XXIII
THE WEDDING
Julia and Brenda had been carefully drilled in their small part for the wedding,—to walk immediately in front of the bride and her father on their entrance into the church, and immediately behind the bride and groom after the ceremony. Yet, in spite of this, they naturally felt a little perturbed as they stood in the small vestibule of the chapel for the second or two needed for the bride to arrange her gown and prepare for her march down the long aisle. Brenda and Julia were glad that the aisle was no longer, for they found it rather trying to keep that slow and solemn step with so many eyes gazing at them. For although they knew that they were not the centre of observation, they could not help feeling that almost as much criticism was directed toward them as toward the bride. Even Julia, in talking the wedding over with Brenda, admitted that she had felt like turning about and running home during those solemn moments when Mendelssohn’s Wedding March was pealing from the organ, and the whole congregation was turned toward the bridal party as it made its entry into the church. It was Julia, too, who admitted that she felt herself the most important person in the group, inasmuch as it seemed to her as if every pair of eyes there was fastened directly on her.
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