Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1900-04-11
IN THE NICK OF TIME.
BY MARCO MORROW.

I'll keep my promise. Ill be your
best man. Not that I wouldn't like
to get out Of it." I went on; ''but you
insist, and I suppose that"
.'Oh, come now," said Tom, "don't
go in for cynicism; that's cheap. OF
course, I'm willing to admit that
from your point of view, perhaps, Dor
othy Melton may have treated you
badly enough. but I wouldn't curse
the whole sex and rail at matrimony
and all that. You'll get over it in
time, you know"
Tom is an old friend. and allows
himself liberties. I kept my head, and
replied calmly:
'.I ann not cynical, and I'm not
railing at matrimony. Moreover,
/ that, little affair with the young woman
you mention, which I have quite for
gotten 80
Tom smiled in peculiarly trying
manner.
which IhaYe entirely forgotten"
repeated
'sAnd will forget anew eve-J day
Olive" said Tom.
:Has had nothing whatever to do
with my Termination to devote myself
entirely to my profession. I have al
ready frittered away entirely too much
of my life on what We are pleased to
call society. But of course I'll keep
my promise to you.
..No9 look here, old man." Tom
beganS but he saw, suppose, some
thingin my face which warned him
that Eswas not tp be moved. at any
rate he laughed and shrugged his
shoulders, and then said:
ssWeii, 'I'll connt on you for best
man. June seventh is the day, and I
! hopeyou won find it such an awful
bore as you seem to expect"
The marriage was to come off at
Rivsston, and I congratulated myself
thats The guests, with few exceptions,
would be Riverton folk whom I did
not know. I could do my duty by
Z Tom, take last farewell of butterfly
society, and then settle down for good
upon the career which I fondly hoped
would end upon the supreme bench.
i would work, and work hard. Dorothy
Melton, with whom. I quarreled six
months ago, should never think that
she had broken my heart, or shattered
Z my life, or anything of that sort, for
she hadn't. She simply had revealed
5 to me the fckleness of her sex and
brought me to the realization that q
career, after all, is the only thing that
can really satisfy q man worth any
thing.
As the time of Toms wedding ap-
preached I wrote him that I should
I run down to RivertonS "a hours in ad-
vance in order to attend to all the
) thousand and one duties which de-
volresupon the best man; but at the
last moment my nereally good client,
4. a map rich and cranky, succeeded in
getting SO hopelessly involved in an
INJUNCTION suit that nothing but inn
mediate and earnest personal attention
could keep him from going to Jail for
cont smpt of court. I 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 could reach Riv-
erton i'll time for the ceremony. Tom
and his friends would have to lo.6
after the details Of the wedding which
] was compelled to neglect.
had forgotten that Uncle William
Clarkson lived ct Riverton, or might
have been prepared for him; but be-
fore the train had fairly stopped at
the station 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 eat be-
fore the wedding"
stBut Tom" interposed.
ooh, that's all right. said Uncle
William. 'tI've arranged it all with
Z your friend Tom, and I'll hare you at
Z Christ church in plenty of time for
the wedding. So come along; your
aunt's waiting for you"
Really, what could do? 1 looked
about helplessly, hoping that 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 to have his own
way with me, aud they came not.
OF 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 q half before the ceremony,
he is not exactly in the mood for visit
ing even his nearest and dearest rela-
tives. I tried to say something of the
kind to Uncle William, but he retorted:
'tOh, pshaw, nowl There ain't a
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 and
get to the church in plenty of time
I without any Of the fuming and fussing
the others will go through. There's q
phone in the house; you can let Tom
know you are here, and that's all that's
necessary" ~
remembered that I did not espe.
ciaHyecare to meet more people than
was necessary, but still it was with
some misgiyings that I followed my
clipper, and 1 am afraid somewhat
oficious, uncle to his new town house.
At FIVE o'clock found myself in Aunt
Margaret's front parlcr.
Uncle William called up Tom by
telephone, and after few minutes
chat with him I felt somewhat reas.
sured. Dinner was announced very
early. and was soon over. AS the
clock chimed six I went upstairs to