her reach? Men passed so quickly in this tropical wilderness. The solemn
music of an anthem she had known and loved in the old far-off days of
her girlhood rose and surged through her. She found herself repeating
the words:

"Our life is but a shadow;
So soon passeth it away,
And we are gone,--
So soon,--so soon."

The repetition of those last words rang like a knell. But Tommy! She
could not think of Tommy's eager young life passing so. Those words were
written for the old and weary. But for such as Tommy--a thousand times
No! He was surely too ardent, too full of life, to pass so. She felt as
if he were years younger than herself.

And then another thought came to her, a curious haunting thought. Was
the Nemesis that had overtaken her in the forbidden paradise yet
pursuing her with relentless persistence? Was the measure of her
punishment not yet complete? Did some further vengeance still follow her
in the wilderness of her desolation? She tried to fling the thought from
her, but it clung like an evil dream. She could not wholly shake off the
impression that it had made upon her.

Slowly the night wore away. The heat was intense. She felt as if she
were sitting in a tank of steaming vapour. The oppression of the
atmosphere was like a physical weight. And ever the rain beat down,
rattling, incessant, upon the tin roof above her head. She thought of
Nemesis again, Nemesis wielding an iron flail that never missed its
mark. There was something terrible to her in this perpetual beating of