"I had almost forgotten it," returned Jessie.
One glance as she spread it out at full length, then her face grew white as death.
"Bless me! I shall be late!" declared her uncle, putting on his hat and hurrying from the room.
She never remembered what he said as he passed out of the room. Her heart, ay, her very soul, was engrossed in the printed lines before her.
In startling headlines she read the words:
"A Notable Marriage in High Life—Mr. Hubert Varrick and Miss Northrup Wedded At Last."
Then followed an account of the grand ceremony; of a mansion decorated with roses; a description of the marriage; the elaborate wedding-breakfast served in a perfect bower of orchids and ferns; and then the names of the guests, who numbered nearly a thousand.
Jessie Bain never finished the article. With a bitter cry she fell face downward on the floor in a deep swoon.
It was an hour or more ere she returned to consciousness. With trembling hands the girl tore the newspaper clipping into a thousand shreds, lest her eyes should ever fall on it again.
"He is married—married!" she murmured; and the words seemed to fall like ice upon her heart.