His Second Wife

w he had not sent them word. "It's better," she thought. She herself wrote to a few girl friends, but they were scattered all over the country. No one of them would be coming East. And at times she fe

a small Presbyterian church on the next street. There he soon arranged to be marrie

mount-" he stopped. For the clergyman straightened up as though at

an was smiling queerly. "How long h

e ye

inside of

't say tha

ou want to get

ankly. "The b

y two dollars. But if you care to be married here-well, there's an old scrub-woman I know who for nine years every Sunday has come to this church and put a quarter in the plate

," was the p

bout it with keen relis

led rather te

f it, dear. Let's make it

f the pulpit. Behind her in the shadowy place were only Susette and Emily and the building superintendent's wife. No long rows of faces-car

ce you man

n w

a moment. Then Emily-thank God for he

minute you're going to laugh or cry! Laug

ily, who was taking Susette to the park, they sped away to the r

it like that. She wanted to be lifted through. Joe alarmed her now. "Oh, don't-don't be so considerate!" she wanted to exclaim to him. "What good does it do?" As they smiled at ea

feverish. She had often looked at herself of late in her mirror in the nursery, but now she

adle in the nursery, she lay violently tremb

ld herself until the fit of trembling passed. "Is this real, Ethel Knight? Do you mean to say this is what love is-just this, just thi

d later, as the night wore on, a feeling of having been unjust and foolish little by little emerged from the chaos and began to steady her. But again the old dismay and dread and loathing would come back with a rush. All at once her body from head to foot would grow cold and rigid. An

of intimacy with her siste

. Thank heaven for the daylight and the small, round face of Susette peering over the

no slight effort of will, and it was a relief to

lumsy fool. But remember there is plenty of time-and be

the evening. When Joe came home and took her in his arms, she knew

some self-reproach, which caused her again to struggle, alone, and then go to Amy's room to sleep. She lay listening there for hours, carefully holding herself in check. When she heard his key in the hall door, she sharpl