Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-02-01
Written for The EVENING stan.
WHOSE Was THE HAND?
BY MISS BRADDON.
Author Of LADY Audley's Secret" Like and Unlike,
"Ishmasl," The Day Viii Come" &c.
fALL RIGHTS REsERVEp.l
CHAPTER VIII.
pArsY's HONEYMOON DIARY.

How strange life ia The change that has
come in my life came 80 suddenly that
fancied should never be accustomed to the
new state OF things; yet after little more
than month I feel As IL Uncle Ambrose had
lived with us for years and as il had always
been one of united family of four instead Of
the other half Of my mothers soul
In my thoughts Of her have always called
her what Horace called virgil-Anima dimi-
dunn mee.
Have I lost her now that she is Am
brose Arden's wife; or rather, how much of her
love and her sweet compsnionship have lost?
Naturally there is a loss. cannot be to her
quite what was before she gave herself TO a
husband who worships her, who seems Jealous
of every thought and every moment she gives
to any one but himself. We can no longer live
like Hernia and Helena before Puck set them
by the ears. We are no longer more like twin
sisters than mother and daughter, as people
used to say we were in the old days, which be-
gin to look SO far away. No. it must be owned
there is a loss, and loss that shall feel all
my life, but il is not great loss as to make
me unhappy, for know my mother loves me
rs truly and fondly as ever and that she would
not part with me for anything in the world.
know that Uncle Ambrose thoroughly deserves
her love and that he is doing his utmost to win
it. know that to me he is a second father and
that / am never tired of his society. 1 know
that the atmosphere of love in which have
lived all my life has lost none of its warmth
and brightness. / know I am a girl in thou
sand for good fortune and that ought to be
very grateful to Providence for all my bless
ings.
As have failed in all my attempts to write a
novel / mean to make this journal the book of
my life and to put all Of my thoughts and all
my fancies into it. / shall describe things as
vividly ever 1 can, so that when I am an old
woman I can look back upon the history Of my
life and find my youth still fresh and bright in
these pages.
Let me record the great event which has
made SO marked a change in my mothers life
her second marriage. 1t is q very curious SEN
sation for girl to stand by and see her mother
married 1t seemed to me almost if time
had gone backward and mother were girl
again standing on the threshold Of life.
Uncle Ambrose was a most devoted lover, and
would hardly let my mother out of sight dur
ing their very short courtship. When mother
accepted him knew that a very short engage
ment was very far from her thoughts. Graft
tude prevailed with her, and rather than lose
80 valued friend she consented to take him as
husband; but when she gave that consent
last July she certainly had no idea of marrying
HIM early IN September.
However, those grave, placid people are
much more persistent than impetuous charac-
tiers. like my beloved father, for instance and
Uncle Ambrose contrived to talk nv dear one
into an almost immediate marriage. of course
there was not the least reason why they should
delay their wedding, for as both are rich there
could be no question of ways and means and
"a neither of them is young, IL might seem a
pity to lose time. Nor Is mother the kind of
person to waste six months upon the prepare
tiOn of trOusseau- She is always chsrmingy
dressed. though II Is only within the last year
or two that she has consented to wear anything
but black; and her wardrobe is full of beauti-
ful thIngs-so II would be mere idle vanity to
wait for a heap of new clothes to be made and
during that delay to lose the Deauty.of the au-
tumn for her honeymoon tour
1t was decided at the very first discussion of
the honeymoon that was to travel with them
after the first week, which they were to spend
very quietly together at Folkestone, lust to
get used to the idea of being all in all TO each
other. great many places were proposed
aud discussed and finally 1t was settled that we
should spend the autumn in Switzerland and
90 on to Italy in the beginning of the winter.
Where do you think We going to spend
the winter, dear Diary? In what particular city
among all the cities of the world is our home
to beI Ii Is like a dream. i turn giddy at the
very thought OF It. We are to winter In Venice
We are to live within a stones throw of the
Doge's palace and the Lions Mouth am to
see the Bridge of Signs SO often, going back
ward and forward in nv gondola, that shall
get to think no more of it than do of Lamford
lock. Yes, it is enough to turn any girl giddy
want to preserve all the details of that won
derful day-my mothers wedding day. 1t was
perfect morning as lovely day as there had
been all through the summer, which ought to
have been over, but which was just then in its
prime, for that first week Of September was
hotter and brighter than July. The dear old
church, and the graveyard where father lies,
and the village, and the river were basking in
faint haze Of heat, which hung over all
things like a bridal veil. Mother and drove
TO church together, she very pale, and with a
distressed look about her beautiful mouth
which made me feel sorry had not begged
and prayed her not to marry again; for felt
that her heart was with her first love- living in
his grave under the willow, and not with the
man who was SO soon to be called her husband
She looked lovely, IN spite of her marble
Whlteness-lovely, but not like q BRIDE Her
soft fawn-colored silk gown harmonised with
her rich brown hair, and became her admir-
ably. So did the little fawn-colored bonnet
with bunch of corn flowers. She was dressed
for the journey to Folkestone, where they we're
TO arrive In time for dinner. There were no
wedding guests, except Aunt Emily and her
husband. my cousins, the Reardon girls, the
Vicar and his wife, and good old MIR. Meiiidew.
my fathers lawyer. 1 carried mothers sun
shade, and was to hold her gloves while she
was DclLS married!
Everything had been kept 30 quiet thanks 10
the vicar, that very few people in the neigh
borhood knew that mother and Mr. Arden were
going to be married. and only about half a
dozen knew that this was their wedding day
30 the church was almost empty. There were
no school children to strew flowers There
was nothing in their pathway as they left the
church but the sunshine and the shadows OF
the old yew branches that trembled across the
path think I like that utter simplicity
hat thaxR hat ~all
wedding. There was just one thing out Of the
common in the whole ceremony We have a
fne old organ at Lamford, an organ built in
the reign OF George III, but We have a very poor
orgsnlst Great, therefore, Was my amaze
ment to hear Gloria Of Mozart's played by a
master hand as we walked up the nave: and
when mother and her new husband came out OF
the yestry, arm In arm, the same master hand
attacked the opening chords of Mendelssohn's
wedding March" with q power which mus,
have startled and thrilled everybody in the
church as il startled and thrilled me-
whoever that was, il wasn't Mr.. Parkins" ]
said to Cyril, IS he handed me into the second
carriage-Mr. and Mrs Arden-oh how strange
u seems to write it-having gone away in the
first
lit was not Mr.. Parkins. II was Mr.. Daven-
try, the organist Of New, an old friend of my
fathers"
What brought him to Lamford?"
Friendship. My father asked him to give
Us touch Of his quality upon this particular
day. he knows your mother is fanatica per Ia
musica and he wanted to please her."
Il call that very delicate attention" said l.
delighted