ness and in health; and forsaking all others, keep thee only unto
him, so long as ye both shall live?"

"I will!" spoke the Judge's daughter, clear as music, and the Judge drew
a long, deep sigh, saturated with tears, as if from the deepest wells of
grief.

He could not distinctly answer, as he joined her hand to the minister's.
The minister lost his office and speech for a moment, joining her hand
to the bridegroom's. The slave-girl burst into a wail she could not
control, and only Vesta stood calm as her bridegroom, putting her cool,
moist hand in his palm of fire, and waited to repeat the Church's
deliberate language.

When both had made this solemn promise, she reached for the little ring,
and gave it to her old lover, the minister, and Virgie loosed her glove.
Mr. Tilghman, his tears silently falling upon his book, passed the ring
to Meshach, and saw its tiny circle hoop her white finger round, no
bigger than a straw, yet formidable as the martyr's chain. His prayers
were said with deep feeling, and he pronounced them man and wife. Then,
shaking Meshach's hand, he said, with his boyish countenance bright as
faith could make it:

"My friend, may I take my kiss?"

Meshach nodded his head, but his face was like a ball of fire, and he
hardly knew what was asked. Mr. Tilghman kissed Vesta, saying,

"Cousin, your husband is my friend, and love and friendship both
surround you now. May your happiness be, like your goodness, securest
when you surmount difficulties, like those birds that cannot float at
perfect grace till they have struggled above the clouds."

"May I kiss you now?" Milburn said, gazing with a wild look upon her
rich eyes.

As she obediently raised her lips, a strange, warm, husky breath, not
natural nor even passionate, came from his nostrils. The Judge, looking
at this--no pleasing scene to him, the fairest Custis in two hundred
years being devoured before his sight--exclaimed within his soul,

"Is Meshach drinking? His eyes look fiery."

So, after kissing his daughter also, and saying, "May God reward you
with triumphs and compensation beyond our fears!" the Judge said:

"Milburn, I suppose, in the sudden conclusion of this union, you have
made no arrangements as to where you will go; so come, of course, to
Teackle Hall, and make it your home."

"Is that your wish, my dear one?"

Vesta replied, "Yes. But it is yours to choose, sir."

"You have some business with your father for an hour,"