Is it not so ?" "You know it could be nothing else which could make me so very, very happy," laughed Claire, her cheeks reddening.
"And you have answered--yes ?" asked Faynie.
"Of course I said yes," responded Claire.
"And when is the wedding to take place ?" queried Faynie, hoping with all her heart that this lover of whom the girl was so desperately fond loved Claire for herself--not for the wealth she had fallen heir to.
Claire raised her bright, blushing face shyly, the dimples coming and going, making her rather plain little face almost beautiful at that moment.
"Mamma wanted the marriage put off for a year--I am so young--but Lester was so impatient that he would consent to no such arrangement.

He wants the ceremony performed with as little delay as is absolutely necessary." "Lester!" The name went through Faynie's heart like the thrust of a knife.
For an instant every nerve in her body seemed to tremble and throb with quick, spasmodic pain, then to stand still as though the chill of death were creeping over her.

Her eyes grew dim with an awful darkness, and Claire's voice seemed far off and indistinct.

Then the world faded from her altogether and she fell at Claire's feet all in a little heap, in a dead swoon..