Excerpt from The Awakening of Mary Fenwick: A Novel There had been no bridesmaids, no choir, no music, no bells, no spectators. There were no admiring eyes which could appreciate the beauty of the bride's dress, or the delicacy of her Brussels' lace, or the artistic sweep of her abnormally long train, or the structure of her lovely bouquet, or the bright glitter of the diamonds which sparkled about her throat and in her hair. The elderly lady, who acted in lieu of a father, and gave the bride away, had evidently been relieved when her part in the ceremony was over, for she at once retired to a pew where her maid sat awaiting her with smelling-salts and sal-volatile as antidotes to the exertion and anxiety that she had undergone. The best man, a tall, good-looking soldier, did his duty bravely and with some zest and spirit; indeed, he was the only one of the party who showed any pleasure or excitement in the event. The bridegroom wore a provoking air of sullen endurance, - such an air being the cloak which J ohn Bull loves to assume as cover to awkward shyness. He muttered his vows inaudibly, fumbled desperately, and for some seconds unsuccessfully, for the ring, thereby confusing the young curate and provoking a broad smile on the part of the best man. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.