The herald., 1898-12-04

tin you two together, but it's done now
an you must make the best of it. l
hope God will sanction yore action, an
shower His blessings on you both"
The preacher smiled as he graspe1
her hand in both his own. 1t was eX-
actly the manner in which he received
candidates for membership into the
church. The smile made Tabithas pity
turn to hate, for it seemed the unctuous
smile of man whose avarice had been
| fed. The bride shook hands affectedly;
| she had not vet faced the stony stare
| of the congregation more than an in
stant at time. She knew that all de-
pended on the forbearance of the
church members, and she was not sure
that she was going to secure 1t. She
was, however doomed to a humiliation
that she had not counted upon even as
possible contingency-a humiliation
in her youthful husbands eyes. For
the congregation, as if in sheer rebel
lion against the too-charitable example
of Mrs. Wittekind. had, somehow, got
upon it's feet, and in whispering squads
was moving from the church.
Besides Mrs Wittekind. there was
but one other who ventured to con-
gratulate the bridal pair. 1t was poor
Mrs. Snowden, q woman who had once
been proved guilty of stealing pig
from a neighbor by altering the ear
mark Of the animal with a pair of scis-
sors and healing the wound by the help
of Satan and q little mutton-suet, but
who, through long repentance and up
right living, had been allowed to come
back into the fold bearing ear-marks
| of her own. The preacher smiled as
genially on Mrs. Snowden as he had on
Mrs. Wittekind, and pressed the poor
woman's hard fingers, but Mrs. Muir
ray remembering the ear-marks. did
not extend her hand, and only bowed
instead. She understood Mrs. Witte-
kinds motive and that cut her to the
quick; she also understood Mrs. Snow
denis, and that-that she felt would ap-
| pear to observant persons in the light
of natural classification.
| When the people had all gone away,
bearing the startling news to their
neighbors-the members of other
churches not so fortunate as to have a
parochal sensation, Mr.. Murray left
| his wife standing in the aisle, and, ac-
cording to habit, turned to put out the
four lamps that glared in their tin re-
Electors against the whitewashed wall.
The heart of the bride sank into an
| ooze of doubt as to her security as he
| left her near the altar and stepped be-
tween the benches to reach the lights.
Before putting out the last, and while
his mouth was at the end of the tin eX-
tinguisher, he called out in tone that
rang holloWly like @ voice in a cav
ern:
| You'd better come on down to the
front before I put it out; you-you
might run against something in the
dark
She moved stiffly down toward the
door and stood waiting for him out in
the moonlight. He blew out the light
but for an instant he did not leave his
position. A heavy, impalpable some
thing seemed to have fastened itsel1
about him. The rustling Of her skirts
against the ends of the benches had
sounded so much like they had the
afternoon he led her from the church tc
the grave of her husband. Mr. Muir
ray rubbed his eyes. How strange il
all was. How quickly had the greatest
of all changes come about in his life
Only two months ago he had kept tho
door of his fancy open for the entrance
of vision of-but he dashed the
thought from him and advanced slow
ly to the waiting specter at the door
his bride. The other-the dream ol
youthful loveliness must be forgotten
he had sealed his fate. Besides, was
he not going to be ideally happy? Hat
his wife not told him they should be
that the time would soon come wher
they would visit at her expense the for
eign lands he had always longed t.
See-and-?