Page:Harvey O'Higgins--Silent Sam and other stories.djvu/128

ll6 which Milly signaled her lover as she went by. The clown followed her at a safe distance. He saw her father leave her at the church steps, and he waited until the old man had turned the street corner. Then he hurried furtively to join her where she was awaiting him in the vestibule.

"Did you get it?" she whispered.

"Sure!" He produced, from an upper pocket of his white waistcoat a precious square of paper that shook in his hands as he unfolded it. "The parson says he 'll see us after the show in here 's over." He indicated the muffled singing of the congregation with a jerk of the head toward the closed inner doors of the church. "We 're to go aroun' to the side somewheres."

"'Ow much does 'e want?"

"Whatever I want to give, he says." He explained it to her perplexedly: "They don't have a reg'lar price."

She choked down an excited gurgle of laughter, blushing up at him. "'Ow much d' you think it 's worth?"

"God! Milly," he faltered. "It 's worth all I 'll ever make."

"Well," she said, with a flippancy that was half hysterical, "that 's w'at it 's goin' to cost you before you 're done with me." One of the ushers of the church approached them. "Come on," she whispered, taking Sutley's arm. "We might 's well see th' 'ole performance."

They went in to their wedding like a country couple entering a side show.