from her husband, but it would not lessen the fact; she, and she only, was his lawful wife before God and man. From Heaven nothing could be hidden. Her whole heart seemed to go out to her young husband and cling to him as it had never done before. "What a fatal love mine was!" she said to herself; "how fatal, how cruel to me!" To-morrow night! Oh, Heaven! would she be in time to save him? The very thought seemed to arouse all her energy. "Why, what are you going to do, my dear?" cried Mrs. Tudor, in consternation, as Daisy staggered, weak and trembling, from her couch.