Mary Louise at Dorfield/Chapter 19

The twelfth of June was just such a day as it should have been for the wedding day of the lovely Mary Louise and her darling Danny Dexter. The weather is always an important factor for a successful undertaking of any kind, but a stormy wedding day is something we cannot forgive the weather man. It was especially important that the sun should shine, but not too hotly, and the breezes should be soft and gentle for this wedding, since it was to be staged out of doors.

That twelfth of June was just such a day as Lowell describes in his immortal poem. Everybody was happy, even Grandpa Jim, since his beloved child was not really being taken from him. He was merely being presented with a grandson-in-law who would but add to the joy of his declining years. The wedding trip was to take Mary Louise away for only two weeks and Irene was to stay with him until Mr. and Mrs. Danny Dexter should return.

The ceremony was to be at high noon, followed by a wedding breakfast, the splendor and lavishness of which was to be the talk of Dorfield for days to come. Colonel Hathaway was not inclined to show, but the marriage of this dear grandchild was of paramount importance to the old man and he felt that nothing must be left undone to make this wedding breakfast perfect. The list of guests had grown, as such lists always do grow, and to the dear friends and intimates were gradually added the new acquaintances of grandfather and granddaughter. It was difficult to draw the line, since both old man and young girl had such kindly feelings for everybody in Dorfield and everybody surely loved them.

“Why draw the line, since it is so difficult?” Grandpa Jim had remarked. “If there is any doubt about whether we should or shouldn’t ask anybody, for goodness’ sake let’s ask them. It is better to err on that side of the ledger.” And so the invitation ended by being general, much to the delight and satisfaction of Dorfield. Mrs. Wright, after all, might have spared herself her trouble of maneuvering for invitations for her daughters.

The bridesmaids had arrived. They looked very like the bunches of sweet peas they were to carry. As for the bride, no lily of the field could have been fairer.

quoted Elizabeth in a whisper to Josie. Josie had refused to be a bridesmaid, but was with them upstairs where they were waiting for the hour to strike. “I do wish Irene could see you now,” she said to Mary Louise.

“Where is she, the dear girl? I’ll run down and speak to her before the people all come.”

“You could hardly do that, honey, as Irene is already out on the lawn. She has wheeled her chair to the spot where we decided she must sit so she can be part of the ceremony, as it were.”

“Here I am!” cried Hortense Markle tripping into the room. “I was so afraid you would worry about my not getting here in time. I am a wee bit late, but dear Felix is ill and I could not leave him before.”

“Oh, I am so sorry,” said Mary Louise. “Is he in bed?”

“No, he is sitting up with his dressing gown wrapped around him. It is just one of those miserable neuralgic attacks he is subject to, but it completely lays him out, poor fellow. He is so sorry not to come to the wedding. In fact, up to the last minute, he hoped he would be able to control the wretched headache and come anyhow, but he finally had to give up. I gave him a huge dose of aspirin. I really hated to leave him but, of course, I could not be absent from such a post of honor at such a time. The matron of honor is almost as necessary to a bride as the groom himself. But how beautiful you are, my dear Mary Louise! And the girls! They are wonderful. I am almost sorry I am to be in the picture, I want so much to see it.”

Hortense herself was as beautiful as could be. Her dress of the palest grey made over iridescent silk was perfect and her glowing beauty shone in a manner that Elizabeth thought of as being almost diabolical in its lure.

“I am sorry I know what she is,” Elizabeth whispered to Josie. “I can’t enjoy her beauty as I should like to, knowing as I do what a thing she is.”

“Well, keep up a face, anyhow,” admonished Josie. “I am expecting trouble. I hope it won’t go wrong.”

“I promised to telephone Felix just before the ceremony,” said Hortense. “He says he wants to picture us as we go through the yew hedge. He is really quite sentimental about this wedding, dear Mary Louise. You are a prime favorite with him and he thinks great things of your Danny.”

