Exit Betty

he canopied entrance to the church. The blackness of the wet Novem

limmer of the street lights, and rude shadows glo

ck from the gaze of the curious onlookers, seeming very s

of rose for an instant in her white cheeks, but gone as quickly. Her eyes reminded one of the stars among the far-away clouds on a night of fitful st

s caught and cared for the billow of satin and costly lace with whic

an opening to catch a better glimpse of her loveliness, one little dark-eyed foreigner even reached out a grimy,

roached the audience, and wondered why the ordeal seemed so much greater now that she was ac

sibly. The cousin was almost unknown until a few hours before. His importance overpowered her. She drooped her eyes and tried not to wish for the quiet, gray-haired cousin of her own mother. It was so strange for him to have failed her at the last moment, when he had promised long ago to let nothing hinder him from giving her away if she shoul

ible thing were following her. Was it a hounding drea

es that she never saw, to the altar smothered in flowers and tropical ferns. It seemed interminable. Would it never e

ilence. No lovelier bride had trod those aisles in many a long year; so exquisite, so small, so young-and so exceeding ri

t together to-night

ned upward, the white eyelids closed, the long dark lashes sweeping the pretty cheek, the wedding veil trailing mistily abou

dark and frowning, an angry red surging through his handsome face. The white-haired minister, with two red spots on his fine scholarly cheeks, stood grave with troubled dignity, as though somehow he meant to hold the little still bride res

and anxious attention. The organ came smartly up again in a hopeless tangle of chords and modulations, trying to get its poise once more. People climbed upon their seats to see, or crowded out in the aisle curiously and unwisely kind, and in the way. Then the minister asked the congregation to be seated; and amid the rustle of wedding finery into seats suddenly grown too narrow and to

," declared the mother of three frowsy daughte

own mother die of?" murmured another speculatively, preparin

oo much! Didn't they make a handsome couple? I'm crazy to see them come marching do

er nephew's aunt had fainted just before her wedding or during it, till it began to seem quite a comm

yes were closed, and she made no move. She swallowed the aromatic ammonia that some one produced, and sh

ped over finally an

in a low tone. "You are making a spectacle of yourself that you can

ng heart for the last five years, and Betty flashed open her sorrowful eyes and looked ar

ttle weary voice. "Won't you jus

hatically toward the doo

ep outside and give her a chance to get c

were deeply curtained, giving a narrow glimpse of blank wall. She sprang softly to her feet and looked out. There was a stone pavement far below. She turned silently and tried a door. It opened into a closet overflowing with musty hymn-books.

d quite calmly. "Would you just ask

to the door, half closing it and making her request in a

t here! He went down to

er voice, and the do

closed door, and a cold numbness seemed to envelop her, clutc

hat awaited her outside that door. In a moment more they would all swarm in and surround her, and begi

m the keyhole, as she slid through the door, drawing her rich draperies ruthlessly after. Her fingers were trembling so that she scarcely could fit the key in the lock again and turn it, and every click of the metal, every creak of the door, sounded like a gong in her ears. Her heart was fluttering wildly and the blood seemed to be pouring in torrents behind her ear-drums. She could not be sure whether there were no

her heart beat frightfully in her throat at the thought that perhaps after all she had not succeeded in quite locking it, but the door held, and she fl

h the knob. It was locked, but there was a key! It was a large one and stu

above. A stone walk filled the space between and ran down the length of the church to a big iron gate. The lights of the street glistened fitfully on the puddles of wet in the depressions of the paving-stones. The street looked quiet, and only one or two people were passing. Was that gate locked also, and if so could she ever climb it, or break through? Somehow she must! She shuddered at the thought of what would happen if she did not get away at once. She strained at the buttons on her soft white gloves and pulled the fingers off, slipping her hands out and letting

ere rows of automobiles were lined up waiting for the wedding ceremony to be over. She could see the chauffeurs walking back and forth and chatting together. She could hear the desultory wandering of the organ, too, from the partly open window near by. A faint sickening waft of lily sweetness

e that made Betty know instantly that this woman would love to tell how she had seen her, would gather a crowd in no time and pursue her. She shrank farther back, and then waited in awful fear and tried to listen

edly as she was silhouetted against the light. She had her hands in her pockets, and a little dark hat worn boyishly on the back of her head, and she was humming a popular song. Betty had slipped behind the half open gate again an

th a pitiful pleading in her voice, "W