The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-03-26
Embarrassing
Mistake
: Consequent on a Foot
; ball Game
} Nv OSCAR COX
By OSCAR cox


Cuthbert Brown lay abed. oblivious
to the call and the shaking he received
simultaneously. He had been playing
right tackle with his team in a cham
pionship game Of football the day be-
fore and was ready for a twenty-four
hour sleep. He had taken six Of the
twenty-fOur when his sister entered his
room and tried to awaken him.
"Cuthbert. get up! You're wanted
to go on an errand.
whats the matterY"
sour next door neighbor is dying.
They want you to go for a clergyman
There was something sufficiently i'm
pressive in this to awaken Cuthbert.
| He lay for a moment gathering his fac
ulties, then sprang out Of bed. put on
his clothes and while passing out
asked:
"What clergyman shall l go for"
"Any one. Make haste!'
Cuthbert Brown, now thoroughly in
possession Of his faculties. hurried
along the street till he came to st.
Marks church, with the name Of Da-
vid Hathaway, pastor, on a board on
the wall. He stopped at the rectory
beside it, rang the doorbell and was
Immediately admitted by some n
whose figure he could barely distin-
guish to be that of a woman, for the
light was turned low. He was usher
ed into a parlor without an inquiry as
to whom he wished to see or any other
question for that matter and was left
alone in a room still darker than the
hall.
THAT'S queer" he remarked to him
self. II suppose she's the maid and
knows that no one would call at a
clergyman's house at this time Of night
unless he wanted to see the parson
himself"
The maid went upstairs and in a
few moments came down again and
said that the doctor would be down
soon.
Cuthbert settled himself In an easy
chair and sat wondering what it all
meant. Presently he fell asleep.
Then he dreamed that some n
shook him; that he stood upon his feet.
He heard words mumbled that sound
ed like parts of the marriage service;
he felt a delicate hand in his; ONE one
thrust a ring upon him and a finger
was slipped into It; he dimly saw the
figure of a woman leaving the room.
Was this a dream or a reality? He
remembered nothing more of 1t or how
he got out of the house. home and into
his bed. He did not awaken till noon
the next day. when the events Of the
night were much blurred in his mind
His sister awaking him. the walk to
the rectory and his admission to the
house he remembered with tolerablp
distinctness. but the rest Of 1t was
very misty.
He called his sister. took Il round
about course to find out from her what
he had done and discovered that some
one else had procured a minister for
: the dying man. The rector Of st
Marks church had not responded.
There remained that singular dream
Of a marriage. or whatever it might
be. Of which his sister was not sup
n IooCu " VS "IN
said nothing to her about it.. If he
had been sure that it was a dream
he might have told her OF it. but he
had Il feeling that it was not a dream:
that while sitting in the rectory some
thing like it had happened. that some
body had been married. and he could
not divest himself Of a consciousness
that he had been mixed up in it.
That day was Sunday. and Cuthbert.
having nothing to do. thought continu-
ously Of his singular experience. A
dozen times he resolved to put it out
Of his mind. 1t would not stay out.
Then he thought that he would 90 to
DR.. Hathaway and ask him for an ex-
PLANTATION. But the matter seemed too
ridiculous to warrant an inquiry. Ask
a clergyman II he had taken part in a
marriage when half asleep? Absurd!
There is nothing so worrying as that
which needs m explanation. Cuthbert
Brown fretted over the matter for
three days: then one afternoon he called
on DR.. Hathaway. He was received
in the doctors study. and. being un-
known to the clergyman. the latter
waited for him to speak.
Doctor" he began, II have come to
ask He stopped short. He was 60
ing to ask II the doctor had married
him. but. not caring to be taken for a
lunatic. he desisted. He began again:
Last Saturday night about IL o'clock
came here to ask you to go to the
house of a dying man. I was left in
your parlor by a maid and. being very
tired, fell asleep"
From the start the doctor pricked up
his ears. When Cuthbert got this far
he interrupted him:
$50, you are the party!'
"Party! What party?'
"Why the party that came instead
Of the right party. What object had
you in stepping In between a bride
and a groom in that d~espicable way7
You have rendered yourself liable to
criminal prosecution"
SEVHyaS1 -~-. la-SN- A~SS