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he speculated on the future, and now and then found himself wondering what would have
come of his choosing Jenny instead of Alice. A haggard bridegroom he looked when
Abby opened the door to him the next forenoon, and he grew yet paler when the old
servant said to him, with brief pathos,
She s queer again.
Carroll set his teeth savagely. He hardly returned the greetings of the few friends as-
sembled in the drawing-room, but went at once to the fireplace, applied a match to the
fire laid there, and thrust the poker between the bars of the grate. The clergyman came in,
and in another moment the rustle of the bride s gown was heard from the stairs outside.
Then, on the arm of a cousin of the Gaylords, appeared in the doorway a figure in white.
The sweat started on Carroll s forehead. He realized that Jenny was making one more
desperate effort to marry him. He remembered her last words of the evening before, and
saw that then she must have had this in mind. He looked her straight in the eyes, and then
turned to the grate. As he stooped to grasp the poker the bride stopped, trembled, put her
hand to the door-jamb as if for support. Then George, watching, put the iron down and
advanced to Alice. What the assembled company might think of his stirring the fire at
that moment he did not care. He felt that he had triumphed; and at least it was Alice and
not Jenny whom he married.
So far as Carroll can determine, Jenny never again intruded upon Alice s personality.
Renewed health, varied interests, and the ever watchful affection of her husband gave
Mrs. Carroll self-poise and fixed her in a normal state. But there is a little daughter, and
now and then the father catches his breath so startlingly into her face and into her manner
comes a likeness to Jenny.
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