ith quick precision and repeated them without a hitch.

He smiled and congratulated himself: "I got ye that time, old cull!"

The preacher's eyes sought Mary's:

"I, Mary, take thee, James, to my wedded husband, to have and to hold
from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in
sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death do
us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my
troth."

In the sweetest musical voice, quivering with happiness, the girl
repeated the words.

Again the preacher's eyes sought Jim's:

AND THE MAN SHALL GIVE UNTO THE WOMAN A RING----

The groom fumbled in his pocket and found at last the ring, which he
handed to Mary. The minister at once took it from her hand and handed it
back to Jim.

The bride lifted her left hand, deftly extending the fourth finger, and
the groom slipped the ring on, and held it firmly gripped as he had been
instructed.

"With this ring I thee wed----"

"With this ring I thee wed----" Jim repeated firmly.

"----and with all my worldly goods I thee endow----"

"----and with all my worldly goods I thee endow----"

"In the Name of the Father----"

"In the Name of the Father----"

"----and of the Son----"

"----and of the Son----"

"----and of the Holy Ghost----"

"----and of the Holy Ghost----"

"Amen!"

"Amen!"

The voice of the preacher's prayer that followed rang far-away and
unreal to the heart of the girl. Her vivid imagination had leaped the
years. Her spirit did not return to earth and time and place until the
minister seized her right hand and joined it to Jim's.

"Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder!

"Forasmuch as James Anthony and Mary Adams have consented together in
holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company,
and thereto have given and pledged their troth, each to the other, and
have declared the same by giving and receiving a Ring, and by joining
hands; I pronounce that they are Man and Wife, In the Name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."

The preacher lifted his hands solemnly above their heads.

"God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, bless, preserve, and
keep you; the Lord mercifully with His favor look upon you, and fill you
with all spiritual benediction and grace; that ye may so live together
in this life, that in the world to come ye may have life everlasting.
AMEN."

The p