Columbia courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1902-1905, 1904-06-03
Their GreWs0me Bridesmaid

/ important. and his heart leaped. He
could see, too, that Sybil was happy to
meet him.
For weeks he summed himself in joy,
and tried to Danish Kate. Then one
day he faced the ghost and reasoned
with himself in n logical sensible man.
ner, and his state of mind became more
normal, and he asked himself why he
should not he happy.
Next morning. on the hill, he broke
into tho first love words he had uttered
since he dawdled with Kate by the
'Devonshire river.
81 love your! he cried out, as he and
Sybil sat resting in the MONDAY.
"Sybil, l can't live without you! l
have hungered for you since first
met you two years agow
81 love you, too!' she said, simply,
when she could find voice. And Hay
den held her in his arms for raptur-
GUS moment.
When he glanced up, his arms still
about her, girl was passing along the
hill below-a dark-haired girl, in a
lilac gown, 1t was, of course, merely
a coincidence.
Hayden shivered and loosed his
clasp. The old haunted feeling had
returned. He had an impulse to tell
Sybil the whole wretched story, but II
would be gloomy beginning to the
first hour Of his new happiness. Be
sides which, Mrs Dove came into sight
at the moment.
Those were strange months, those
months Of engagement. There were
hours when both Hayden and Sybil
We're wildly gay; but again there We're
hours when Il cloud hung over them,
when something seemed to be between
them, checking their words as if
third person were listening.
In himself Hayden could under
stand the feeling. for even now. spite
Of argument, spite of happy future, he
could not throw off the recollection of
Kate Moon and her despair. But the
same mood In Sybil he could not I'M
derstand. Was the drowned girl al
ways to be between them? Hayden
groaned.
'Tell her, say. tell her, Or"
In desperation Hayden caught up
his hat. an stroll down to the
church." he muttered hastily the
evening before the wedding, after
hours Of gloom in which he had seen
the dead girl walking between him
self and his living bride. "I'll see how
the decorations are getting on"
1t was lovely old building of gray
stone, far famed for its many windows
of stained glass, which in n close line
told in rich puppies and crimsons the
story of Joseph and his brethren.
One or two gardeners were busy at
the choir stalls; some girls talking in
subdued tones We're garanding Il pill
lar Hayden watched their dizziness.
Then with tender impulse he turned
his eyes to the altar, where he would
kneel tomorrow beside
a sudden horror clutched him, the
blood surged within him and deaf.
) ened him. Bending at the altar steI
, was n dark-haircd figure in n lilac
r'Nh wan - gum blHl utIOSS III
t hem.
, Hayden CROPPED with his hand. and
clutching II pew door. closed his eyes
in dcspalring faintncss. His bond
t age was to be relentless.
When he looked again the figure
, was gone. The girls Mt the pillar hat
e turned from their work to speak t,
: another. Unseen in his misery, Hay
I den stole out mt the porch, stunned
t and cold in the sunshine.
Hayden never forgot the night whicl
t followed, MS he lay, unnervod an,
:, hopeless, waiting for his wedding day
g and fucing in all their details the tw,
i years past and the many years Il
/, come, from the day when he ha,
played summers game with tn
l. heart of a girl to all the days when h
Il should live close to the girl he loved
V and fcol himself a murderer
f Toward morning he began to take
more ordinary view of the matter
t This was his wedding day-sunny
t happy, glorious. He had been IN al
5 excited, unnatural state Of mind yes