At the
same moment I was unpleasantly conscious that a quantity of rice hurled
by an enthusiastic miss of nineteen was going down my back. I made a
mad rush forward like a bull; I don't know exactly what I had in mind
to do, but I was bunted aside by a youth who, I am sure, could never
have had a father and mother. He held an old shoe in his hand, which
he proceeded to cast with such unerring aim that it landed on the top
of the bridal coach, to the infinite delight of everybody except
myself. I could see no especial humor in it, but Josephine tells me
that we underwent precisely the same experience at our own wedding and
thought it amusing. I perceive that it makes considerable difference
in this world whose ox is gored, or, to put it more accurately, whether
one is carrying off some other man's daughter or is being robbed of his
own.
And now to crown all, I am haunted by the vision of Winona and that
tall, handsome, impressive-looking young man in whose company I met her
the other day about dusk. In saying to Josephine that I had told her
all, I did not speak the truth in a certain sense. I did tell her all
I knew, but I did not confide to her all that I suspected. I did not
reveal to her that at the moment my eye fell upon them my only
remaining daughter was gazing up into the face of her male companion
with that peculiar look of absorbed attention which has so often
wrought the ruin of Platonic friendship.
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