The solemn charge, ‘I require and charge you both, as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgment when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed,’ caused him to wince as the eyes of the clergyman met his.
Was he always to be haunted like this? Could he never shake off this strange new consciousness that had come upon him?
He looked at Ruth almost sorrowfully once as the thought flashed upon him that perhaps in the far-off future she might look back and curse the day that made her his.
But she answered his glance with a sweet smile, and it seemed as though a new heaven opened for him—a heaven in which he might forget the past and be at rest.
Oh, how fervently he hoped that here he had reached the outskirts of a new world! He would not abuse the trust confided to him. From this moment no evil thought should sully his mind.
If only the dead past would bury its dead—if only those pale ghosts that haunted him would fade in the bright sunlight of this new life—he would work as man had never worked yet to prove that he had bitterly and sincerely repented of the evil he had done.
‘I, Ruth, take thee, Edward, to my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death do us part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.’
The prize was won, the golden badge of ownership glistened on the trembling hand of the beautiful bride, and the voice of the Church called down God’s blessing on the union.
Ruth shed just one tear; but it was a tear of happiness—a tear coming from a heart overflowing with love and gratitude. And as it fell upon the hand that lay trembling in Marston’s, he stooped and kissed it away. Ah, me! if every tear that those sweet eyes are to shed could only be as lightly banished!
Of course Mrs. Adrian cried; and Gertie, who was brave in her beautiful new dress for the occasion, and who was very much overawed by the proceedings, cried a little, too. She didn’t know why. She saw Mrs. Adrian weep, and she saw Ruth’s lips tremble, and, being of a sympathetic nature and easily moved, she cried just to keep them company, though all the time she was thinking how beautiful and how good Ruth was, and wishing Lion could have been there to see what had come of the Little Queer Street lessons after all.