"Yes, indeed, she saved me a vast deal of plotting and planning, for I was determined that she should be put out of the way somehow, and that _soon_," Mrs. Cleveland answers, heartlessly. "The little fool! I did not think she had the courage to kill herself, but I am very much obliged to her." "'Nothing in her life became her like the leaving it,'" Ivy quotes, heartlessly. "Remember, Ivy, you must not allow Leslie to perceive your joy. He is very peculiar--weak-minded, indeed," scornfully. "And he might be offended. Just now he is carried away by a maudlin sentimentality over her tragic death." "Never fear for me. I shall be discretion itself," laughs Ivy. "But, of course, I shall make no display of grief. _That_ could not be expected." "Of course not. But it will be a mark of respect to Leslie if you will attend the funeral to-morrow." "Then I will do so, with a proper show of decorum. I am determined that he shall not slip through my fingers again." So the two cruel and wicked women plot and plan, while the poor victim of their heartlessness lies up-stairs dead, in all her young, winsome beauty, with her small hands folded on her quiet heart, and the black-fringed lashes lying heavily against the marble-white cheeks. They have robed her for the grave, and left her there alone, with no one "to come in and kiss her to lighten the gloom." So the day wanes and the night, and Vera lies still and white in the long black casket to which they have consigned her. They have left the cover off, and only a transparent veil lies lightly across her face, through which her delicate features show clearly. How wonderfully the look of life lingers still; how the pink lips retain the warm, pink coloring of life. But there is no one to note how wonderfully death has spared her fairness; no one to exclaim, with the power of affection: "She looks too sweet and life-like for us to bury her out of our sight." Afternoon comes, and they carry the casket down into the parlor where a little group are waiting to hear the brief service of the black-robed minister. Then they gather around in the gloomy, darkened room, glance shudderingly at the beautiful white face, and turn away, while the stolid undertaker screws down the coffin-lid over the desperate young suicide. After that the solemn, black-plumed hearse is waiting to bear her away to her rest, by her mother's side. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." "_Resquiescat in pace._" * * * * * Leslie Noble goes home that night. In his character of a widower, he must wait a little space before he renews his suit to the impatient Ivy. "You will come back to me soon, Leslie dear?" she sighs, sentimentally, as she clings to his arm. "As soon as decorum permits me," he replies. "Will you wait for me patiently, Ivy?" "Yes, only do not stay too long," she answers, and he presses a light kiss on her powdered forehead, which Ivy takes in good faith as the solemn seal of their betrothal.