“Yes, but where is Lewis?” Miss Asheton put the question with a pardonable eagerness. Conversely, her voice conveyed an entire absence of interest in the best man.
“All the weddings I have ever attended,” said Mr. Burrow sententiously, “were marred by some slight hitch or omission. At this one the missing detail seems to be the bridegroom.” Having spoken, he awaited her hysterics.
It happened that Miss Asheton was not the hysterical sort. She merely looked at Mr. Burrow, and Mr. Burrow suddenly felt himself grow microscopic. Also, he was puzzled. This young woman had planned to elope with Mr. Lewis Copewell. That indicated that she must consider Mr. Lewis Copewell a desirable possession. He had just announced, with studied bluntness, that she could not have Mr. Copewell. Why did she not take the cue and weep? He regarded it as axiomatic that women and children cry for what they want.
Yet here before him, in the full glare of the acetylene lamps, she stood eying him like an offended young goddess, precisely as though he were responsible and she meant to punish him. Mr. Burrow had not arranged his battle-front to receive that type of enemy. It dawned upon him that this was a very brave young woman and, although he admitted it reluctantly, a very beautiful young woman.
“If it’s not too much trouble,” she suggested icily, “you might explain more fully. On the whole, I think I have the right to understand.”
Mr. Burrow shrugged his shoulders.
“My dear Miss Asheton,” he began with weak defiance, yet feeling that she had put him on the defensive, “might I remind you that this is not my funer—that is to say, my wedding? All I can learn is that he left Mercerville, and did not arrive here. The question which now suggests itself to me, is this: What are the functions of a best man when there is no marriage?”
The young woman turned away and marched scornfully toward the far end of the platform. It was revealed to Mr. Burrow that if all women could walk like that, and take punishment like that, there would be no room in the world for woman-haters. His objections to marriage could not apply to a union with a deity!
He turned and went over very humbly. “Miss Asheton——” he began.
The girl wheeled with her chin in the air and an angry gleam flashed through the mortified tearfulness of her eyes.