The Monticellonian., 1904-12-01
Ge l AN AFFAIR IN 2 THE VESTRY 9 5 By AUS TIN WIS
? C
By AU sTHN LEW

S ] c ERFICE was over, and Rev. John D PoindeXter was resting quietly in the Vestry. The elaborate ritual had ! been carried out without a mistake; even i the choir-boys had not misbehayed I themselves, and the acolyte, whose ] red cassock had at first scandalized a 1 congregation accustomed to an evan ! gelistic rector. had at last satisfac- l torily performed his part of the cere- mony The faint odor of incense pene- ] trated the vestry from the chancel. and ! the clergyman dozed in his ample chair the warm sun beating upon him throug the window
 He was an ascetic. SO he persuaded himself. celibate who held strong views upon the marriage of the clergy He had satisfied his nat urallY sensuous temperament with the fragrance of incense, the colors of stained glasE and the beauties and harmonies of an involved ritual But temperament is a willfuI thing. hard to put to sleep. or to buy off with q substitute. and the leaven worked in the rector as he dozad in the Yestry 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, esthetic ecstasy, the 1 little torment which he had so 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 nity which well became him, and which the ladies of the Sunday school always admired.
 Give me my eassoek. Jenkins," he said. and the sexton took it from the cupboard and handed it to hir It was a beautiful cassock, rich and silk, with a broad band from which hung long soft fringe. The clergyman slipped into it, and the sexton fas- tened the long row of buttons.
 Now, my biretta,9 and Rev. John Poindexter, rector of St. Ethefreda's, stood ready to receive his visitors
 They came in, middle-aged man, tall and austere, and a beautiful girl, not more than 23, graceful and dig nified. The 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 Daughters had been merely so many souls to be kept neat and trim by frequent fastins5 and regular com. munions. felt for the first time in his life a certain trepidation in the pres ence of woman Still te showed no emotion. The well=erained figure stood firm and erect; the mouth stern with the rigidity of years of repression never qaaFered; no movement, even of the tassel on the biretta, testified to any disturbance of his mental bal ance He looked at the man and fan eied in some Iadistinet way that he re memhered him.
 We wish to be married" said the latter. 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.
 T prefer not to marry people on Sunday" he said.
 We must marry now" replied the man We 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 msrried"
 Have you ever teen divorced?" asked the clergyman. quietly and cas- ually. for the question was the GUS tomarY one.
 Yes. have been divorced" an swered the man, looking somewhat perturbed as he said it.
 The girl whitened visbly 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 it did not seem necessary" said the man.
 But should have 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 mo ment then the passion leaped into her l eyes so plainly that even the clergy man saw 1.-the positive glow of en- thusiastie love.
 No, dear" she said. "it would have made no difference
 The quiet, composed words remind ed the clergyman of the fact that he was staring historically 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.
 You have been married and di- vOreed I cannot marry yOf " he eaid