But Mrs. Dunn adhered rigidly to the original plan. The great ambition of her life was to take rank as a society woman, and she believed that a European tour would confer upon her an enviable éclat. Nothing would have induced her to forego this great dream of her life, and the prospective bridegroom grimly resigned himself to the inevitable, although chafing in secret against his doom. But there was no retreat he knew. Mrs. Dunn held over his head like the sword of Damocles his guilty secret. He could not afford to risk its betrayal, so he was preparing to go like a lamb to the nuptial altar. And now the final hour was at hand, and the bridal-train was entering the aisle of one of the most beautiful churches in Boston to the gay strains of the wedding-march. Ralph Allen was as handsome as a picture, and Alexie was dazzling in satin and pearls and misty veil, all of lustrous white. In her train of bridemaids Italy came second to Alys--poor Alys, who was signally disappointed in her plan of making the third bride on this occasion. Mrs. Dunn, in her character of a widow, did not wear pure white, but was elegantly robed in brocaded lavender silk and diamonds, with a point-lace veil obscuring her plump charms. She carried a bouquet of heliotrope and white japonica instead of orange flowers. Her bridegroom, dressed in the height of style, wore a bored expression, as if he wished the affair well over. Every one was looking at the bridal-party, of course, or many would have seen that beautiful Italy was trembling as though under the stress of deep anxiety. They would have thought it but natural excitement over a wedding, but the cause lay deeper yet. She was in a fever of unrest and anxiety, and as she looked at the bared, handsome face of Percy Seabright, she thought to herself: “He must surely have received the anonymous note. Is it possible that he calmly disregards it? Steeped to the lips in crime himself, he coolly disregards Mrs. Dunn’s sin, and will marry her just the same. Yet I have heard it said that the vilest men preferred good women!” She could think of nothing but that in a few more hours Percy Seabright would be on the broad ocean, secure for months and months from the punishment for his guilt that she hoped to soon bring home to him. Over and over she asked herself: “Did he receive the anonymous note? Can it be he has missed it by some strange fatality?” Ralph had turned from the altar with blushing Alexie on his arm, the happiest young husband in the world. The marriage-service was being solemnized now for Percy Seabright and Ione Dunn.