Anger is a
strong ingredient in the excessive grief of every selfish nature.
Preston Cheney became more and more disheartened with the prospect of
his future, as he studied the character and temperament of his
fiancee during her first weeks of loss.
But the net which he had woven was closing closer and closer about
him, and every day he became more hopelessly entangled in its meshes.
At the end of one month, the family physician decided that travel and
change of air and scene was an imperative necessity for Miss
Lawrence. Judge Lawrence was engaged in some important legal matters
which rendered an extended journey impossible for him. To trust
Mabel in the hands of hired nurses alone, was not advisable. It was
her father who suggested an early marriage and a European trip for
bride and groom, as the wisest expedient under the circumstances.
Like the prisoner in the iron room, who saw the walls slowly but
surely closing in to crush out his life, Preston Cheney saw his
wedding day approaching, and knew that his doom was sealed.
There were many desperate hours, when, had he possessed the slightest
clue to the hiding-place of Berene Dumont, he would have flown to
her, even knowing that he left disgrace and death behind him. He
realised that he now owed a duty to the girl he loved, higher and
more imperative by far than any he owed to his fiancee.
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