shone blue-eyed Mollie Dane. A party of speechless admirers stood
behind, chief among them Hugh Ingelow.

The bridal party were drawn up before the surpliced clergyman, and "Who
giveth this woman?" had been asked and answered, and the service was
proceeding in due order when there was a sudden commotion at the door.

Some one rushed impetuously in, and a voice that rang through the lofty
edifice shouted:

"Stop! I forbid the marriage!"

Carl Walraven whirled round aghast. The bride shrieked; the bride-maids
echoed the bride in every note of the gamut--all save Mollie; and she,
like the bridegroom, had recognized the intruder.

For, tall and gaunt as one of Macbeth's witches, there stood the woman
Miriam!




CHAPTER IV.

MOLLIE'S CONQUEST.


There was a blank pause; every eye fixed on the towering form of the
specter-like woman.