the gold-rimmed spectacles and the handsome walking stick.

"Dear me, this is very interesting!" the latter remarked. "Is it
the custom, sir, always, may I ask, in this country, to have so many
policemen at a wedding?"

The big man looked downward and shook his head.

"Special reason," he said mysteriously. "Fact is, young lady was engaged
once to a very bad character--a burglar whom the police have been
wanting for years. He had to leave the country, but he has written her
once or twice since in a mysterious sort of way--wanted her to be true
to him, and all that sort of thing. Dory--that's the bridegroom--has got
a sort of an idea that he may turn up to-day."

"This is very exciting--very!" the little old gentleman remarked.
"Reminds me of our younger days out in Australia."

"You sit down here," the best man directed, ushering his companion
into an empty pew. "I must get back again outside, or I shall have the
bridegroom arriving."

"Good-day to you, sir, and many thanks!" the little old gentleman said
politely.

Soon the bridegroom arrived--a smart young officer, well thought of at
Scotland Yard, well set up, wearing a long tail coat a lilac and white
tie, and shaking in every limb. He walked up the aisle accompanied by
the best man, and the little old gentleman from Australia watched him
genially from behind those gold-rimmed glasses. And, then, scarcely was
he at the altar rails when through the open church door one heard the
sounds of horses' feet, one heard a rustle, the murmur of voices, caught
a glimpse of a waiting group arranging themselves finally in the porch
of the church. Maud, on the arm of her father, came slowly up the aisle.
The little old gentleman turned his head as though this was something
upon which he feared to look. He saw nothing of Mr. Barnes, in a new
coat, with tuberose and spray of maidenhair in his coat, and exceedingly
tight patent leather boots on his feet; he saw nothing of Mrs. Barnes,
clad in a gown of the lightest magenta, with a bonnet smothered with
violets.

It was in the vestry that the only untoward incident of that highly
successful wedding took place. The ceremony was over! Bride, bridegroom
and parents trooped in. And when the register was opened, one witness
had already signed! In the clear, precise writing his name stood out
upon the virgin page--

Spencer Fitzgerald

The bridegroom swore, the bride nearly collapsed. The clerk pressed into
the hands of the