The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-03-02

Quickly recovering his power of
speech, he broke out into = storm Of
incoherent anathemas; then suddenly
remembering the presence of the ladies
and the necessity for preserving ap-
pearances. reiterated once more
that there was not moment to
spare, and drove Us all down
stairs before him and into the
carriages that were waiting At the door.
/ never knew exactly what became Of
Lancelot Digby at this point, or how he
got out Of the house. He had ceased
to support the robust form of the faint
ing bride, who was borne of to her own
room by her mother and bevy Of ex-
cited maid-servants; and in the general
confusion, lost sight Of him.
We found the bridegroom and his
best-man waiting st the church. The
sight of Sir Marmaduke Fitzhugh's
puny figure and Dutch-doll inane face
led me to think that If Fanny Dasher
had consented to marry him for his
name and position. despising him in
her heart, it was not to her credit; and
If she did not despise him, her own
taste was truly to be deplored. The
service was to have commenced at
eleven; at half.past, the bride had not
appeared. The two clergymen who
with the gentlemen Of our party, and
the poor little bridegroom's distress
and nervousness were pitisble TO wit
ness. The minutes went by our
watches pointed TO the quarter now; il
was perfectly evident that there could
be no wedding to-day. Nevertheless,
we fingered in the church for another
five minutes, to see whether anything
would happen. Then the clergymen
took off their Surplices; and the luck
less wedding guests, with the still
more luckless bridegroom, re-entered
the carriages, amid the jeers of the
crowd that had collected round the
church doors, and drove bsck to Bal
moral Lodge.
Uncle Bert and his sister received rs
upon our return with q discontinue
which they tried very Intellectually to
conceal. Fanny, they said, was suffer-
ing from nervous attack, and had de-
clared that she could not 90 10 church
that day-could not, or would not, it
was much the same thing with young
lady suffering from an affection of the
nerves. So the disappointed bride
groom went back to his hotel, and all
the guests departed, with the exception
of one or two old friends who were
staying in the house.
But what on earth was the explana-
tor of this singular f.-sco9 Why had
this terrible wedding guest been in
vitede Above all, why was the out
rage Of his presence to be visited upon
my head?
My uncle's fury burst out with the
utmost violence as soon as we were
left alone together.
.'Why, you asked me TO bring him,
yourself" said.
Don't fling q lie in my very face,
sirr' he retorted; and l found it impos-
sible to make him listen to q word Of
reason.
at was a very clever trick of yours
to bring that man here" he shouted
out after. me as / was leaving the
house; ..but you will End that you
have outwitted yourself. You will re-
gret that you did it, to the last day of
your life"
On my way back to Liverpool, the
thought occurred TO me-was there re-
ally anything wrong with the telegram
which my uncle so strenuously denied
all knowledge off / had unluckily de-
stroyed it by this time, and so had only
my bare word to urge against his. Was
it stupid hoax, perpetrated by some
idiotic acquaintance, or clever device
of Digby's to gain entrance to my un-
cle's house?
had not long to wait for solution
of this part of the puzzle. Arriving at
home, found letter from Bob Collier,
which transcribe at length:
DEAR SIMPKIss-l presume you got my
telegram all right on Thursday. lost no
time sending OF one OF the new slxpenny
ones, but don't see that they are such Won
derful improvement, especially when you
have to wire to fellows with names like
yours / shall be back in town on Friday or
.Lan1ham." per agreement. VIII Dieby be
able TO join us7 He seems very agres able
fellow. Of the quiet and steady sort Bobs
perception of character was not very keen1
/ hate 20 ng out with man whom on re not
sure of. and who Is as likely as not to lug YOU
into some scrspe. Send me line before the
END OF the week So IN s sysr :.vux,x,xs-
p. S.-Be sure TO give my most anectioDate
regards to your dear uncle; you know he has
always dotted upon me- oE .
So it was Bob who had sent the mes
sage, and the post-ofice clerks had con-
verted "Villikins'''. into jenkins"
Why had ] not connected him with the
muddle and justification before, by Q
natural association of ideasf 1t may be
his fault or il may be his fate, but II he
has only so much as his little finger in
any affair, it is sure TO end in an i'm
broglio. This is the worst turn, how
ever, that you have ever done me vet,
Master Bob, and / don't find it easy to
forgive you. Why need he have
telegraphed all q my four names
at length, a. and then rigidly
curtailed all the important part
of the communication within, the
sixpenny limit, as If an extra penny
or three:halfpence were q matter Of
vital consequence TO himp WHY in