The Indianapolis leader. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1879-1890, 1880-05-22

| with the eagerueSS Vi u lONtr, anu lOI I'll
first time l began to hesitate. "The woman
who hesitates is lost" said Susette.
had been out on the hills one day tryin:
to make up my mind to forget Cedric an,
marry Mr. Amherst; but whenever / begal
to think with some interest of going to par
ish meetings, becoming the President o
Dakota Leagues and sewing circles, visiting
the poor and drinking tea opposite Rev. Mr.
Amherst all the rest of my days, somehow
or other Cedric's face would slip into the
picture unlimited and blot out his rivals, a.
strong sunlight fades a negative photograph
"There is letter for you, Adrienne," said
Aunt Browne, when entered the house, "ir
the MUSHROOM on the top of the dado, under
| Mozart's picture" l went into the music
room, but there was no letter to be seen.
"Perhaps one of the girls has removed it, y
she suggested. But no one had meddled with
it.
"Grandma cooked a letter over the tea-ket-
tle," said little Teddy, rehectively.
"Yes," said grandma, 81 wrote letter to
your pa, child. hadn't any blotting paper,
but the fire answers the purpose quite as
we'll"
At that time had never heard of opening
letters by steam. Well, we ransacked the
house for that truant letter, but in vain.
w no was IL IrOul, duHI! dSkcu
"How should know, child?"
"But the handwriting-th postmark?"
"The postmark was blurred"
"Had it a foreign stamp2" L asked with
sudden earnestness Cedric had gone abroad
some months before, and had not heard of
his return.
"a foreign stampl No. Were you expect
ing q foreign letter."
"N-o; but it is the unexpected that always
happens, you know"
ats awfully provoking" said Susette
perhaps it was only the recipes Mrs. Clark
was going to send you"
Nothing more likely; but what has be-
come of it2 It's prolonged game of hunt
the thimble."
"And supposing it's letter notifying you
of the existence of first Mrs. Amherst"
put in Anne, cor legacy left by your forty
fifth cousin in Australia" And then the
door-bell rang.
Well, after that 1 suppose that must
have accepted Mr.. Amherst. Everybody
behaved as if had. l received congratula-
tions and ring, and the parish began re-
pairs upon the parsonage, before l could
muster courage to tell MIR. Amherst all
about Cedric and my mistake, and how |
wasn't sure could ever get over it, and
care for anybody else, but that l would do
my best. And he smiled in sort of
absent way when l told him.
but seemed content to take me AS
l was, for better or worse; only it did strike
me sometimes that he was the most unde-
monstrative lover in Christendom; but |
hadn't much experience in lovers, and per-
haps they wern't as gushing in real life as
novels pictured. He used to kiss my hand
when we parted; that was all. He was very
gentle, but a little sad, fancied, with look
which might mean that he was afraid of so
much happiness, or that to marry the wo-
man he loved was not all fancy had painted
it; and sometimes l thought l had perhaps
done wrong to tell him everything about
Cedric so unreservedly; yet had only meant
to be honest But the day was appointed,
and suddenly Cedric appeared among us,
when thought he was at the worlds end,
and he and the girls decorated the little
church with field daisies and grasses for the
occasion. You may believe that | avoided
the sight of Cedric in the interval before the
wedding as much as possible, but somehow
1 was always stumbling upon him; he
seemed to be perpetually at my elbow; he
surprised me more than once with traces of
tears upon my face; the sound of his voice
made my heart turn and CULVER within me.
If had dared to withdraw at this juncture,
I'm afraid / should have done so; but it
was too late; and though felt like hypo'
critic whenever Mr. Amherst appeared,
his look of sober satisfaction, which
reminded me of those lines of Matthew Roy.
den on Sir Philip Sidney,
A full assurance given by looks
Continual comfort in q face,
The lineaments Of gospel books,
might have taught me that all was we'll with
him.
"You are the oldest sweetheart / ever
saw" gossipped Susette. II wouldn't give
straw for such lover; and as for you,
Adrienne, you resemble ghost more than
BRIDE"
In short, thousand years of purgatory
would i'll represent my sufferings during those
last weeks before my wedding. Well, to
crown the whole, Aunt Browne said Cedric
must give nae away; he was the only male
relative, the head of the family, so to speak
and he could do it so admirably.
"We shall see," said he. "I'm afraid
should make a poor figure at giving Adri-
enne away and he stroked his triste mus
tache as he spoke, and looked at me just as
he looked that day when we gathered the
| laurel for Susette's fete-I could have sworn
he did. / didn't answer, for fear my voice
| would be husky, and the tears would start.
The wedding was to be quite private-only
relatives. Aunt Browne arranged everything
to suit herself and the proprietors; it didn't
| become clergyman's bride to make great
parade At the church, / remember, my
veil caught in the carriage door, and an or
ange blossom tumbled from my wreath, which
Cedric picked up and wore in his button-hole
Then he drew my half-lifeless arm within his,
and directly the Wedding March pealed forth
in great resoundi ng waves ofmelody. My
grandmother's India muslin blew out IN
abundant creamy folds behind me, and Cedric
and were standing before the altar, and Mr.
Amherst was reading the marriage service
l believe that Aunt Browne tainted, or she
would have forbidden the banns.
"You see it was impossible for me to give
you away, Adrienne," said Cedric, later
when we were steaming out of town. cam
herst is a trump; and may he find wife a
sweet as Mrs. Brownel If it hadn't been fo
him, should have been of all men the mos
miserable to-day. What do you think h
did? Why he wrote me all that sad littl
story you thought right to tell him, and adde'
that he would not deny he was making
sacrifice; that in renouncing you he re
nounced all that made life lovely to him, ex
cept his work; yet he felt it was better on
should fail of Heaven on earth than tina
} two should suffer; and that if flowed you, o
, had once said, would / take his place at tn
marriage, and allow him to solemnize it'll ]
was a whim of his to have it so, ITO avol
! explanations he said l couldn't believe
my luck, you know, Adrienne: We handle
, letters to and fro, canvassing the subject
8 feared he had made mistake, as l had r.
newed my offer some little while before, b'
r | bod racaiuad M ronlu. still q dozan thinf