Father Davy's voice, at first very slightly tremulous, gathered force as
he went on with the words he had spoken so many times, but never as he
was speaking them now--to his child, to Phoebe's child, and to the man
of her choice. A little flush crept into his thin cheeks. More than once
his eyes rested on the dark-blue silk which covered his daughter's
shoulders; the sight of it seemed to give him strength.

When the service ended, and his voice sank into the words of prayer, the
hand of Mr. Peter Brandt went for a moment to his eyes; Mrs. MacFayden
felt suddenly for her handkerchief; James Stuart softly cleared his
throat, winking once or twice rather rapidly. Never had any of them
heard just such a prayer as that. It was as if he who made it were very
near the invisible Presence whom he so tenderly and trustingly
addressed.

Stuart never forgot the moment when he looked for the first time into
the eyes of Jefferson Craig's newly made wife. For one instant he
suffered a pang of jealousy--a queer, irrational feeling. It was as if
he had lost his friend, as if this star-eyed creature before him could
never find room for him again in her full heart. But he knew better in
the next breath, for she lifted her face, ever so little, and with a
sense of deep relief he gave her the brotherly kiss she thus permitted.
When he looked at Jefferson Craig he found that the keen, fine eyes were
regarding him with a very friendly intentness, and he wrung the hand
offered him as he would have wrung the hand of a brother.

"You're the luckiest man in this whole big town," declared Stuart. His
lips had been dumb before Georgiana, but now he turned to her again.
"George, there's no use trying to tell you how I feel about this. All I
can say is that nothing's too good for you--or for him. That's pretty
lame, but--whatever eloquence I'm capable of is tied up somewhere; I
can't get it out."

"It's out, Jimps, dear," she assured him. "Isn't it--Jefferson?"

"It certainly is--Jimps," Craig answered heartily. "It was for just that
genuine feeling that I sent for you. I knew we couldn't spare it."

Stuart watched the pair eagerly during the next hour--the hour during
which the little party sat at the wedding breakfast which followed. The
table was a round one, and his place was next the bride, so he missed
nothing. He had never been present on such an occasion, nor could have
guessed the beauty and charm of the setting wealth and art can g