Some time to-morrow--at about half-past twelve, she supposed--the priest would join the hands of Penelope and Ralph and henceforth there would be no sundering "till death did them part." Driven by circumstances, she had not stopped to consider the possible duration of marriage when she pledged her word to Roger, and during the time which had elapsed since she left Mallow the vision of the Roger who had sometimes jarred upon her, irritating her by his narrowed outlook and his lack of perception, had inevitably faded considerably, as the memory of temperamental irritations is apt to do as soon as absence has secured relief from them.
Latterly, Nan had been feeling quite affectionately disposed towards him--he was really rather a dear in some ways! And she had accepted an invitation to spend part of the winter at Trenby Hall.
The Seymours had planned to go abroad for several months and, since Penelope would be married and on tour, it had seemed a very natural solution of matters.

So that when Lady Gertrude's rather stiffly-worded letter of invitation had arrived, Nan accepted it, determining in her own mind that, during the visit, she would try to overcome her mother-in-law's dislike to her.

The knowledge of how much Roger loved her and of how little she was really able to give him in return, made her feel that it was only playing the game to please him in any way she could.

And she recognised that to a man of Roger's ideas, the fact that his wife and mother were on good terms with one another would be a source of very definite satisfaction.
But now, as she re-read the solemn phrase: _So long as ye both shall live_, she was seized with panic.

To be married for ten, twenty, forty years, perhaps, with never the hand of happy chance--the wonderful, enthralling "might be" of life--to help her to endure it! With a little stifled cry she sprang up and began pacing the room restlessly--up and down, up and down, her slim hands clenching and unclenching as she walked.
Presently--she could, not have told whether it was five minutes or five hours later--she heard the click of a latch-key in the lock.