Page:Miss Madelyn Mack Detective.pdf/72

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
The Missing Bridegroom
61

"Where's Norris, Willard?" Miss Allison asked impatiently.

"He's gone!"

"Gone!" The bridesmaid's voice rose to a shrill falsetto.

The best man shook his head in a sort of blind bewilderment.

"He's gone," he repeated, mechanically.

The bride whirled. Adolph Van Sutton strode forward and seized White by the arm.

"What, under Heaven, are you giving us, man?"

White stiffened his shoulders as though the sharp grasp had awakened him from his daze.

"Norris Endicott is not in this house, sir!" he cried, as if realizing for the first time the full import of his announcement.

In the drawing-room, the orchestra-leader, with a final look at the empty door, lowered his baton with a snort of disgust and plumped sullenly back in his chair. The jewel-studded ranks of the crowding guests elevated their eyebrows in polite wonder. In the corner, the palms that were to have sheltered the bride beckoned impatiently.

On the velvet carpet, outside, lay a white, silent figure. It was Bertha Van Sutton who had fallen, an unconscious heap in the folds of her wedding finery.

Up-stairs in the groom's apartment, a circle of

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.