ned that
she was not a "good walker," and her brother-in-law tried jocularly to
help her along, although he used a cane himself. His weather-beaten old
face was beaming, but it was as though the smiles were set between the
wrinkles, for he kept his mouth sober. He had a flower in his
button-hole, which gave him a festive air, despite the fact that his
clothes were distinctly untidy. Several buttons were off: he had no wife
to keep them sewed on.

Esther had given but one glance at him. Her head under its lace veil
bent lower and lower. The flounces of her skirt stood out about her
like the delicate bell of a hollyhock; she followed the way falteringly.
Joe, his young eyes radiant, inclined his curly head towards her, but
she did not heed him. The little procession was as an awkward garment
which hampered and abashed her; but just as they reached the church the
sun crept above the tree-tops, and from the bleakness of dawn the whole
scene warmed into the glorious beauty of a June day. The guests lost
their aspect of chilled waiting; Esther caught their admiring glances.
For one brief moment her triumph was complete; the next she had
overstepped its bounds. She went forward scarcely touching Joe's arm.
Her great desire became a definite purpose. She whispered to a member of
her Sunday-school class, a little fellow. He looked at her wonderingly
at first, then darted forward and grasped the rope which dangled down in
a corner of the vestibule. He pulled with a will, but even as the old
bell responded with a hoarse clank, his arms jerked upward, and with
curls flying and fat legs extended he ascended straight to the ceiling.

"Oh, suz, the Lord's taking him right up!" shrieked an old woman, the
sepulchral explanation of the broken bell but serving to intensify her
terror; and there were others who refused to understand, even when his
sister caught him by the heels. She was very white, and she shook him
before she set him down. Too scared to realize where he was, he fought
her, his little face quite red, and his blouse strained up so that it
revealed the girth of his round little body in its knitted undershirt.

"Le' me go," he whimpered; "she telled me to do it."

His words broke through the general amazement like a stone through the
icy surface of a stream. The guests gave way to mirth. Some of the young
girls averted their faces; they could not look at Esther. The matrons
tilted their bonneted heads towards one another a