The Portland daily press., 1900-06-23
IN THE NICK OF TINE
How One Wedding Led to
Another.

ed. You know you promised"
YES" ] replied, Il promised, and I'll
keep my promise. I'll be your best man.
Not that l wouldn't like to get out of it,
! went on. But you insist, and sup
pose that
"Oh, come now" said Tom; don't 60
In for cynicism; that's cheap. or course,
I'm willing to admit, from your point of
view, perhaps Dorothy Melton may have
treated you badly enough, but wouldn't
curse the whole sex and rail at matrimo-
ny and all that. You'll get over Il In
time, you know"
Tom is an old friend and allows him
self liberties. kept my head and re-
piled calmly:
81 am not cynical, and I'm not railing
at matrimony."
The marriage was to come off at Riv-
erton, and l congratulated myself that
the guests, with few exceptions, would
be Riverton folk whom | did not know.
i could do my duty by Tom, take a last
farewell of butterfly society and then set
tie down for good upon the career which
fondly hoped would end upon the su-
prcme bench. / would work and work
hard. Dorothy Melton, with whom l
quarreled six months ago. should never
think that she had broken my heart or
shattered my life or anything of that
sort, for she hadn't She simply had re-
yealod to me the fickleness OF her sex
and brought me to the realization that a
career, after all. is the only thing that
ean really satisfy man worth anything
AS the time OF Toms wedding APP
preached | wrote him that / should run
down TO Riverton 81 hours in advance
In order to attend TO all the thousand and
one duties which devolve upon the best
man. But at the last moment my one
really good client man rich and cranky,
succeeded in getting so hopelessly involv-
ed in nm injunction suit that nothing but
Immediate and earnest personal atten-
fion could keep him from going TO Jail
for contempt of court. l saved him from
that ignominy, but only after spending
the entire morning of the wedding day in
court, and barely caught the last train
by which l could reach Riverton in time
for the ceremony. Tom and his friends
would have to look after the details Of
the wedding, which | was compelled to
neglect.
l had forgotten that Uncle William
Clarkson lived at Riverton or l might
have been prepared for him, but before
the train had fairly stopped ar the sta
fion Uncle William was at my side,
grasping my hand and reaching for my
bag. Here you are at last" he was
saying. I've been at every train that
came in today. You've got to go up to
the house with me and get little snack
Of something to cat before the wedding"
"But Tom interposed.
"Oh, that's all right" said Uncle Will
liam. 1--WE arranged II all with your
friend Tom, and I'll have you at Christ
church in plenty Of time for the wedding.
So come along; your aunt's waiting for
you"
Really, what could I do? I looked
about helplessly, hoping Tom or some of
his friends would appear and lay claim
TO me, but Uncle William had evidently
impressed upon them that he was going
20 have his own way with me, and they
came not.
or course. should have been very glad
TO dine with Uncle William and Aunt
Margaret, but when fellow Is going to
be best man at his best friends wedding
and has only two hours and a half before
the ceremony he is not exactly in the
mood for visiting even his nearest and
dearest relatives. tried to say some
thing Of the kind to Uncle William, but
he retorted:
"Oh, pshaw, now! There amt thing
to do, and what's the use of your going
to the hotel or to one of Toms friends
houses, where they are already running
over with company? No use at all. Your
Aunt Margaret will give you nice little
dinner right away. You can get on your
wedding togs apd get to the church in
plenty Of time Without any of the fun
ing and fussing the others will go
through. There's a phone in the house.
You can let Tom know you are here, and
that's all that's necessary"
/ remembered that did not especially
care to meet more people than was nee
essary, but still it was with some misgiv-
ings that l followed my clipper and,
am afraid, somewhat officious uncle to
his new town house. At 5 o'clock
found myself in Aunt Margaret's front
parlor.
Uncle William called up Tom by tele-
phone, and after few minutes chat
with him l felt somewhat treasured.
Dinner was announced very early and
was soon over. As the clock chimed 6
went up stairs to make hurried toilet.
But where was my bag? hurried down
stairs again and put the question to I'm
Gle William.
'By Jove!' he exclaimed. 1--WE must
have left il at the stationw
He hurried down town to fetch the
bag, promising to return before you
know I'm gone" But the minutes slip
ped away, and the carriage drove up to
the gate before he got back. He finally
came, however.
'Here you are" he said as he handed
me the bag. 'Now you want TO hurry,
young man. or you'll be late"
/ fairly jumped into my clothes, trust
ing to luck for appearance. As j tied
my cravat Uncle William tapped on the
door,
"It's five minutes of 7r' he exclaimed.
/ couldn't say exactly what / wanted
TO say, so contented myself by giving
the cravat vicious twist. Three min
utas later dashed down the hall. threw
a goodby at Aunt Margaret and hurried
Into the yard.