What, then, in Heaven's name was _she_? Poor Bernardine! It seemed to her in that moment that she was dying. Had he played a practical joke upon her? Was the marriage which she had believed in so fully no marriage at all? She had no certificate. It was scarcely an hour from the time the matron had left her until she returned; but when she did so, she cried out in alarm, for Bernardine's face was of an ashen pallor, her dark eyes were like coals of fire, and her hands were cold as death. The matron went up to her in great alarm, and gently touched the bowed head. "Bernardine," she murmured, gently--"Bernardine, my poor child, are you ill? What has happened?" After some little correspondence back and forth, Bernardine was accepted by the lady, and in a fortnight more she was able to make the journey. The matron went down to the depot with her, to see her off, and prayed that the girl would not change her mind ere she reached her destination. The train moved off, and she waved her handkerchief to the sweet, sad, tear-stained face pressed close to the window-pane until a curve in the road hid it from her sight; then she turned away with a sigh. Bernardine fell back in her seat, not caring whether or not she lived to reach her destination. It was almost dusk when the train reached the lovely little village of Lee, nestling like a bird's nest amid the sloping green hills. Bernardine stepped from the car, then stood quite still on the platform, and looked in bewilderment around her. Mrs. Gardiner had written that she would send a conveyance to the station to meet her; but Bernardine saw none. While she was deliberating as to whether she should inquire the way to the Gardiner place of the station agent, that individual suddenly turned out the lights in the waiting-room, and in an instant had jumped on a bicycle and dashed away, leaving Bernardine alone in a strange place. At that moment, a man stepped briskly beneath the swinging light. One glance, and she almost swooned from horror. The man was Jasper Wilde! CHAPTER XLIII. For a moment it seemed to Bernardine as though she must surely fall dead from fright as her startled gaze encountered her greatest enemy, Jasper Wilde. Had he followed her? Had he come all the way on the same train with her? She realized that she was alone with him on this isolated railway platform, miles perhaps from any habitation, any human being, far beyond the reach of help. The thick, heavy twilight had given place to a night of intense darkness. The flickering light of the solitary gas-lamp over the station door did not pierce the gloom more than three feet away. Bernardine did not know this, and she sunk back in deadly fear behind one of the large, old-fashioned, square posts. The long dark cloak and bonnet she wore would never betray her presence there.