The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-08-30


column or more on the happy event, al
the end congratulating the bride and
groom on their happy arrival in the
pleasant port of matrimony after long
aud stormy courtship.
We'll, that upset the town. When
read that item was SO weak I couldn't
stand up. It never had occurred to me
or to Fanny, or to the judge, either,
don't believe, that it was bona fde
marriage, but there it was all down in
black and white, and it didn't look the
least bit like joke.
''Of course every body I met con.
graduated me. The more denied it,
the more they believed there was some
thing in it
After day or two things began to
| look 50 serious I went to see Lawyer
Soaring; be was an old friend of mine
and war comrade, too. I gave him a
history of the whole case, and asked
him what he thought of it. He deliber-
atcd awhile and then jumped up and
shook my hand. saying:
1T is my honest opinion, Sam, that
Parson Hathaway couldn't have mar
ried you any better than that if he had
tried
What did do? sat down and put
my head in my hands and groaned.
What I had been fighting for with all
my strength had come to pass, and 1
was more unhappy than I had ever
been before in my life.
you sec. wasn't thinking of my
self at all. was thinking of Fanny
| What if she should ta Ike it hard OF
course should never claim her as my
wife unless she chose to come to me of
her own free will.
81 thought about it all night, and
| then concluded / must see Fanny and
find way out of the trouble if posi-
| BILE.
|. 81 found her quiet and self-possessed,
but her eyes had a suspicious redness
around the rims. I plunged right into
the subject and said:
Fanny, I have come to tell you how
sorry am that little joke happened,
and how serious it seems to be. Ned
Soaring says it looks very much like
legal marriage
"Fanny's face grew white as a cloth
at this.
God knows, Fanny, if I could have
it undone again would do SO. l have
been ready to marry you any time dur
ing the past year, but l never want
ed to force You to anything like this.
g AS it is, the ceremony makes no
difference to me. / have thought and
ho
concluded there is a way out OF the diff
fculty l will go away. and then, after
awhile, you can go to some other state,
and get divorce from me for desertion.
Long before l had finished Fanny
was sobbing as if her heart would
break. Said l. at last: Fannie, won't
You say goOd-by to me? | may not
see you again, as 1 am going away SO
SOON
'And then, instead of saying good-by
and letting me go, she flew to me and
put both arms around my neck, laid her
head on my shoulder, and said, between
her sobs: 4 will never let you go;
thought didn't love you, Sam. but do,
l dor
by and by we got more composed,
and sat down to talk matters over and
then it seemed as if we had suddenly
changed characters, for Fanny was
all meekness and submission, and |
was the one who made terms and con-
ditions.
"'lf all the lawyers in the state pro-
nounce that a legal marriage said /,
at length, 4 win never call you nv
wife till you come to me of your own
free will in the old church down von-
der, and promise before the dominic
and all our friends to be my true and
loving wife
and she did God bless herl She
did. boston Pilot.