She said nothing to Bernardine, but quietly wrote a long and very
earnest letter to her young friend, asking him to come without delay to
the street and number where he had left her a week previous, as she had
something of great importance to consult him about.

CHAPTER XXI.JASPER WILDE MEETS WITH AN ADVENTURE.

Miss Rogers had taken the greatest pains to direct her all-important
letter to Doctor Jay Gardiner, and had gone to the nearest box to mail
it herself. But, alas! for the well-laid plans of mice and men which
gang aft aglee.

Fate, strange, inexorable Fate, which meddles in all of our earthly
affairs, whether we will or not, ordained that this letter should not
reach its destination for many a day, and it happened in this way:

Quite by accident, when it left Miss Rogers' hand, the letter dropped in
the depths of the huge mail-box and became wedged securely in a crevice
or crack in the bottom.

The mail-gatherer was always in a hurry, and when he took up the mail on
his rounds, he never noticed the letter pressed securely against the
side down in the furthermost corner.

Sitting anxiously awaiting a response to her missive, or her young
friend to come in person, Miss Rogers watched and waited for Jay
Gardiner, or any tidings of him, in vain.

Meanwhile, the preparations for the obnoxious marriage which she seemed
unable to prevent went steadily on.

All the long nights through Bernardine would weep and moan and wring her
little white hands. When Miss Rogers attempted to expostulate with her,
declaring no one could compel her to marry Jasper Wilde against her
will, she would only shake her head and cry the more bitterly, moaning
out that she did not understand.

"I confess, Bernardine, I do not understand you," she declared,
anxiously. "You will not try to help yourself, but are going willingly,
like a lamb to the slaughter, as it were."

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