by Bartimeus
*III.*
They were greeted at the church door by the beaming Indiarubber Man.
"Come along in--spot or plain?--I mean Bride or Bridegroom? Bride'sfriends on the left and Bridegroom's on the right--or is it the otherway about? I'm getting so rattled.... I've just put the old caretakerin a front pew under the impression that it was your rich aunt, Guns!What a day, what a day! Got the ring, Torps? Here come theBridesmaids, bless 'em! Go on, you two, get up into your properbillets.... 'The condemned man walked with unfaltering step'--oh,sorry, I forgot...."
The Groomsmen slid into their pew with much rattling of sword-scabbardsand nodding of heads and whispering. On their gilded shoulders appearedto lie the responsibility of the whole affair.
The Bridegroom took up his appointed place and stood, his hands linkedbehind his back, looking down the aisle to where the choir wasgathering. The church seemed a sea of faces, glinting uniforms, andwomen's finery. Who on earth were they all? He had no idea he knew somany people.... Quite sure Millicent didn't.... How awful it must be tohave to preach a sermon.... The faint scent of lilies drifted up towhere he was standing. At his side Torps shifted his feet, and theferrule of his scabbard clinked on the aisle. Dear old Torps! ... Howhe must be hating it all.
There was a faint stir at the entrance. The Bridesmaids' black velvethats and white feathers were bobbing agitatedly. He caught a glimpse ofa white-veiled figure. People were turning round, staring andwhispering. Dash it all! It wasn't a circus.... What did they thinkthey were here for?
"There she is," murmured Torps. "Not much longer now."
The clergyman was giving out the number of a hymn from the back of thechurch somewhere, and the deep, sweet notes of the organ poured out overtheir heads: then the voices of the choir-boys swelled up, drawingnearer.... Again the scent of lilies.
"Stand by," from Torps, tensely.
The choir-boys filed past, singing; one had on a red tie that peepedabove his cassock. They glanced at him indifferently as they went by,their heads on a level with his belt-buckle.... Then the white-veiledfigure on the Colonel's arm--Millicent: his, in a few short minutes, forever and aye.... He drew a deep breath.
"_Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight ofGod...._" Torps touched him lightly on the elbow.
* * * * *
"_I, John Mainprice Edgar..._"
"I, John Mainprice Edgar:"
"_Take thee, Millicent..._"
"Take thee, Millicent:"
* * * * *
"_To have and to hold..._"
This was simple enough--"To have and to hold:"
* * * * *
"And thereto I plight thee my troth."
How warm and steady the small hand was, lying in his: then gentlywithdrawn. Torps was trying to attract attention--What was his trouble?The ring--Of course, the ring....
* * * * *
"_Those whom, God hath joined together let no man put asunder._"
* * * * *
Life's haven at last! Or had all life been a cruise within the harbour:and this the beat to open sea ... The Brave Adventure?
* * * * *
"_The peace of God which passeth all understanding ... remain with younow and for evermore._"
* * * * *
There was a whisper of silken petticoats, and the clink of swords seemsto fill the church: then, dominating all other sounds for a moment, theold Colonel blowing his nose vehemently....
Down the aisle again, the organ thundering familiar strains--familiar,yet suddenly imbued with a personal and intimate message,--Millicent'sarm resting on his, trembling ever so lightly....
In the warm, bouquet-scented gloom of the vestry they gathered, andTorps wrung the Bridegroom's hand in a hard, unaccustomed grip--Torpswith his winning, half-sad smile, and the hair over his temples showingthe first trace of grey.... The bride finished signing the register,and rose smiling, with the veil thrown back from her fair face. Inlater years he found himself recalling a little sadly (as the happiestof bachelors may do at times) the queer, shining gladness in her eyes.He bent and touched the warm cheek with his lips.
Then for a minute every one seemed to fall a-kissing. Father anddaughter, Mother and son, newly-made brothers- and sisters-in-law soughteach other in turn. The Bridegroom's Lady Mother kissed the IndiarubberMan because no one else seemed to want to, and they were such oldfriends. The Clergyman kissed two of the Bridesmaids because he wastheir uncle, and the Colonel (who had stopped blowing his nose and wascheering up) kissed the other two because he wasn't. In the middle ofall this pleasant exercise Torps, who had vanished for a minute,reappeared to announce that the Arch of Swords was ready and thecarriages were alongside.
So the procession formed up once more: Bride and Bridegroom, the Coloneland the Bridegroom's Lady Mother: Torps leading the Bridegroom's newsister-in-law (and a very pretty sister-in-law she was), the Flapper andthe Indiarubber Man, a girl called Etta Someone on the JuniorWatch-keeper's arm, and another called Doris Somebody Else under theescort of the A.P. They all passed beneath the arch of naked bladesheld up by the Bridegroom's messmates and friends, to receive a runningfire of chaff and laughing congratulation; to find outside in the goldenafternoon sunshine that the horses had been taken from thecarriage-traces, and a team of lusty blue-jackets, all very perspiringand serious of mien, waiting to do duty instead.
