He loved Julia at first quietly and sensibly, and loved her more and
more as the winter and spring went by, and brought the day when he stood
again at the altar, and for the second time took upon him the marriage
vow. It was a very quiet wedding, with only a few friends present, and
Miss Frances was the bridesmaid, in a gown of silver gray; but Julia’s
face was bright with the certainty of a happiness long desired; and if
in Guy’s heart there lingered the odor of other bridal flowers, withered
now and dead, and the memory of other marriage bells than those which
sent their music on the air that September morning, and if a pair of
sunny blue eyes seemed looking into his, he made no sign, and his face
wore an expression of perfect content as he took his second bride for
better or worse, just as he once had taken little Daisy. In Daisy’s case
it had proved all for the worse, but now there was a suitableness in the
union which boded future happiness, and many a hearty wish for good was
sent after the newly-married pair, whose destination was New York.
It was nearly dark when they reached the hotel, and quite dark before
dinner was over. Then Julia suddenly remembered that an old friend of
hers was boarding in the house, and suggested going to her room.
"I’d send my card," she said, blushingly, "only she would not know me by
the new name, so if you do not mind my leaving you a moment, I’ll go and
find her myself."
Guy did not mind, and Julia went out and left him alone. Scarcely was
she gone when he called to mind a letter which had been forwarded to him
from Cuylerville, and which he had found awaiting him on his return
from, the church that morning. Not thinking it of much consequence, he
had thrust it in his pocket and in the excitement forgotten it till now.
He had dressed for dinner and worn his wedding-coat, and he took the
letter out and looked at it a moment, and wondered whom it was from, as
people often wait and wonder, when breaking the seal would settle the
matter so soon. It was post-marked in New York, and, felt heavy in his
hand, and he opened it at last, and found that the outer envelope
inclosed another one, on which his name and address were written in a
handwriting once so familiar to him, and the sight of which made him
start and breathe heavily for a moment as if the air had suddenly grown
thick and burdensome.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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