at signets--Ah,
yes," for Curtis had intimated politely that the hour was growing late,
"if the lady will say which of these rings fits; they are fifteen
dollars each--cheaper, I believe, than you can buy them in Fifth
Avenue. . . . Ah, _that_ one? Very well. Now, as to the form of
service?"

"The full marriage rite," said Curtis.

"Precisely, just what I would have suggested. I adhere to the
time-honored formula. Now, let me examine the license--my eyes fail me
a little, but I take the utmost pains to be accurate, because accuracy
is of the greatest importance. . . . Yes, yes, State of New York--what
are the names?"

"John D. Curtis and Hermione Beauregard Grandison," said Curtis. His
tone was so calm and self-confident that even the prospective bride was
deaf for a moment to the vital significance of the words. Then she
whispered tremulously:

"Are you not making some mistake?"

"No," he replied, looking her straight in the eyes.

The minister, whose ears partook of the defects in his other faculties,
caught the word "mistake."

"This is no place for mistakes, my dear young lady," he said, "A nice
young couple like you should only require to be married once in your
lives. Take my advice, and stick to one another in sunshine and in
storm, and you shall be blessed even unto the fourth generation. . . .
Now, all is in order. . . . Is this your witness?" and he nodded
affably toward Marcelle. "Shall we have one other? William Jenkins,
my factotum, has been privileged to assist on many such
occasions. . . . Wil-li-am!"

He raised his voice, and a wizened little man appeared suddenly, having
evidently waited outside the door until he was summoned.

Then, with due ritual, John Delancy Curtis and Hermione Beauregard
Grandison were joined in the bonds of wedlock, and, by the time Mr.
Hughes had completed the ceremony, he had pronounced their names so
often, and was so accustomed to their form and sound, that when he
filled in the certificate annexed to the license, "John D. Curtis"
appeared therein in place of "Jean de Courtois."

Hermione was in a pitiable state of suppressed excitement before the
ordeal was concluded. The solemnity and impressiveness of the vows she
was taking disturbed the serenity with which she had schooled herself
to regard the marriage as "make-believe." She was frightened at her
own daring. A dread that the tie she was so lightly assuming might be
harder to undo than she h