But Jessie was not an ordinary woman.

She possessed a high sense of personal honor; and looked upon any pledge as a sacred obligation.

Having consented to become the wife of Leon Dexter, she saw but one right course, and that was to perform, as best she could, her part of the contract.
How envied she was! Many wondered that Dexter should have turned aside for a portionless girl, when he might have led a jewelled bride to the altar.

But though superficial, he had taste and discrimination enough to see that Jessie Loring was superior to all the maidens whom it had been his fortune to meet.

And so, without pausing to look deeply into her heart, or take note of its peculiar aspirations and impulses, he boldly pressed forward resolved to win.
And he did win; and in winning, thought, like many another foolish man, that to win the loveliest, was to secure the highest happiness.
Fatal error! Doubly fatal! It is impossible for any woman to pass through an ordeal like the one that was testing the quality of Jessie Loring, and not show signs of the inward strife.