Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1904-12-22

AN AFFAIR IN |
) THE. VESTRY D 4
- AvsTlN LEWIS
y &

HOlQQeXCer was resting Qu4eCly u
tho vestry. The elaborate ritual hat
been carried out without a mistake; eVe'
tho choir-boys had not misbehaVe'
themselves, and the acolyte, Whos'
red cassock had at first scandalized
congregation accustomed to an evan
gelistic rector. had at last satisfac
tority performed his part of the cere
mony. The faint odor Of incense pene
trated the vestry from the chancel, anc
the clergyman dozed in his ample chair
tho warm sun beating upon him throuf
the window
He was an ascetic. so he persuaded
himself, celibate who held strong
views upon tho marriage Of thu
clergy. He had satisfied his nat
urally sensuous temperament with the
fragrance Of incense, the colors Of
stained glass. and the beauties and
harmonies Of an involved ritual
But temperament is willful thing.
hard~<to putt to sleep, or TO buy Off
with substitute, and the leaven
worked in the rector as he dozed
in the vestry with the sun warm upon
him.
He nodded drowsily; light branches
brushed tenderly against the windows,
making strange effects against the
green and gold, orange and~scarlet, and
in him there stirred uneasily the pas
sion of beauty. estheuc ecstasy. the
little torment which he had 50 far
always lulled with ecclesiastical spells
"A lady and gentleman want to see
you. sir" said the sexton. putting his
head In at the vestry door.
The clergyman rose with a yawn.
stretched himself with an air Of i'm
patience, and assumed a clerical dig
nifty which we'll became him, and
which the ladies of the Sunday school
always admired.
''Give me my cassock, Jenkins" he
said, and the sexton took 1t from the
cupboard and handed it to him. It
was q beautiful cassock, rich and silk.
with a broad band from which hung
long soft fringe. The clergyman
slipped into 1t. and the sexton fas-
tened the long row Of buttons.
'Now. my biretta," and Rev. John
Poindexter, rector of St. Ethelfreda's,
stood ready to receive his visitors.
They came in, middle-aged man,
tall and austere, and a beautiful girl,
not more than q, graceful and dig
nified. file couple paused at the door
for moment, a moment in which the
clergyman appeared to himself to lose
the sense Of his own identity. He who
had lorded it over Sunday-school
teachers, to whom the ladies of the
Kings Daughter haf been merely so
many souls to be kept neat and trim
by frequent Hastings and regular com
munions, felt for the first time in his
life certain trepidation in the pres.
ence Of woman. Still he showed no
emotion. The well-.rained figure stood
firm and erect; the mouth stern with
tho rigidity of years Of repression
never quavered; no movement, even
of the tassel on the biretta, testified
to any aisturbance~of his mental~bals
ance. He looked at the man and fan
cied In some lndistinct way that he re-
meml,ered him.
''We wish to be married." said the
lattel, and produced a paper, the reg.
ular license. The clergyman looked at
it and appeared to recognize the name.
without consciously placing it. how
ever.
II prefer not to marry people on
Sunday" he said.
eve must marry now" replied the
man. eve belong to your church, but
unless you will consent to marry us,
we must get the minister of another
church. We are alone in this town.
and must be married"
il "Have you e.ar been divorced!"
asked the clergyman, quietly and cas-.
ually, for the question was the Gus.
tomary one.
Eyes, I have been divorced" an
swered the man, looking somewhat
perturbed as he said it.
The girl whitened visibly at the
words. and hesitated. evidently unde-
termined whether to speak or not, and
finally with an effort said hurriedly,
almost blurted:
"You never told me that, Andrew"
because 1t did not seem necessar. y,
said the man.
But I should nave known; I ought
to have been told said the girl.
would it have made any differ
ence?" softly asked her middle aged
lover.
She looked at him quietly for a mo-
ment, then the passion leaped into her
ayes 80 plainly that even the clergy
man saw 1.-THE positive glow of en-
thusiastic love.
mo, DEAR" she said. ut would have
made no difference"
The quiet, composed words remind
a the clergyman of the fact that he
vas staring absorbedly at the girl. The
clerical sense Of dignity, which had SO
often helped him when perplexed, came
now to his aid against the demon
which had arisen in his heart.
'sYou have been married and d.
vorced. I cannot marry you," he said
at last, with GOODNESS and f1nality.
But I was not the party to blame
Tho church allows one divorced to re