The City of Fire - Page 220/221

The minister and his wife stood back in his little study behind the

pulpit, watching their two with loving eyes, and down by the front door

stood Billy in a new suit with his hair very wet and licked back from

an almost crimson countenance, waiting the word to fling open the door

and let the congregation in.

"Tum, diddydum--Diddydum--diddydum--

Diddydum--diddydum--Diddydum--dum--dum--

Dum--Dum--Dum!" began the organ and Billy flung the portals wide and

stood aside on the steps to let the throng pass in, his eyes shining as

if they would say, "Aw Gee! Ain't this great?"

And just at that moment, wallowing through the snow, with the air of

having come from the North Pole there arrived a great car and drew up

to the door, and Laurie Shafton jumped anxiously out and flung open the

door for his passengers.

"Aw Gee! That Fish! Whadde wantta come here for? The great

chump! Don't he know he ain't in it?"

Billy watched in lofty scorn from his high step and decided to hurry in

and not have to show any honors to that sissy-guy.

Then out from the car issued Opal, done in furs from brow to shoe and

looking eagerly about her, and following her a big handsome sporty man

almost twice her age, looking curiously interested, as if he had come

to a shrine to worship, Opal's husband. Billy stared, and then

remembering that the wedding march was almost over and that he might be

missing something: "Aw, Gee! Whadduw I care? He ain't little apples now, anyhow. He

couldn'ta bought her with barrels of roses, an' he knows it too,

the poor stiff. He must be a pretty good scout after all, takin' his

medicine straight!"

Then Billy slid in and the quiet little ceremony began.

The organ hushed into nothing. Marilyn arose, took Mark's arm, and

together they stepped down and stood in front of the minister, who had

come down the steps of the pulpit and was awaiting them, with Marilyn's

mother sitting only a step away on the front seat.

It was all so quiet and homey, without fuss or marching or any such

thing, and when the ceremony was over the bride and groom turned about

in front of the bank of hemlock and roses and their friends swarmed up

to congratulate them. Then everybody went into the parsonage, where the

ladies of the church had prepared a real country wedding breakfast with

Christmas turkey and fixings for a foundation and going on from that.

It wasn't every day in the year that Sabbath Valley got its minister's

daughter married, and what if the parsonage was small and only

fifty could sit down at once, everybody was patient, and it was all the

more fun!