At last the hour struck! It was time for the start. The guests had gathered on the lawn. It was hard for some of them to tear themselves away from the room where the wedding presents were placed. Such wedding presents! Cases of silver of every known pattern and device! Cut glass and fine china! Wonderful rugs and tapestries! Rare etchings and prints! Linen fine enough for a king’s ransom! All of these things were in a little room downstairs that connected Grandpa Jim’s bedroom and the living room. This room Mary Louise had always used as an extra sitting room where she could take her intimates. It had been cleared of furniture for the occasion and tables brought in to hold all the beautiful presents. Some of the more curious guests wanted to linger and read every card and look at the bottom of every piece of silver to see if, by chance, anyone could have sent anything not marked sterling; but when the rumor went forth that the bridal procession was ready to start, the curious ones hastened for the terraces. Hortense telephoned to her husband a moment before they left the house.

“We are ready, dear,” she said in the phone in Mary Louise’s room, “Just starting! You may think of us in five minutes now as being in the midst of the ceremony. I hope your dear head is better. Oh, I am so sorry! Go to bed dear!”

Josie watched every movement of the matron of honor. Nothing escaped the little detective. It was easy to see that Hortense was filled with an excitement that merely being matron of honor did not warrant. Her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks were flushed. Her beauty glowed like a ruby. Occasionally, Josie noticed she stood still for a moment in an attitude of listening. Josie listened too up to the moment the bridal party came through the yew hedge and made its way to the spot on the greensward where the minister awaited. Then for a moment, she forgot everything but the fact that Mary Louise, her dear little friend, was being united to her Danny in the holy bonds of matrimony in sickness and in health until death would them part.

Of course, the servants came out to the side of the house to see their little mistress married. Even the caterers who had begun to swarm in and out of the place left their work and joined the house servants. Mary Louise was a favorite with everybody and this was not the first time those caterers had been called to Colonel Hathaway’s to serve, for the old gentleman was a famous entertainer and many had been the parties given by him to his granddaughter. The great house was empty. Everybody was in the garden thrilled by the beautiful and picturesque sight of the wedding.

As the procession came through the yew hedge a small automobile truck was driven up the alley. It stopped at the Hathaways’ back gate and two men got out, each one with a trunk slung over his back. Quietly they made their way through the deserted kitchen and butler’s pantry and into the small room where the presents were on display. They closed the doors to this room and then with remarkable dispatch proceeded to pack the presents in the trunks filled with excelsior, first the silver which they took from the cases, thereby economizing space, and then the cut glass wrapped in the fine linen and tapestries and packed between the folds of the rugs. Such clever packers were never seen. They seemed to have an instinct for fitting an article in a space. The trunks were filled in a twinkling and then the men carried them out one at a time, and quietly and easily lifted them into the truck. Just as the minister pronounced Danny and Mary Louise man and wife and warned the guests that whom God had united let no man put asunder, the truck started up the alley.

“Well, we got off there all safe,” laughed one of the men. “I must say you are the cleverest ever. Of course, you have your wife to help you plan a thing like this.” The man who was thus blessed was no other than Felix Markle, who seemed to have shaken off his headache remarkably quickly and have got to the Hathaways in time for the ceremony after all.

“Yes, she is a wonder. I’d like to know if the others got the things from the Wrights. I hope they didn’t fill up with useless plunder. The Wrights are off to the beach tomorrow and they won’t know a thing about their treasures being lifted until they come back in the fall. There they are!”

The truck was met at the corner by one similar also carrying trunks and run by two men.

“All safe?” called Markle.

“As easy as shootin’!” was the answer. “Not a soul around and back windows all unlatched. We found the silver on top the wardrobe and brought along all the books you named to us. We picked up some rugs too, all nicely packed in moth balls and two fur coats.”

“Well, we’d best be off now. You have the address all right, eh? Mark your tag clearly and bring me your check tomorrow at my office. Good boys!”

The trucks then separated, the one Markle was in making at a goodly speed for a small town about fifteen miles from Dorfield, the other one going to the Dorfield station.

Josie, whose eye was ever on Hortense, noticed the woman was a little distrait at the close of the ceremony. Just as the benediction was pronounced instead of casting down her eyes she seemed unable to keep her eyes from the back of the garden, even stooping a little to peer through a gap in the hedge. What could she be interested in?

Congratulations in order! Everybody kissing the bride and shaking hands with the bridegroom, some of them even kissing him. Josie slipped through the crowd and whispered something to Bob Dulaney.

“A truck you say drove up during the ceremony?”

“Yes, and it is off now, but we can keep up with it. The chief is having all the stations watched. Have you your disguise?”

“Sure! And you?”

“Mine is in my pocket, so come along.”