t.

But it ended at last.

"He'll soon be here now," he said to himself as, carrying his new hat
behind him, he made for another tablet nearer the chancel, while divers
whispers behind him told of pews being filled by those who wished to
have good places, and so another five minutes passed.

"Time he was here," thought the early arrival; and summoning his
fortitude ready for being stared at and commented upon, he walked
quietly toward the chancel, faced round, and waited, staring blankly at
the three or four score of faces watching him eagerly.

"Pleasant!" he said to himself. "Must be some of the friends here, but
how confoundedly awkward I do feel. I hate these quiet weddings.
Company's good, even if you're going to be hanged. Why isn't Stratton
here?"

There were fresh arrivals every minute, and Guest gazed anxiously now
toward the door, but the arrivals were all female; and save that the
clerk or verger was arranging cushions and books up by the communion
table, he was alone, and the centre upon which all eyes were fixed.

"I've done wrong," muttered Guest as he mastered a strong desire to look
at his watch, which he knew must now be within five minutes of the time.
"I ought to have gone back and brought him on. It's too bad to leave
me here like this."

If he could have taken out his handkerchief to have wiped the gathering
drops away from his temples he would not have cared so much, for they
produced a terrible itching sensation. But no; he must seem cool and
collected.

He was conscious now of talking somewhere behind him, in the vestry
evidently, a deep utterance suggestive of intoning a service, and a
harsh, sharp voice.

The clergyman and just then the clerk came down, passed close by, looked
at him, went and opened a pew door, and returned to approach him again
with a deprecative cough, as if he were about to speak, but he passed on
again, and went back into the vestry.

"Took me for the bridegroom," muttered Guest to himself. "Stratton, you
scoundrel, why don't you come? Oh! I'll pay you out for this."

At last! For a figure appeared at the other end of the church. No; it
turned into a pew half-way down the centre aisle, and Guest became cold
with apprehension as the organ began to peal forth its softest notes to
a hushed, shuddering bass, while Guest looked wildly down the church,
where, to his horror, there stood a figure in company with a tall,
sedate, grey-haired lady dressed in g