"Oh, the wedding was at four o'clock," the shocked voice answered. "Oh, is there anything wrong? I am sure Henry didn't know,--we thought it so romantic, a secret wedding,--" I hung up the receiver regardless of her emotions and went back to my cab on the run, while the listening office force enjoyed the sensation.
"Go to the little church at the corner of Olympia and Hazel Streets," I said to the chauffeur, "and get there as soon as you can without being arrested. Get there."
Then I told Barney what I had discovered. There was no reasonable ground for supposing that I would be in time to prevent disaster, yet I must go on, even against reason. And surely Providence would interfere to save her! I could so easily understand how she had been misled. Garney had made her believe that he could help Gene. Perhaps he had suggested that I was not giving the case proper attention. He had offered some impossible assistance if she would marry him, and she, with her romantic, schoolgirlish, unreal ideas of the way things were done in the world, had consented all the more readily because it involved a sacrifice on her part.
The cab swung up to the curb, I jumped up the church steps, and pushed my way through the swinging baize doors. The room was dim, but I could see a group of three before the altar,--Garney, yes; and the minister; and Jean. They turned to look as I stormed down the aisle, and moved slightly apart. I caught Jean's hands in mine and looked into her eyes.
"Jean! Are you married?"
A mist of tears dimmed the brightness of her eyes. "Oh, I'm glad you've come," she said, quiveringly.
Still holding her hands I turned to the minister. "Have you married these two, sir?"
"Not yet. The young lady appears to have been detained,--"
"I took the wrong car! I was just explaining,--"
For a moment the room swam before my eyes. I was in time!