discovery. It seemed hours before she dropped off in the first
surrender to sleep; it seemed hours between the succeeding falls. Her
brain and heart were waging the most relentless battle against peace
and security. She KNEW Joe Dauntless was but two cars ahead, and yet
she wondered if were really there; she wondered and was troubled--oh,
so troubled.

Daylight was creeping in beneath the curtain of the window. She
stretched her fine, tired young body, and for the first time really
felt like going to sleep. The perversity of early morning! Gradually
it dawned upon her that the train was not moving; as far back as she
could recall in her now wakeful spell it occurred to her that the cars
had been standing still and that everything was as quiet as death. She
looked at her watch; it was six o'clock.

"Goodness!" she thought, sitting up suddenly, "what is the matter?"
The curtain flew up and her startled eyes blinked out upon the glaring
world.

There was not a house in sight as far as her eyes could range forward
and behind. Instead, a wide sweep of farm lands partially submerged by
the flood water of many rains. Far away there were brown hills and a
long army of tall trees standing at attention,--a bleak prospect
despite the cheery intentions of the sun, which lurked behind the
hills. Despondent cornstalks of last year's growth stood guard over
the soggy fields; drenched, unhappy tufts of grass, and forlorn but
triumphant reeds arose here and there from the watery wastes,
asserting their victory over a dismantled winter. It was not a
glorious view that met the gaze of the bride on her wedding morn.