San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-07-01

every nerve and tissue like an e~lecJfiy
current. His pulses %quivered. his heart
beat thick and rapidly and the blood rose
to his brain. He replied to their inquiries
like a man in n dream, and was conscious
of a vague sense Of confused identity.
As he stood before the mirror, placed in
a orner for clerical convenience, he
caught himself dimly questioning his
own existence as apart from the existence
of that other John Royal, dimly seeking
to identify his own features with those
of the man from whose sick bed he had
ONE Life and circumstance for the
time became unreal to him, and he ac-
cepted the sequence of events as imper-
sonally as a somnambulist could have
done. Individual will seemed, as it were,
in allegiance, held under and dominated
by a force with which it was powerless
to cope. He seemed himself, and yet
other than himself, more than himself.
The minister in his robes stood, book
in hand, within the chancel rail; the
wedding march burst forth with joyous
invitation; a group of black coated men
and maidens al in white came up the
aisles, crossed each other and ranged
themselves about the chaucel. And
Royal, still like a man in a dream, ad-
vanced from the veStry door with Tom
Brandon at his side, and received from
the hands of a white haired gentleman
the lace enveloped figure of his unknown
bride, Her hand lay on his arm, the
folds of her shining robe brushed against
him, the lace which covered her droop-
ing head almost touched his shoulder,
but he did not look at her nor manifest
by so much rs the culver of a muscle
consciousness of her proximity. His in
div'duality seemed lost, merged in that
of the man whose part he had assumed.
His Imagination was strained, his pulses
beat with excitement, but his brain was
clear, his perceptions preternaturally
acute. He could hear the map of a
watchcaSe somewhere among the au-
dience, and the stamping of the horses
outside distinctly through the rhythm of
the music. The interest of the specta-
tors thrilled him, but failed to renew
ICSOShiJlOh VI pcluS JULIET Oudu uo
seemed.
Then, amid the hush which followed
the cessation of the music, came the
minister's solemn statement of the pur-
pose for which the people We're there as
sembled, and his impressive charge to
them that if any man knew aught which
should prevent this union he should set
it forth, followed by the pause which is
so seldom broken. Then, in tones that
sounded in his ears as the voice of an
other man, Royal found himself repeat
ing words which, with the strar q sense
of duality which oppressed him, seeA"d
to bind him, as well as that other, to
the woman beside him as with bands
of steel; and when, her answering VOW
breathed forth, he received the ring, it
was as though another hand was with
his hand, guiding it as he placed the
circlet on her finger. And a terrible
sense of irrevocability and powerlessness
for a moment overwhelmed him, turn
ing him faint and sick, as one on whom
a heavy blow has fallen.
Then he realized that everything was
over, and that the people had glanced at
their watches for the last time and were
pressing forward with congratulations.
He moved aside and l~nvoluntarily took
out his own watch and noted the time.
1t wanted ten minutes to II.