Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1908-10-08

when she and Hugh are to make a
match of it."
Harry's face was turned away, or the
bishop would have seen it suddenly
startled. ITO make u match of it!' To
hide the flush he felt staining his
cheek Harry bent to close the safe. A
something that had darkled in some
obscure depth Of his being whose exist
ence he had not guessed was throbbing
now to a painful resentment Jessica
was to marry Hugh!
GA handsome fellow-Hugh!" said
the bishop. He seems to have return
ed with a new heart-a brand plucked
from the burning. You had the same
alma mater. | think you told me. Your
influence has done the boy good. San
derson!!" He laid his hand kindly on
the others shoulder. 1.-The fact that
you were in college together makes
him look up to you-as the whole par
ish does" he added.
Harry was setting the combination
and did not answer. But through the
turmoil in his brain a satiric voice
kept repeating:
mo, they don't call me Satan
now"
The white house in the aspens was
in gala attire, Flowers-great banks
Of bloom-were massed in the hall,
along the stairway and in the window
seats, and wreaths Of delicate fern
trembled on the prim hung chandeliers.
Over all breathed the sweet fragrance
Of jasmine. Musicians sat behind a
screen of palms in a corridor, and a
long scarlet carpet strip ran down the
front steps to the driveway, up which
passed bravely dressed folk, arriving
In carriages and on foot, to witness
the completion Of q much booted ro-
nance.
For a fortnight this afternoons
event had been the chat of the town,
for David Stires, who today retired
from active business, was it's magnate,
the owner Of it's finest single estate
and Of it's most important bank. From
his scapegrace boyhood Hugh Stires
had made himself the subject of I'M
comfortable discussion. His sudden
disappearance after the rumored quar-
rel with his father and the advent Of
Jessica Holme had furnished the COM
munity sufficient material for gossip.
The wedding had capped this gossip
with an appropriate climax. Tongues
had wagged over its pros and cons,
for Hugh's past had induced a whole
some skepticism Of his future.
There was an additional element of
romance, too. in the situation, for Jes-
sica. who had never yet seen her lover,
would see her husband. The great
surgeon on whose representation she
had built Sc much had arrived and
had operated. The experiment had
been completely successful, and Jessi-
cas- hope of vision had become a sure
and certain promise.
The operation over, there had re-
NAMED many days before the bandages
could be removed-before Jessica could
be given her first glimpse of the world
for nearly three years. Hugh had
urged against delay. If he had strin-
gent reasons of his own he was silent
concerning them. And Jessica, Steep
ed in the delicious wonder of new and
lnchoate sensations, had Welded.
SO it had come about that the we'd
ding was to be or this hot August aft
ernoon, although it would be yet some
time before the eye bandages might
be laid aside save in a darkened room.
In her gi:lish, passionate ideality Jes-
sica had offered a sacrifice to her senti-
ment. She had promised herself that
the first form her new sight should be-
hold should be not her lover, but her
husband. The idea pleased her sense
Of romance.
1t was a sweltering afternoon, and
in the wide east parlor limp handker-
chiefs and energetic fans fought vain
~ against the intolerable heat. There,
as the clock struck G, a hundred pairs
of eyes galloped between two centers
of interest-the door at which the bride
would enter and the raised platform at
the other end Of the roadn where,
prayer book in hand. in his wide robes
and flowing sleeves, Harry Sanderson
had just taken his stand. Perhaps
more looked at Harry than at the
door.
He seemed his usual magnetic self
as he stood there, backed by the flow
ers. his waving brown hair unsmooth-
ed, the ruby ring glowing dull red
against the dark leather Of the book he
held. But Harry Sanderson was far
from feeling the grave. alien figure he
appeared. In the past weeks he had
waged a silent warfare with himself.
bitter because repressed. The strange
new thing that had sprung up in him
he had trampled mercilessly under.
From the thought that he loved the
promised wife Of another a quick, fas-
tidious sense in him recoiled abashed.
This painful struggle had been sharp
ened by his sense Of Hugh's utter
worthlessness. To that rustling assem-
blage the man who was to make those
solemn promises was David Stires'
son. who had had his fling. turned over
hiS now Loaf l,ao0 r{pr y, ovJ Two ,~r,