His wild devotion made her tremble. Did she indeed hold this man's soul in her hands? Was he really weak and helpless without her? Perhaps God had sent him to her for her care to save. She was confused, almost tortured with her thoughts. "Ask me no answer tonight," she said trembling. "I must think and--pray." "You do not scorn me, then?" he asked with a great joy lighting his eyes. "Scorn you? It will be my happiness to arouse you to a real sense of your worth!" *********** One month later, Betty announced her engagement to Frank Edgeway. She had thought and prayed over it, and he had not ceased his persuasions. It did not seem quite natural to be contemplating marriage with another, when her heart's idol was surely George. But George belonged to another, and the hopelessness of her own love, gave her greater sympathy for Edgeway. "Frank, sometimes I think you love me too much," said Betty, "are you sure that you will not be disappointed in my poor return?" "Disappointed? O, if you only know what you have done for me. I thought it impossible to ever be really content. I hardly know myself. The world is a very different affair with my Betty. My Betty!--How strangely beautiful those words sound! Just to repeat them over and over again gives me untold joy!" She looked into his adoring eyes, and felt a certain delight in the thought of his satisfied longings. She smiled at him happily. "To make one heart so perfectly transformed with happiness is indeed a privilege," she said, running her hand through his abundance of hair with almost a maternal caress. Another month passed happily, and Edgeway seemed indeed transformed. He needed no gay mask to cover his cynicism now--it had all entire vanished. Suffused with the light from Betty's radiant nature, he suddenly developed all his latent aspirations. They read and talked together, and he felt her spirit touch all things. Sometimes he asked himself if this dream could possibly last. Would Betty be satisfied always? Then his complete happiness would chase away the doubt. One night when she and Edgeway were alone together, the post brought a letter from Alma. "Ah," she said delighted, "I have wondered why she did not write?" She opened it quickly and was surprised to find only a note. "Dearest Betty:--George returns alone tomorrow. You may expect to see him very soon. He will tell you all--I dare not trust myself to write now. We are all well and oh! So happy! My darling girl, my heart's best to you. "Devotedly, "Alma." Betty handed the letter to Edgeway in astonishment. "Is that not a strange note? What could have happened?" Edgeway read, and re-read thoughtfully. Then he handed it back saying, "Something unusual, surely. Maybe Dr. Cadman has had their marriage annulled, and your friend is reunited with her first husband. That Dr. Cadman has brains enough to engineer a case like that successfully." "You think it possible?" she asked in an awed voice.