Page:The Snake's Pass (Stoker).djvu/375

 other old friend also present, but I did not know it until I came out of the vestry, after signing the register, with my wife on my arm.

There, standing modestly in the background, and with a smile as manifest as a ten acre field, was none other than Andy—Andy so well dressed and smart that there was really nothing to distinguish him from any other man in Hythe. Norah saw him first, and said heartily:—

"Why, there is Andy! How are you, Andy?" and held out her hand. Andy took it in his great fist, and stooped and kissed it as if it had been a saint's hand and not a woman's:—

"God bless and keep ye, Miss Norah darlin'—an' the Virgin and the saints watch over ye both." Then he shook hands with me.

"Thank you, Andy!" we said both together, and then I beckoned Dick and whispered to him.

We went back to breakfast in my rooms, and sat down as happy a party as could be—the only one not quite comfortable at first being Andy. He and Dick both came in quite hot and flushed. Dick pointed to him:—

"He's an obstinate, truculent villain, is Andy. Why, I had to almost fight him to make him come in. Now, Andy, no running away—it is Miss Norah's will!" and Andy subsided bashfully into a seat. It was fully several minutes before he either smiled or winked. We had a couple of hours to pass before it became time to leave for Folkestone; and when breakfast was over, one and then another said a few kindly words. Dick opened the