The groom's ^and came under the bride's elbow. The groom's head bent, solictiously. The bride's head came up. She smiled. The minister cleared his throat.
The ceremony continued. Until it was over.
They were married.
The wedding guests closed upon the couple with little coos. But Johnny Sims moved disconsolately away into the hall, out through the double doors, to stand upon the porch, to look into the thicket of trees, seeing nothing but defeat. So much for tricks, he thought.
Someone came out behind him after a while and it was MarshaU. 'Too bad.'
Johnny couldn't lift his tongue to make an agreeing sound.
The bride cut the cake. For some reason, the wedding guests were more comfortable making a fuss of the old lady. The old lady rather expected it. So the groom said into the bride's ear, 'Change, love? Let's get away soon.'
'Should we?'
'^ho cares whether we should? Hurry. Do you want Dorothy?' He looked impatient. 'You girls will talk.'
Nan picked up the white skirt in her two hands and turned her foot. 'No, we won't. I don't want to talk. I want us to get away. I don't need Dorothy. I'll change.'
'Do, love,' he approved softly.
The bride sHpped out of the dining room and up the stairs. The groom drifted past the bridesmaid.
'Help Nan?' he whispered in her ear.
Dorothy turned briUiant eyes. 'Of course,' she said graciously.
But when Dorothy got up to Nan's door and opened it. Nan said coolly, 'Don't bother. Dotty. I can manage. You go back down.'
'All right,' said Dorothy placidly. She withdrew, closing the door.
Nobody was in the upstairs hall—except the bridegroom. He came to her before she reached the top of the stairs. 'Dear Dorothy,' he said and put one arm hard and tight around her shoulders. His otl:ier hand came cruelly to her face. It held her jaws and the pain shocked her. The violence shocked her.
Then he put her on his hip and more or less carried her down the deserted hall to the front bedroom that used to be Nathaniel's. He stood her on her feet inside the room. He was able to manage her with one hand, one arm, because her bones were so softened, her muscles so flaccid, her flesh so sagging with shock and fear. He closed and locked the door behind them.
Downstairs, Johnny Sims re-entered the house. He strode down the wide re-carpeted hall to the study, the room where Christy had died. He found the phone and dialed long distance. He had failed and Grimes, Copeland, Father Klein . . . You stood up to failuie. He had failed, and Clinton McCauley would have to be told.
Dorothy could not speak. The big man's big hand would not permit it. His eyes were not such as to be spoken to. 'Dear Dorothy,' he said, 'a rotten error. I would rather have had you my hving bride.'
Her feet could not resist against the floor, could not even touch the floor, as he swning her toward the side of the room. 'But I'll hang you in my closet,' said Dick Bartee,
''like an old suit I don't bother to take. Hang you by your pretty neck . . /'
His lips came and kissed her neck. Her flesh crawled. She arched and struggled to no avail.
'You'll be a suicide,' Dick said, 'Lovely Dorothy. So young. But I'll have the Bartee money.'
She tried desperately to wag her head, no.
'Nan's your only family,' Dick said. 'McCauley is dead. ' Never mind how I know.'
He had the closet door open now. 'You don't think I'll do this?' He was amused. 'You don't think I dare? I'll do it and no one will believe I did it. They'll all say I wouldn't have dared.' He chuckled. 'People have always been saying I wouldn't have dared. But, you see, I do dare.'
He had a flannel sash from a bathrobe in his free hand.
'It takes so httle time to kill,' he told her. 'You'll be surprised.'
She knew he was beyond the reach of any word, even if she could have spoken. She couldn't speak, or cry out— couldn't fight his bulk and strength. She was helpless.
'One blow for Christy,' he said. 'Took one moment.-4t did surprise me. Took longer for Miss McCauley.'
The sash was coming around her neck but Dorothy did not even feel it. Her heart was sinking in such horror and such sorrow. 'Five minutes,' Dick said, 'which is a long time. I wanted to be sure. And I couldn't leave a mark... It won't be so long for you. The time you take to die in the closet,' he said, 'I can use to change my coat.'
The sash tightened. His one hand had two ends of it at the back of her neck and were twisting. When the sash was effectively choking off her breath and speech he used both hands to make the knot.
'I'll rush Nan out of here,' he told her. He was smiling confidently. 'Nobody will find you, for quite some time. We'll be far away. Honeymoons are spent in secret places. Take time to find us. They won't imagine. If you are just bold enough—Did you know this. Dotty? You are practically invisible. You can do whatever you want.'
Now he had her by the waist in one hard arm, lifting her. The other hand was fixing the sash somewhere high.
He finished the task. He looked into her eyes. 'I wish I had known' he said a httle regretfully. 'I wish I'd paid at-
