The Beloved Stranger - By Grace Livingston Hill Page 0,28

need to stop for any of your own unless you feel you must.”

“Oh, I feel like a criminal!” the bride said suddenly, and sank into a chair with her golden head bowed and her face in her hands, sobbing.

“Nonsense!” said Sherrill under the same impulse with which she might have dashed cold water in the girl’s face if she had been fainting. “Brace up! You’ve gotten through the worst! For pity’s sake don’t get red eyes and spoil it all. Remember you’ve got to go downstairs and smile at everybody yet. Stop it! Quick!”

She offered a clean handkerchief.

“Now look here! Be sensible! Things aren’t just as either you or I would have had them if we’d had our choice! But we’ve got this thing to go through with now, and we’re not going to pass out just at the last minute. Be a good sport and finish your dressing. There isn’t a whole lot of time, you know. Say, that is a pretty frock! I hadn’t noticed it closely before. It certainly is attractive. Come, get it fastened and I’ll find your shoes and stockings.”

Arla accepted the handkerchief and essayed to repair the damages on her face, but her whole slender body was quivering.

“I’ve—taken your—hus–band—” she began with trembling lips.

“You have not!” said Sherrill with flashing eyes. “He’s not my husband, thank goodness!”

“You’d—have—been—happ–pp–ppy,” sobbed Arla, “if—you—just—hadn’t—found—out! It would have been much b–b–better if I had k–k–k–killed myself!”

“Don’t you suppose I’d have found out eventually that he was that sort? And what good would your killing yourself have been? Haven’t you any sense at all? For pity’s sake stop crying! You’re not to blame.” Sherrill was frantic. The girl seemed to be going all to pieces.

“Yes, I am! I’ve taken your husband!” went on Arla, getting a fresh start on sobs, “and I’ve taken your wedding away from you, and now you want me to take your clothes—and I can’t do it!”

“Fiddlesticks!” said Sherrill earnestly. “I tell you I don’t want your husband, and if anybody wanted a frantic wedding such as this has been, they are welcome to it. As for the clothes, they’re all new and have never become a part of me. I’m glad to have you have them, and anyway you’ve got to, to carry out this thing right! Now stop being a baby and get your shoes on. I tell you the time is going fast. Listen! I want you to have those things. I really do! And I want you to have just as good a time as you can. Don’t you believe it?”

“Oh, you’re wonderful!” said Arla, suddenly jumping up and flinging her slender young arms around Sherrill’s neck. “I just love you! And to think I thought you were so different! Oh, if I’d known you were like this, I wouldn’t have come here! I really wouldn’t!”

“Well, I’m glad you came!” said Sherrill fiercely. “I didn’t know it, but I guess I really am. Of course, I’m not having a particularly heavenly time out of it, but I’m sure in my heart that you’ve probably done me a great favor, and someday when I get over the shock, I’ll thank you for it!”

“Oh, but I wouldn’t have wanted to hurt you,” sighed Arla, her red lips still quivering. “I really wouldn’t. I’ve always been—well—decent!”

“That’s all right!” said Sherrill, blinking her own tears back. “And I wouldn’t have wanted to hurt you either. There! Let’s let it go at that and be friendly. Now, please, powder your nose and hurry up. Smile! That’s it!”

Just then Gemmie came back, a big warm coat over her arm, richly furred on collar and sleeves.

“It’s getting late, Mrs. McArthur!” she suggested officially, and presented Arla’s chic little hat and doeskin gloves with a look of approbation toward them. Gemmie had decided that the substitute bride must be a lady. At least she knew how to buy the right clothes.

Arla paused at the door as Gemmie stepped off down the hall to direct the man who had come to take the suitcase, and whispered to Sherrill: “I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me! Never!” she said huskily.

“That’s all right,” said Sherrill almost tenderly as she looked at the pretty shrinking girl before her. “I’m just sorry you couldn’t have had a regular wedding instead of one all messed up with other things like this.”

“Oh, but I never could have afforded a wedding like this!” sighed Arla wistfully.

“Well, it might at least have been peaceful,” said Sherrill with a