"Bless you
for a friend and a brother!" he cried, his eyes bright with sudden
moisture. "You're another whom I mustn't disappoint. Disappoint? I ought
to be flayed alive if I ever forget the people who believe in me--who
are trusting me with--Roberta!"
It was a pity she could not have heard him speak her name, have seen the
way he looked at his friend as he spoke it, and have seen the way his
friend looked back at him. There was a quality in their mentioning of
her, here in this place where she was soon to be, which was its own
tribute to the young womanhood she so radiantly imaged.
In spite of all these devices to make the hours pass rapidly, they
seemed to Richard to crawl. That one came, at last, however, which saw
him knocking at the door of his grandfather's suite, dressed for his
marriage, and eager to depart. Bidden by Mr. Kendrick's man to enter, he
presented himself in the old gentleman's dressing-room, where its
occupant, as scrupulously attired as himself, stood ready to descend to
the waiting car. Richard closed the door behind him, and stood looking
at his grandfather with a smile.
"Well, Dick, boy--ready? Ah, but you look fresh and fine! Clean in body
and mind and heart for her--eh? That's how you look, sir--as a man
should look--and feel--on his wedding day.
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