It was an escape for a moment.

She read the words, stared, and read them aloud incredulously.

It was from her father.
"Jerry Gardner sailed for New York to-day." She looked up at the man, and as she looked her face grew gray and the thin sheet went quivering from her lifeless fingers to the floor.

Then he began to laugh, and she knew.
"Wenham!" she shrieked.

"Wenham!" There was murder in his face, murder almost in his laugh.
"Your loving husband!" he answered.
She sprang for the door but even as she moved she heard the click of the bolt shot back.