She saw
nothing of Tots, and she hoped his responsibilities would keep him too
busy to spare her any of his attention.
Vain hope! When she went to her room to don her bridesmaid's dress, she
found a small parcel awaiting her. With a sinking heart, she opened it,
a jeweller's box with a strip of paper wound about it. The paper
contained a message in four words: "With love from Tots."
A wild tumult arose within her, and her fingers shook so that she could
scarcely remove the lid of the box. Succeeding at length, she stood
motionless, staring with wide, scared eyes at the ring that lay shining
in the sunlight, as though she beheld some evil charm. The diamonds
flashed in her eyes and dazzled her, making her see nothing but tiny
pin-points of intolerable light. Her heart thumped and raced as though
it would choke her. Unconsciously she gasped for breath. That ring was
to her another bar in the door of her prison-house.
At an urgent call from one of her cousins, she started and almost threw
the box, with its contents, into a drawer. Feverishly she began to
dress. It was much later than she had realised. When she appeared in the
hall with the other bridesmaids, some one remarked upon her deathly
pallor, but she shrank away behind the bride, anxious only to screen
herself from observation. She would have given all she had to have
avoided Tots just then, but there was no escape for her.
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