wid the gossoon! Will ye stand by wid the rice, then?”
Rice had lain thick from the church gates to the hotel door these four hours past. But the boys’ pockets bulged with it yet; and their fists were shut on it, and the air sung with the grains as a girl ran out, flinging up a white muslin arm as shield. Lou followed, with his light gay laughter.
“Hit the wrong nail this time, you chaps,” he cried. “Danny and Suse have gone out the back way. Come on. Maiden!”
In the light from the bar Maiden’s delicate face was flushed above the snow-white of her dress. She stood an instant, half hesitating among the men; her soft hair turned to gold about her head, and her hand clinging to Lou’s. Excitement was throbbing in the very air of the township, and something in her wild-rose beauty tingled the men. Then Mogger lit the spark:
“Three cheers fur the nex’ bride!” he shouted.
The roar startled Danny and Suse where they hurried by a little side street to the Town Hall, and Lou swung off his cap with daring assurance.
“Thank you, boys!” he cried. “Make way there! Maiden, here’s your shawl.”
He flung a soft white thing over her hair, and the blank dark beyond the dazzle of light
