But Tommy! She could not think of Tommy's eager young life passing so.

Those words were written for the old and weary.

But for such as Tommy--a thousand times No! He was surely too ardent, too full of life, to pass so.

She felt as if he were years younger than herself.
And then another thought came to her, a curious haunting thought.

Was the Nemesis that had overtaken her in the forbidden paradise yet pursuing her with relentless persistence?
Was the measure of her punishment not yet complete?
Did some further vengeance still follow her in the wilderness of her desolation?
She tried to fling the thought from her, but it clung like an evil dream.