Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-01-10


though the men in black Immediately
noticed him and had exchanged sig
nifcant glances Of inquiry.
The procession slowly advanced. 1t
was close upon him when his eyes for
some inexplicable reason strayed for &
moment from the bride and intelligent
ly fastened themselves upon her escort,
upon whose arm she leaned. He start
ed, for it was not Mr. White Some
thing must unexpectedly have happened
to him, he thought, some sudden i'll
ness, to keep him away. His glance
quickly went back to the bride, but this
time he did not start. For an instant
his heart stood still, and he ceased to
breathe He could not believe the evi-
dence of his eyes, but thought he had
suddenly gone mad. Even though the
veil covered and il part concealed her,
the approaching figure was not Miss
White. For one awful moment, that
sometimes comes back to him in
dreams, he stood there without q sense
or volition. Then he turned round and
saw the two men in evening dress in
the chancel behind him, and at once
the horror of it all flashed through his
mind.
How the lieutenant got out Of the
church he never knew, bat it was not
until he found himself on the sidewalk
that he came once more into full pos
session of his faculties. Then he am
bled up to a policeman and inquired
falte1ingly:
'What church is this?"
"Trinity chapel was the reply.
He did not groan-he was made of
sterner stuff-but his heart sank like
lead within him. He had to go to the
corner of Fifth avenue before he found
a cab that was disengaged. He didn't
care, however, he was III no hurry now.
He recognized the futility of even try
ing to hasten where haste could no lon
ger avail. When at last man from the
opposite side of the street signaled his
readiness for a fare, he motioned him
across and asked i'll a voice in whose
appealing note of despair there was an
infinite pathos, do you know where
the Church of the Holy Trinity is?''
II do, sir!' said the cabman.
''Where is it?''
Corner Madison avenue and Forty
second, was the reply.
"There, said the other wearily, lis
where l desire to 60"
When the lieutenant arrived, crushed
and discouraged, at the church for which
he had started out in such high spirits
earlier in the evening, he found it closed
and deserted. He had known that this
would be the case, and when the cab
drew up in front of the building he
didn't even dismount.
1.-The Dakota" he said hopelessly to
the cabman, and then wondered at him
self for having said it.
1t is long drive from the Church OF
the Holy Trinity to the great apartment
house i'll West Seventy-second street,
where the Whites lived. The lieuten-
ant, however, did not mind it this
time. for it gave him the needed oppor-
tunity to think over what course to pur-
sue. Of one thing he was certain-and
he accepted the fact grimly-he had
lost Miss White. Then there came to
him the realization of that loss. He
thought bitterly of the lonely years that
stretched out before him; how his fam
lily and friends in Vienna, particularly
his fellow officers, would regard the
affair, and he resolved to see her once
more and learn whether he had forever
forfeited all claim to her affection. The
particulars of that interview have never
been divulged but Lieutenant and Mrs.
rGn LGndheim certainly started the
fJ,oi,
ney. Mrs. White also left town imme-
diately, which, considering the predic-
ament in which the public was placed
by the marriage notice that had duly
appeared in the morning papers, was
an unfair thing to do, but she had GER
tainly produced social effect, though
not exactly in the way intended.
The lieutenant, in his faraway Wen
na home, is a happy man except when
he thinks of that night in New York,
then a cold, hard look comes over his
face. Once in awhile a letter is re-
eeived from Mrs. White, in which she
expresses the hope that the two will
soon come to America to make her
visit When it is read aloud by his wife,
the lieutenant says never wOrd-he
merely shrugs his shoulders.
change,
Serious Side of French Dueling.
Ever since the day when Mark Twain
gave the American world his famous
picture of the French duel, Americans
have laughed at it and classed it with Sc
much that is mock heroic and harmlessly
tragic in the French character. And
vet the French duel is a very serious
thing in France, and particularly in the
capital. Every day in Paris there are
two duels fought, and 90 per cent Of
these result fatally or with serious and
permanent bodily injury. But these
cases rarely attain publicity.
The duel is a serious thing in Paris fo1
three reasons. First, because of the
triviality of the causes of these encoun'
tiers. Secondly, because they are coun,
tenanced and justified by the law.
Thirdly, because, being upheld by social
custom and the French sense of honor,
men are forced to duel or face utter dis.
grace in their respective circles of So
ciety and even in their own families
Providence Journal.