"Because YOU were here."

Nevertheless Mr. Hamlin departed, and in half an hour reappeared
with two brilliantly dressed women. One, hysterical, tearful,
frightened, and pallid, was the destined bride; the other, highly
colored, excited, and pleasedly observant, was her friend. Two men
hastily summoned from the anteroom as witnesses completed the group
that moved into the bedroom and gathered round the bed.

The ceremony was simple and brief. It was well, for of all who
took part in it none was more shaken by emotion than the
officiating priest. The brilliant dresses of the women, the
contrast of their painted faces with the waxen pallor of the dying
man; the terrible incongruity of their voices, inflections,
expressions, and familiarity; the mingled perfume of cosmetics and
the faint odor of wine; the eyes of the younger woman following his
movements with strange absorption, so affected him that he was glad
when he could fall on his knees at last and bury his face in the
pillow of the sufferer. The hand that had been placed in the
bride's cold fingers slipped from them and mechanically sought
Gideon's again. The significance of the unconscious act brought
the first spontaneous tears into the woman's eyes. It was his last
act, for when Gideon's voice was again lifted in prayer, the spirit
for whom it was offered had risen with it, as it were, still
lovingly hand in hand, from the earth forever.

The funeral was arranged for two days later, and Gideon found that
his services had been so seriously yet so humbly counted upon by
the friends of the dead man that he could scarce find it in his