Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-09-15

Il "
evening Of the jeffrey wedding. That
i they had come from some eyewitness
4 I had no doubt, but who was the eye
i witness? Himself? No. Who then2
/, AT first he declined to tell me, but aft
er fuller understanding of my mo-
4 tives he mentioned the name Of young
/ lady who, while frequent guest at
| the most fashionable functions, was
4 not above supplying the papers with
i such little items of current gossip as
came under her own observation.
How I managed to approach this lady
/ and by what means / succeeded in
j gaining her confidence are details quite
unnecessary to this narrative. Enough
| that did obtain access to her and that
/ she talked quite frankly to me and in
/ 80 doing supplied me with clew which
1 ultimately opened up to me an entirely
!, new field Of inquiry.
i We had been discussing Mr.. jeffrey
! and Miss futile when suddenly and
1 with no apparent motive beyond the
| natural loxe of gossip, which was her
! weakness, she launched out into re-
j marks about the bride. The ceremony
4 had been late. Did know it? A half
/ hour or three-quarters past the time set
| for it. And why? Because Miss Moore
was not ready. She had chosen toNar-
i ray herself in the house and had come
early enough for the purpose, but she
would not accept any assistance, not
1 even that of her maid. and OF course
] sne kept every one waiting. ''Oh,
/ there was no more uneasy soul In the
/ whole party that morning than the
! brtde!" Let other people remark upon
/ the high look In Cora Tuttle's face or
/ gossip about the anxious manner of
/ the bridegroom, she (the speaker) could
/ tell things about the bride which would
| go to show that she was not all right
even before that ominous deaths head
reared itself into view at her marriage
| festival Why, the fact that she came
/ downstairs and was married without
her bridal bouquet was enough. Had
there not been SO much else to talk
/ about, people would have talked about
that. But the big event had so effec-
/ tually swallowed up the little that only
herself and possibly two other ladies
she might name seemed to retain any
memory Of the matter.
What ladies? r. asked.
"Oh, it doesn't matter what ladies'
Two OF the very best sort. / know
they noticed It, because I heard them
| talking about it. We were all stand
| ing in the upper hall and were all
crowded into a passage leading to the
| room where the bride was dressing.
! 1t was before the alarm had gone
around Of what had been discovered In
the library, and we were all impatient
4 enough for the appearance of the
! bride, who, we had been told, intended
/ to wear the old point in which her
/ great-grandmother was married.
! have a weakness for old point and 1
was determined to stand where could
/ see her come out, even If j lost sight
| OF the ceremony itself. But it would
/ have been tedious enough waiting in
that close hall IL the ladies behind me
/ had not kept up conversation, which
/ I, of course, pretended not to hear. /
remember 1t, every word, for it was
my sole amusement for half an hour.
/ What was It? oh, 1t was about that
same bouquet, which, by the way, I
had the privilege OF staring at all the
4 time they chatted. For the boy who
brought it had not been admitted into
Miss Moore's room, and, not knowing
II
4 before her door, with the great stream
. ers falling from his hands, and the
lilies making the whole place heavy
i with sickening perfume. From what
I heard the ladies say, he had been
standing there an hour, and the timid
knock he gave from time to time pro
duced in me an odd feeling which
those ladies behind me seemed to share.
I It's a shamev heard one of them
i cry. Veronica Moore has no excuse
for such thoughtlessness. It is an
hour now that she has been shut up
i in her room alone. She won't have
even her maid in. She prefers to dress
alone, she says. Peculiar in a bride,
isn't it? But one thing is certain
she cannot put on her veil without
help. She will have to call some one
I in for that AT which the other volun-
teered that the Moores were all queer,
and that she didn't envy Francis JEFF
frey. What! not with fifty thousand
i year to tighten her oddities? p return
ed her companion with shrug which
communicated itself to me, SO closely
were we packed together. 7 have a
son who could bear with them under
such circumstances Indeed she has,
and all Washington knows it, but the
remark passed without comment, for
they had not yet exhausted the main
event, and the person they now attack
ed was Miss futile. Why doesn't she
come and see that that bouquet is
/ taken in? declare it's not decent.
] Mr. jeffrey would not feel compli-
mented If he knew the fate of those
/ magnificent lilies and roses. / pre-
sumo he furnished the bouquet
miss Tuttle has looked out of her
room once I heard the other reply.
She is in splendid beauty today, but
pale. But she never could control We
ronica.' Hush! You speak louder than
you think This amused me, and do
believe that in another moment /
should have laughed outright if an
other boy had not appeared in the hall