The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1917-01-18
But his mother gently reproved him:

Hush, my son, let us hear the story"
leila sat quietly. watching her hus-
band with pride. two bright spots Of
color on her cheeks, and her hands
clasping each other tightly. She was
hearing many details now that were
new to her. Once more, when Gordon
mentioned the dinner at Holman's Jeff
interrupted with:
"Holman! Holman! Not j. p? Why.
OF course-we know him! Celia was
one OF his daughters bridesmaids last
spring! The old lynx! / always
thought he was crooked! People hint
a lot Of things about him"
Jeff, dear, let VI hear the story"
again insisted his mother, and the story
continued.
Gordon had been looking down as he
talked. He dreaded to see their faces
as the truth should dawn upon them,
but when he had told all he lifted hon.
est eyes to the white faced mother and
pleaded with her:
Indeed, indeed, I hope you will be-
lieve me, that not until they laid your
daughters hand in mine did l know
that i was supposed to be the BRIDE
groom. l thought all the time her
brother was the bridegroom. If / had
not been so d~istraught, and trying so
hard to think how to escape, / suppos
| would have noticed that l was stand
ing next to her, and that everything
was peculiar dDOuI the WnOle matter,
Blu | didn't. And then when I sud-
denly knew that she and 1 were being
married, what should / have done? Do
o think l ought to have stopped tho
ceremony then and there and made q
scene before all those people? What
Was the right thing to do? Suppose
my commission had been entirely out
Of the question, and l had had no duty
toward the government to keep en-
tirely quiet about myself, do you think
l ought to have made a scene? Would
you have wanted me to for your daugh-
ter's sake? Tell me. please" he in
sisted, gently.
And while she hesitated he added:
Il did some pretty hard thinking
during that first quarter Of a second
that l realized what was happening,
and ! tell you honestly 1 didn't know
what was the right thing to do. It
seemed awful for her sake to make q
scene, and, to tell you the truth, I
worshiped her from the moment my
eyes rested upon her. There was some
thing sad and appealing as she looked
at me that seemed to pledge my very
life to save her from trouble. Tell me,
do you think / ought to have stopped
the ceremony then at the first moment
OF my realization that l vas being
married?"
The mothers face had softened as
she watched him and listened to his
tender words about Celia, and now she
answered gently:
Il am not sure-perhaps not! II
was a very grave question to face. I
Q know that | IAN blame o for
doing nothing. 1t would have been ter
rible for her n us and everybody and
have made 1t all so public. oh, l think
you did right no to do anything pub
licly-perhaps-and yeti Is terrible
to me to think you have been forced
to marry my daughter in that way"
please don't say forced, mother" said
Gordon laying both hands earnestly
upon hers and looking into her eyes, Il
tell you one thing that held me back
from doing anything was that | SO
earnestly desired that what / was pass
Ing through might be real and lasting.
/ have never seen one like her before.
1 know that II the mistake had been
righted and she had passed out of my
life l should never have felt the same
again. l am glad, glad with all my
heart that she is mine, and-mother!-
l think she Is glad, tool"
The mother turned toward her
daughter, and Celia with starry eyes
came and knelt before them, and laid
her hands in the hands of her husband,
saying with ringing voice:
Yes, dear little mother, / am glad
der than / ever was before in my life"
And kneeling thus, with her hus-
panu arm ABOUT HeT, ner race against
his shoulder, and both her hands
clasped in his, she told her mother
about h fortunes that George Hayne
had put her through, until the mother
turned white with horror at what her
beloved and cherished child had been
enduring, and the brother got up and
stormed across the floor, vowing VEN
geance on the luckless head Of poor
George Hayne.
Then after the mother had given her
blessing TO the two, and jeff had added
an original one Of his own, there was
the whole story of the eventful we'd
ding trip to tell. which they told by
solos and choruses until the hour grew
alarmingly late n the mother sud-
denly sent them all off to bed.
The next few days were both busy
and happy ones for the two. They went
to the hospital and ~gladdened the life
of the little newsboy with fruit
toys and many promises; n they
brought home q happy white dog from
his boarding place, whom jeff adopted
as his own. Gordon had a trying hour
or two at court with his one time host,
the s%couhdrel who had stolen the cipher
message; and the thick set man glared
at him from a cell window as he passed
along the corridor Of the prison width
er he had gone in search Of George
Haype.
Gordon In his search for the lost
bridegroom, whom for many reasons
he desired to find as soon as possible,
had asked the help of one Of the men
at work OF the Holman case, in search
ing for q certain George Hayne who
needed very much to be brought to JUS
tice.
"rOh, you won't have to search for
him." declared the man with a smile.
He's safely landed in prison three days
ago. He was caught as neatly as roll
ing off a log by the son Of the man
whose name he forged several years
ago. 1t was trust money of a big cor
poration and the man died in his place
in a prison cell, but the son means to
see the real culprit punished"
And so Gordon, in the capacity Of
lawyer, went to-the prison to
talk with George Hayne, and that mis-
cradle nan found no excuse for his
sins when the searching talk was over.