O God of Israel! Then it was the last chance! He sprang to his feet, and shouted in agony: "No, no, she must not marry him! She must not!"
All heads turned toward the shabby old man. An electric shiver ran through the church. The bride paled; a bridesmaid shrieked; the minister, taken aback, stood silent. A white-gloved usher hurried up.
"Do you forbid the banns?" called the minister.
The old man's mind awoke, and groped mistily.
"Come, what have you to say?" snapped the usher.
"I—I—nothing," he murmured in awed confusion.
"He is drunk," said the usher. "Out with you, my man." He hustled Daniel toward the side door, and let it swing behind him.
But Daniel shrank from facing the cordon of spectators outside. He hung miserably about the vestibule till the Wedding March swelled in ironic triumph, and the human outpour swept him into the street.
XI
His abstracted look, his ragged talk, troubled Schnapsie at the evening meal, but she could not elicit that anything had happened.