I’d marry him if I had to go through hell to do it!”

Sherrill quivered at the words. She was watching this other girl, thinking fast, and sudden determination came into her face.

“Then you shall!” she said in a low clear voice of determination. “You may get taken at your word. You may have to go through hell for it. But I won’t be responsible for that. If you feel that way about it, you shall marry him!”

The other girl looked up with frightened eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you shall marry him! Now! Tonight!” “But how could I?” she asked dully. “That would be impossible.”

“No, it is not impossible. Come! Quick. We have got to work fast! Listen! There comes somebody to the door. Come with me! Don’t make a sound!”

Sherrill snapped the light off and, grasping the gloved hand of the girl, she pulled her after her through the dimly lighted middle rooms and inside her own door, which she swiftly closed behind her, sliding the bolt.

“Now!” she said, drawing a breath of relief. “We’ve got to work like lightning! Take off your gloves and hat and dress just as fast as you can!”

Sherrill’s hands were busy with the fastening of her veil. Carefully she searched out the hairpins that held it and lifted it off, laying it in a great billow upon the bed, her hands at once searching for the fastening of her own bridal gown.

“But what are you going to do?” asked the other girl staring at her wildly, though she began automatically to pull off her long gloves.

“I’m going to put these things on you,” said Sherrill, pulling off her dress over her head frantically. “Hurry, won’t you? The car is probably out there waiting now. They’ll begin to get suspicious if we are a long time. Take off your hat quick! And your dress! Will it just pull over your head? Hurry, I tell you! What kind of stockings have you got on? Tan ones? That won’t do. Here, I’ve got another pair of silver ones in the drawer. I always have two pairs in case of a run. Sit down there, and peel yours off quick! I wonder if my shoes will fit you. You’ll have to try them anyway, for we couldn’t get any others!”

Sherrill kicked her silver shoes off and groped in the closet, bringing out an old pair of black satin ones and stepping into them hurriedly. The jeweled buckles glinted wickedly.

Her mind was working rapidly now. She dashed to her suitcase and rooted out a certain green taffeta evening gown, a recent purchase, one that she had especially liked and had planned to take with her, in case anything should delay her trunk. She dropped it over her own head, pulling it down with hurried hands and a bitter thought of what pleasure she had taken in it when she bought it. If she had known—ah, if she had known! But there was no time for sentiment.

The other girl was fitting on the silver stockings and shoes, her hands moving slowly, uncertainly.

“Here, let me fasten those garters!” said Sherrill almost compassionately. “You really must work faster than this! Stand up. Can you manage to walk in those shoes? They’re a bit long, aren’t they? My foot is long and slim. Stand up quick and take off that dark slip. Here, here’s the white slip,” and she slid it over the golden head of the other girl. Queer, their hair was the same color!

Sherrill’s mind was so keyed up that she thought of little painful things that at another time would not have attracted her attention.

“But I can’t do this!” said Arla Prentiss, suddenly backing away from the lovely folds of ivory satin that Sherrill was holding for her to slip into. “I couldn’t ever get away with it! Cart would kill me if I tried to do a thing like this!”

“Well, you were talking about killing yourself a few minutes ago,” said Sherrill sharply, wondering at herself as she said it.