“Can it be that the secret is hidden here?” he asked himself. “Have we all been searching far and wide for Aline Rodney while she lay wounded and hidden at her father’s very door?” The suspicion took hold upon his mind with startling pertinacity. It grew into a settled belief even while he stood there gazing fixedly at the close shut, forbidding looking door. “Well, if it be so or not, I shall find it out before I leave Chester again,” he said to himself, with a certain resolution in his tone, as he let himself out of the gate into the street again. He went back to the cottage and met Dr. Anthony coming out to look for him. “I thought you had run away, Lane. Where have you been?” asked the doctor. “I came out to smoke a cigar. You know my old bachelor habits,” Mr. Lane answered indifferently. “You must be half frozen. It is a very cold night. Come in and warm your fingers before we go,” said his friend. They went in, and though they rallied Mr. Lane on his long absence in the cold night air, he did not say one word on what he had seen and heard. The time had not come yet. CHAPTER XXXIII. The next night was the wedding-night. It was the first day of January. Dr. Anthony and Effie had chosen to begin their new life with the new year. No invitations had been issued for the marriage, but the church doors had been thrown open for the accommodation of those who cared to attend. When the bridal party entered the church, they were surprised to find that it was closely packed by the population of Chester. Curiosity had drawn thither all those among whom Effie had formerly moved, and who had scornfully dropped her because of the mysterious secret that had darkened her sister’s life. Effie had always been considered very beautiful and graceful. She had never looked more so than when she glided up the aisle on the arm of her handsome, noble-looking lover. She was so proud to have been chosen by him that she carried her fair head undauntedly, in quiet indifference to the whispers and glances on every side.