The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1916-10-26

another man-and with his present
makeup and all, perhaps it was natu-
raj. Cou he possibly hope to bluff
1t out for q few minutes until the cere-
mony was over and then escape? 1t
would of course be the best way i'm
mar in h doorway off his track. II
the real best man would only stay
away long enough it would not be a
difficult part to play. The original
man might turn up after he was gone
and create a pleasant little mystery,
put nobody would be injured thereby.
All this passed through his mind while
the usher kept up his sepulchral whis-
per:
why, there are just the usual ar
~rangements, you know-nothing new.
You and Jeff go in after the ushers
have reached the back of the church
and opened the door. Then you just
ceremony-very brief. Celia had all
that repeating after the minister cut
u on account OF not being able to re-
hearse. It's to De just the simplest
service, not the usual lengthy affair.
Don't worry, you'll be all right, old
man. Hurry! they're calling you. Leave
your hat right here. Now / must 20.
Keep cool. It'll 500 be over"
The GREATNESS usher hurried through
the door and settled into a sort of eX-
allied hobble to the time Of the wonder
1ul Lohengrin music. Gordon turned,
thinking even yet to make a possible
escape, but the eagle eye of his pur-
suer was upon him and the man JEFF
ferson was by his side.
Here we are!" he said, eagerly grab
ping Gordon's hat and coat and dump
ing them on a chair. I'll look after
everything. Just come along. It's time
we went in. The doctor is motioning
Ior us. AWfully glad to see you at last.
100 bad you had to rush so. How many
years Is 1t since I saw you? Ten!
You've changed some, but you're look
ing fine and dandy. No need to worry
o anything. It'll soon be over and
the knot tied"
Mechanically Gordon fell into place
beside the man Jefferson, who was a
pleasant faced youth, we'll groomed and
handsome. Looking furtively at his
finely cut. happy features, Gordon Won
dered II he would feel as glad as this
youth seemed to be, when he walked
down the aisle to meet his bride. How,
py the way. would he feel If he were
going to be married now-going into
the race OF this great company of we'll
dressed people to meet Miss Julia Bent
ley M be joined to her for life? In
stinctively his soul shrank within him
at the thought.
But now the door was wide open. the
organ pealing it's best, and he suddenly
aware of many eyes, and OF
wondering how long his eyebrows
would withstand the Precipitation that
was trlckling softly down his forehead.
His Observation-Disclosures ~appendage!
why had he not removed it?-was it
aWry? Dared he put up his hand to
see? His Gloves! Would any one no.
tlce That they were not as strictly fresh
a best mans gloves should be? Then
LOOK his first step to the music, and
1t was like being pulled from a delicious
morning nap and plunged into a tub Of
icy water.
He walked with feet that suddenly
weighed like lead, across a. church that
looked to be miles in width, in the face
or sWarms Of curious eyes. He tried to
reflect mat these people were all stran-
gers to him, that they were not look
ing at him, anyway, but at the BRIDE.
groom by his side, n that it mattered
very little what he did so long as he
kept still and braved it out, if only the
real best man didn't turn up until he
was well out of the church. Then he
could vanish In the dark, and go by
some pack way to a car or a taxicab
and SO to the station. The thought Of
the paper inside the gold pencil case
filled him with a sort Of elation. II
only he could get out Of this dreadful
church, he would probably get away
safely. Perhaps even the incident of the
wedding might prove to be his protec-
ton, for they would never seek him in a
crowded church at a fashionable we'd
ding.
The man by his side managed him
admirably, giving him a whispered hint,
a shove, or q push now n then, and
getting him into the proper position.
1t seemed as IL the best man had to
occupy the most trying spot in all the
church; but, as they put him there, Of
course 1t was all right. He glanced fur
lively over the faces near the front, and
they all looked quite satisfied, as If
everything were going as it should, so
he settled down to his fate, his white,
strained face partly hidden by the
display Of mustache and eye
brow. People whispered softly how
handsome he looked, and some suggest
ed that he was not so stout as when
they had last seen him, 10 years before.
His stay in a foreign land must have
done him good. One woman went SO
far as to tell her daughter that he was
had ever thought he could become, but
1t was wonderful what a stay in a for
eign land would do to improve q per-
son.
The music stole onward; and slow
ly, gracefully, like the opening Of buds
into flowers, he bridal party inched
along up the middle aisle until at last
the bride in all the mystery Of her white
veil arrived, and all the maidens in their
flowers and many colored gauzes were
suitably disposedabout her.
The feeble old man on whose arm
the bride had leaned as she came up
the aisle dropped out Of the procession,
melting into n Of the front seats, and
Gordon found himself standing beside
the bride. He felt sure there must be
something wrong. about 1t, and looked
at his young guide with an attempt to
change places with him, but the man
named Jefferson held him in place with
a warning eye You're all right. Just
stay where you are" he whispered soft
~, and Gordon stayed, rejecting on the
strange fashions Of weddings, and won
dering why he had never before taken
notice of just how a wedding party
came in and stood and got out again.
If he vas only out OF this how glad he
would be. 1t seemed one had to be a
pretty all around man to be a member
the secret service.
The organ had hushed its voice to a
sort of exultant sobbing. filled with