Then he was
surprised by his presence there at all; confound the girl, why didn't
she play with her own kind! Yet only the other day the glimpse she had
given him of her natural associates had filled him with dread. His mind,
striving to encompass the problem of Mariana's existence, failed to
overcome the walls built about him by time, by habit. He gave it up. The
louder pealing of the organ announced immediate developments.
There was a stir in the front of the church, a clergyman in white
vestment advanced; and, at a sudden murmurous interest, a twisting of
heads, the wedding procession moved slowly up the aisle. The ushers,
painstakingly adopting various lengths of stride to the requirements of
the organ, passed in pairs; then followed an equal number of young
women, among whom he instantly recognized the handsome presence of Kate
Polder, in drooping blue bonnets, with prodigious panniers of
celestial-hued silk, carrying white enamelled shepherd's crooks from
which depended loops of artificial buttercups. An open space ensued, in
the centre of which advanced a child with starched white skirts
springing out in a lacy wheel about spare, bare knees, her pale yellow
hair tied in an overwhelming blue bow; and holding outstretched, in a
species of intense and quivering agony, a white velvet cushion to which
were pinned two gold wedding bands.
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