“Oh, that you could, dear soul!” Leola answered, and neither one slept that night for the tumult of their thoughts--Leola’s all grief and repugnance, Miss Tuttle’s all envy and wounded love--and when the sunshine of the July morning peeped into the windows their faces were haggard and pain-drawn, and both felt as if the day of execution had dawned, for Hermann had told the governess to prepare Leola to be married at sundown that evening, when the carriage would be waiting to convey her at once to her new home. With heavy eyes they looked into each other’s faces, wondering how they could escape their doom, and Leola cried, desperately: “There is one chance left, and I shall take it. When I have paid my debt of gratitude to my guardian by marrying Giles Bennett, I--I--shall not be among the living to-morrow!” “Do you mean it, Leola?” “I swear it,” answered the girl, recklessly, and Miss Tuttle knew, by the somber gaze of the beautiful dark eyes, that it was true. Life, that had flowed along like a silvery rippling stream between flower-fringed banks, had suddenly become a muddy torrent rushing onward to destruction, and naught could stay its onward course. Desperate, reckless, she was ready to rush unbidden into the Great Beyond, daring the unknown future in terror of the awful present. “Oh, Leola, you must not! It would be a terrible sin! Promise me you will not!” cried the poor soul, timorously. But Leola’s shut lips kept a deadly silence, and Miss Tuttle continued, conciliatory: “If you could escape this marriage, Leola, would you then be willing to live?” The sudden gleam of hope in the dark eyes assured her that Leola might yet find something to live for in her shadowed life, and she continued: “Dearie, I have a plan that might help you. I’ve been turning it over and over in my mind, but I never should have broached it had it not been for your dreadful threat.” “Tell it to me,” implored the girl, and glancing cautiously around, that none might overhear, Miss Tuttle bent and whispered some rapid words into Leola’s ear. A light began to dance in the dark eyes, the pale lips smiled a little, and Leola cried: “It will be a terrible risk to run, but if you can manage it and are not afraid, I will help all I can, for I long to punish Giles Bennett for his meanness!” “I’ll take all the responsibility for everything,” smiled Miss Tuttle, glowing with eagerness. “Don’t you worry one bit, Leola; it will all come right in the end. But, oh, dear, I’ve got to put in a busy day getting the bride ready.” “Make her as pretty as you can, and let the veil be very thick,” laughed Leola, with renewed good humor. “And, by-the-way, Miss Tuttle, you are to tell my guardian that before the ceremony begins Giles Bennett must destroy the mortgage in my presence, or I will not marry him at all.” So the busy day began, for the whole household was in a state of excitement over the sudden wedding.