Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Kerry Tani and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.)
"The House of Bondage," "The Sentence of Silence," etc.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony....
"It was ordained for the procreation of children, to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord, and to the praise of his holy Name....
"It was ordained for a remedy against sin, and to avoid fornication; that such persons as have not the gift of continence might marry, and keep themselves undefiled....
"It was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other....
"Into which holy estate these two persons come now to be joined...."
Stainton decided that he would go to the Metropolitan Opera House that night to hear _Madama Butterfly_. He did not care for operatic music, but he hoped to learn. He did not expect to meet anyone he knew, but he trusted that he might come to know someone he met. There was, at any rate, no spot in the Great American Desert, where he had found his fortune, quite so lonely as this crowded lobby of the Astor, the hotel at which he was now stopping--so he decided upon the Metropolitan and _Madama Butterfly_.
A page was passing, uttering shrill demands for a man whose name seemed to be "Mr. Kerrghrrr." Stainton laid a large, but hesitating, hand upon the boy's shoulder.
"Where can I buy a ticket for to-night's opera?" he enquired.
The page ceased his vocal rumble and looked up with wounded reproof at the tall cause of this interruption.
"News-stand," he said, and immediately escaped to resume the summons of "Mr. Kerghrrr."
Stainton followed the direction that the page's eyes had indicated. Over the booth where newspapers might be purchased for twice the price that he would have to pay for them in the street, fifteen yards away, he saw a sign announcing the fact that opera and theatre tickets were here for sale. He approached, somewhat awkwardly, and, over a protruding ledge of red and blue covered magazines on which were portrayed the pink and white prettiness of impossibly insipid girls, confronted a suave clerk, who appeared tremendously knowing.