It was not a mock marriage.

It has been proved real.

It was a genuine justice who married us, and you are my lawful wife.

Oh, pray, please don't hurt me so." He uttered a scream of pain as Adah's hands pressed heavily now upon the hard, purple flesh.
She scarcely knew what she was doing as she listened to his words and heard that she was indeed his wife.

Two years before, such news would have overwhelmed her with delight, but now for a single instant a fierce and almost resentful pang shot through her heart as she thought of being bound for life to one for whom she had no love, and whose very caresses made her loathe him more and more.