CHAPTER XLIV. (Continncd).

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 367, 11 May 1889, Page 6

CHAPTER XLIV. (Continncd).

The bridegroom, as soon as they were alono together, put his arm demonstratively round the btido's wai.«t niul kissed her nimble check with effusion. She had buffered so intensely that she new seemed to have reached a stage when the keen edge of her emotions had grown blunted by continued pain ; besides, was ho not her husband ? Had ho not the ri<rht to kiss her now as often as he pleased, and a? often as the fancy seized him ? She was ' bone of his bone, flesh of hi< flesh, 1 and as much his property a* were the beautiful creatures drawing his carriage, for 'ike them she had been purchased at a price. She sat there, absolutely passive, dressed in all her bridal finery. Moan time Air Denver evidently considered it incumbent upon him co help the conversation. 4 Aha !' ho exclaimed, with a sigh of relief, ' that's a good thing ovei. 1 don't know what tlieie is about a wedding to make a man feel so jumpy. I suppose it's the church, and the fusc>, and the sense of something unusual going on.' ' Yes, very likely,' she answered, absently. 4 Awful bore our having such a beastly day, "ain't it, Dulcic? It's lucky for us j that we ha\ c not got to travel very far j this afternoon. It was a capital idea of Puphington s getting us a country place for a few days, within a nice easy di.-tance. Besides, this cold weather is awfully trying. Even the prettiest women appear to disadvantage when their noses get red. By the way, Duloie.' turning round to inspect his wife, 'I do hope and trust your nose is not given I o crimsoning, for theie's nothing I hate more !' Had it been impossible to smilo on this most wretched of wretched days, she would have smiled now. There was something in the situation which tickled her fancy. Imagine a husband of less than an hour making anxious inqirries as to the colour of his bride's nose. ' Oh, dear ' yes,' she said, wi'h a touch j of her old sancintes 'Id gets scarlet on occasions. You ought not to have married me if you were afraid of a little wholesome ruddiness.' He examined her with critical eye 3 much as a man examines a piece of hard or soft paste china. 1 No, Oulcie. Yours is a sort of skin that is not affected by weather. Those creamy-white complexions .seldom are.' The wedding breakfast followed as a matter of course, and Dulcie sat through it like one in a dream ; at length she rose from the table, feeling more dead than alive. Her mother followed with maternal solicitude and a beaming face. ' I'm coming to help you, dear child,' she said, benignly ; * you have none too moch time to spare, for your train goes at ten minutes to three, and you've nearly - eight miles to drive to the junction station.' 'Thank you, mamma,' said Dulcie, in icply. 'But would you mind leaving me alone? I don't want an)- body, and would rather be by myself.' Airs Shepperton remonstrated, but there was a look on Dulcie's face that induced her to submit. Meanwhile, the bride, with trembling fingers, unfastened her costly white satin gown, tore the oranece- blossoms from her head, and threw them on the iloor, almost as if she owed these poor harmless emblems of love and matrimony a grudge. Then she knelt down by the bedside and prayed with her whole heart and strength — prayed for patience and for courage to say, ' Thy will, not mine, be done.' After a while she rose from her knees, feeling calmer and more collected A gentle tap came at the door and Marian entered the room, her countenance being, adorned by a pair of suspiciously red eyes. ' May E come in V she asked. '1 want to say good-bye, and I cannot bear doing so before all those chattering people downstairs, who take no more real interest in the chief actors than if they were u couple of puppets at a show.' 'And what else are we?' returned Dulcie dreamily. ' When the hidden string is pulled by an imisible hand, are we not forced to respond to every jerk ? Look at me, Marian, and tako warning in time. If I had had no heart, then I might be happy and satisfied with my lot at the present moment, instead of wishing myself under the ground, food lor Uie worms and snails.' All the suflerinjr she had endured seemed concentrated in this one bitter speech. ' Oh, hush, darling, hush !' sobbed Marian. ' Don't look so wretched. I thought things were beginning to improve a little at last.' ' Marian, 1 she said, with a sudden catch in her voice, ' you can buy a bottle of cement, and with it stick broken plates and shattered china together, but where is the preparation that can repair a broken heart ': Mine feels as if it had been smashed into a thousand different pieces, and each piece calls out nothing but Bob, Bob, Bob ! What do you think of that in another man's wife? Is it not wrong, horrible unholy ?' looking at her sister with stonj' eyes. Marian threw herself on Dulcie's neck and wept aloud. But, though she whispered many sweeb and tender words, she avoided any mention of Bob Mornington's name, and Dulcie realised that even Marian — the sister on whose sympathy she most counted — considered it wicked to encourage vain regrets. But now it was time to go downstairs and rejoin the company gathered together in the drawingroom.