I almost laughed aloud at his manner of making this irreverent observation, and the look with which he accompanied it. The rich tones of the organ creeping softly on the flower-scented silence however, quickly solemnized my mood,—and while I leaned against the altar-rails waiting for my bride, I caught myself wondering for the hundredth time or more, at my comrade’s singularly proud and kingly aspect, as with folded arms and lifted head, he contemplated the lily-decked altar and the gleaming crucifix upon it, his meditative eyes bespeaking a curious mingling of reverence and contempt.
One incident I remember, as standing out particularly in all the glare and glitter of the brilliant scene, and this occurred at the signing of our names in the register. When Sibyl, a vision of angelic loveliness in all her bridal white, affixed her signature to the entry, Lucio bent towards her,—
“As ‘best man’ I claim an old-fashioned privilege!” he said, and kissed her lightly on the cheek. She blushed a vivid red,—then suddenly grew ghastly pale,—and with a kind of choking cry, reeled back in a dead faint in the arms of one of her bridesmaids. It was some minutes before she was restored to consciousness,—but she made light both of my alarm and the consternation of her friends,—and assuring us that it was nothing but the effect of the heat of the weather and the excitement of the day, she took my arm and walked down the aisle smilingly, through the brilliant ranks of her staring and envious ‘society’ friends, all of whom coveted her good fortune, not because she had married a worthy or gifted man,—that would have been no special matter for congratulation,—but simply because she had married five millions of money! I was the appendage to the millions—nothing further. She held her head high and haughtily, though I felt her tremble as the thundering strains of the [p 297] ‘Bridal March’ from Lohengrin poured sonorous triumph on the air. She trod on roses all the way,—I remembered that too, ... afterwards! Her satin slipper crushed the hearts of a thousand innocent things that must surely have been more dear to God than she;—the little harmless souls of flowers, whose task in life, sweetly fulfilled, had been to create beauty and fragrance by their mere existence, expired to gratify the vanity of one woman to whom nothing was sacred. But I anticipate,—I was yet in my fool’s dream,—and imagined that the dying blossoms were happy to perish thus beneath her tread!
A grand reception was held at Lord Elton’s house after the ceremony,—and in the midst of the chattering, the eating and the drinking, we,—my newly made wife and I,—departed amid the profuse flatteries and good wishes of our ‘friends’ who, primed with the very finest champagne, made a very decent show of being sincere. The last person to say farewell to us at the carriage-door was Lucio,—and the sorrow I felt at parting with him was more than I could express in words. From the very hour of the dawning of my good fortune we had been almost inseparable companions,—I owed my success in society,—everything, even my bride herself,—to his management and tact,—and though I had now won for my life’s partner the most beautiful of women, I could not contemplate even the temporary breaking of the association between myself and my gifted and brilliant comrade, without a keen pang of personal pain amid my nuptial joys. Leaning his arms on the carriage-window, he looked in upon us both, smiling.
“My spirit will be with you both in all your journeyings!” he said—“And when you return, I shall be one of the first to bid you welcome home. Your house-party is fixed for September, I believe?”
“Yes,—and you will be the most eagerly desired guest of all invited!” I replied heartily, pressing his hand.
“Fie, for shame!” he retorted laughingly—“Be not so disloyal of speech, Geoffrey! Are you not going to entertain [p 298] the Prince of Wales?—and shall anyone be more ‘eagerly-desired’ than he? No,—I must play a humble third or even fourth on your list where Royalty is concerned,—my princedom is alas! not that of Wales,—and the throne I might claim (if I had anyone to help me, which I have not) is a long way removed from that of England!”
Sibyl said nothing,—but her eyes rested on his handsome face and fine figure with an odd wonder and wistfulness, and she was very pale.
“Good-bye Lady Sibyl!” he added gently—“All joy be with you! To us who are left behind, your absence will seem long,—but to you,—ah!—Love gives wings to time, and what would be to ordinary folks a month of mere dull living, will be for you nothing but a moment’s rapture! Love is better than wealth,—you have found that out already I know!—but I think—and hope—that you are destined to make the knowledge more certain and complete! Think of me sometimes! Au revoir!”
The horses started,—a handful of rice flung by the society idiot who is always at weddings, rattled against the door and on the roof of the brougham, and Lucio stepped back, waving his hand. To the last we saw him,—a tall stately figure on the steps of Lord Elton’s mansion,—surrounded by an ultra-fashionable throng, ... bridesmaids in bright attire and picture-hats,—young girls all eager and excited-looking, each of them no doubt longing fervently for the day to come when they might severally manage to secure as rich a husband as myself, ... match-making mothers and wicked old dowagers, exhibiting priceless lace on their capacious bosoms, and ablaze with diamonds, ... men with white button-hole bouquets in their irreproachably fitting frock-coats,—servants in gay liveries, and the usual street-crowd of idle sight-seers;—all this cluster of faces, costumes and flowers, was piled against the grey background of the stone portico,—and in the midst, the dark beauty of Lucio’s face and the luminance of his flashing eyes made him the conspicuous object and chief centre of attraction, [p 299] ... then, ... the carriage turned a sharp corner,—the faces vanished,—and Sibyl and I realised that from henceforward we were left alone,—alone to face the future and ourselves,—and to learn the lesson of love ... or hate ... for evermore together!