Isabel Gretry's hiccoughs drove Aunt Wess' into "the fidgets." They "got on her nerves." What with them and Page's uninterrupted murmur, she was at length obliged to sit in the far end of the pew, and just as she had settled herself a second time the door of the vestry room opened and the wedding party came out; first Mrs.
Cressler, then Laura, then Jadwin and Cressler, and then, robed in billowing white, venerable, his prayer book in his hand, the bishop of the diocese himself.
Last of all came the clerk, osseous, perfumed, a gardenia in the lapel of his frock coat, terribly excited, and hurrying about on tiptoe, saying "Sh! Sh!"as a matter of principle.
Jadwin wore a new frock coat and a resplendent Ascot scarf, which Mr.Cressler had bought for him and Page knew at a glance that he was agitated beyond all measure, and was keeping himself in hand only by a tremendous effort.She could guess that his teeth were clenched.He stood by Cressler's side, his head bent forward, his hands--the fingers incessantly twisting and untwisting--clasped behind his back.Never for once did his eyes leave Laura's face.
She herself was absolutely calm, only a little paler perhaps than usual; but never more beautiful, never more charming.Abandoning for this once her accustomed black, she wore a tan travelling dress, tailor made, very smart, a picture hat with heavy plumes set off with a clasp of rhinestones, while into her belt was thrust a great bunch of violets.She drew off her gloves and handed them to Mrs.Cressler.At the same moment Page began to cry softly to herself.
"There's the last of Laura," she whimpered."There's the last of my dear sister for me."Aunt Wess' fixed her with a distressful gaze.She sniffed once or twice, and then began fumbling in her reticule for her handkerchief.
"If only her dear father were here," she whispered huskily."And to think that's the same little girl Iused to rap on the head with my thimble for annoying the cat! Oh, if Jonas could be here this day.""She'll never be the same to me after now," sobbed Page, and as she spoke the Gretry girl, hypnotised with emotion and taken all unawares, gave vent to a shrill hiccough, a veritable yelp, that woke an explosive echo in every corner of the building.
Page could not restrain a giggle, and the giggle strangled with the sobs in her throat, so that the little girl was not far from hysterics.
And just then a sonorous voice, magnificent, orotund, began suddenly from the chancel with the words:
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this company to join together this Man and this Woman in holy matrimony."Promptly a spirit of reverence, not to say solemnity, pervaded the entire surroundings.The building no longer appeared secular, unecclesiastical.Not in the midst of all the pomp and ceremonial of the Easter service had the chancel and high altar disengaged a more compelling influence.All other intrusive noises died away; the organ was hushed; the fussy janitor was nowhere in sight; the outside clamour of the city seemed dwindling to the faintest, most distant vibration; the whole world was suddenly removed, while the great moment in the lives of the Man and the Woman began.
Page held her breath; the intensity of the situation seemed to her, almost physically, straining tighter and tighter with every passing instant.She was awed, stricken; and Laura appeared to her to be all at once a woman transfigured, semi-angelic, unknowable, exalted.
The solemnity of those prolonged, canorous syllables:
"I require and charge you both, as ye shall answer at the dreadful day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed," weighed down upon her spirits with an almost intolerable majesty.Oh, it was all very well to speak lightly of marriage, to consider it in a vein of mirth.It was a pretty solemn affair, after all; and she herself, Page Dearborn, was a wicked, wicked girl, full of sins, full of deceits and frivolities, meriting of punishment--on "that dreadful day of judgment." Only last week she had deceived Aunt Wess' in the matter of one of her "young men." It was time she stopped.To-day would mark a change.
Henceforward, she resolved, she would lead a new life.
"God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost..."To Page's mind the venerable bishop's voice was filling all the church, as on the day of Pentecost, when the apostles received the Holy Ghost, the building was filled with a "mighty rushing wind."She knelt down again, but could not bring herself to close her eyes completely.From under her lids she still watched her sister and Jadwin.How Laura must be feeling now! She was, in fact, very pale.There was emotion in Jadwin's eyes.Page could see them plainly.
It seemed beautiful that even he, the strong, modern man-of-affairs, should be so moved.How he must love Laura.He was fine, he was noble; and all at once this fineness and nobility of his so affected her that she began to cry again.Then suddenly came the words:
