Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-08-28
TheDai|y Short Story
The Bishops Bridal.


his manner toward his guests the dig
man of the world.
The butler had approached him with
a shade of anxiety on his face.
"a man below. sir, insists on seeing
you. James told him the circumstances,
but he would not be put off. He acted
peculiar. If you would send word"
mo; will go down.
AS he descended the stairs he saw
curious figure, standing with certain
natural ease and grace in the stately,
brightly lighted hall--a man about So
years old-dressed in a shabby evening
suit.
The bishop conceived an instant dis
like of this man, as of one, in some OBJ
scure way, once rival. The stranger
stepped forward.
81 beg your pardon, bishop, for inter-
rupting the great function of n dinner,
but the case is urgent. My wife is dy-
ing-partly of hunger, partly OF life.
She had wished prayer said over her.
1 came for you"
Twill go with you,'' said the bishop.
He went back and took leave of his
guests.
The woman lay on the narrow bed
as one without care and without de-
sire. The bishop looked upon her face
with an instant recognition that, what
ever had been the outward setting Of
his life, never for an hour had she been
the wife of this man in anything but
material form and sign. The impulse
seized him to thrust this intruder in his
vulgarity and poverty of spirit neck
and crop into the street which claimed
him.
The wife opened her eyes with a
strange, alien look upon her husband.
This is the bishop, Alice, the bishop
of this town which has used you and
me so badly. He'll say a prayer for
you if you like. Perhaps he'll show his
| faith by his works. 1 have told him
that we are bitten by cold andlhunger
and that we haven't penny"
did you tell him all?"
''My sins, you mean. the causeiof our
little miseries? No, dear. I did not"
The woman turned her face to the
| bishop, and their eyes met. 1t was the
| birth of n moment that could have
| nothing to do with time and its acci-
dents. To her it was as if there stood
before her in this wholly self possessed
and dignified figure the embodiment of
what she had desired and had been de-
MED in the troubled years of her past
mental and moral order, strength hold
/ ing sweetness within it, refinement OF
character which should mold the SIM
plest events of daily life into comely
| forms; yes, and something greater than
these which might include them, to-
gether with every other imaginable
grace and beauty, as light holds all
color-a love which gives life.
| To the bishop she seemed to embody
those forces of which his dinner guests
In Jest or earnest felt bound to deny
the reality-love and the power of love
| to give joy. Strange enough in this her
setting of poverty and pain!
The husband laid a hand upon his
arm. "Sir, do not delay. She needs
food more than she needs your prayers
Will you force me to tell you again
that 1 have no money? A gentleman
will surely not refuse a gentleman"
The bishop drew him into the hall
Iway and put a note in his hand.
The man went lightly down the
Istairs, with a sinister exultation in his
manner. As the bishop re-entered the
lroom the woman turned her eyes to/his
Iagain.
The bishop spoke no word, but his
Ieyes answered hers.
She drew his hand into her hands
! -'If 1 should ask your name" she said
"or the paths by which you came to m,
| at last, what would it tell me? You are
here"
!. 81 came by many paths-to comfor
you"
ct am comforted."
"You have been unhappy"
81 forget. l am happy now"
She drew his hand to her breast
"And you-have you been happy"
mo. Only successful"
"And now?'
The bishop looked into her eyes. IS
am satisfied"
She drew his hand closer to he
breast.
, The silence deepened around them.
There was no sound of returning foot
steps on the stair. Perhaps the echo o
them had died out forever.
She never took her gaze from hi
face, but a great WEAKNESS was weigh
ing down her eyelids. you will no
leave me if 1 fall asleep?"
No; will not leave you. Go t
, sleep"
The silence deepened around them.
In the breathless hour between night
maturity and the dawn the bishop lef
the still form to the care Of others
, With death he had nothing to do.
: He went to his lonely house with tn
aerial step of one possessed by an a
, most unbearable joy.
i AS he passed by the dark, deserte
dining room the odor of wine and roses
: lingering there. came to him with men
cries of a world he had left six hour:
!: or thousand years ago, and to whic
he must 90 back on the morrow wit