title: The Bridegroom's Bargain
author:  Sylvia Andrew 
description: Like every writer she has ever met, Sylvia Andrew is a great reader. Her preference in fiction is for thrillers and historical romances, though she is ready to read anything if desperate. However, one benefit of writing seriously is that she no longer haunts the library looking for something new to read  she is usually too busy plotting her own! Sylvia and her husband live in Maidenhead with two delightful pets, and visit their small house in Normandy whenever they can.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  ## CHAPTER XXVII.
  
  
  
  
  
  The Battle of the Bridegrooms.
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  IF the hours are apt to pass slowly when one is waiting to face the music at
  the altar, how much more so when the marriage involves a cutting-out
  expedition as well, and nobody except the bridegroom suspects who the
  bridegroom is to be!
  
  
  
  
  
         By three in the afternoon Mervyn was fully dressed for the ceremony. By half past three he had his suit-case packed. At four he had rooms engaged at the Philharmoniac Hotel for the honeymoon. That reminded him about the railroad tickets, and these, in turn, reminded him of the rings—wedding and engagement. He had the solitaire on his little finger by five-thirty.
  
  
  
  
  
         At six he called in Williamson.
  
  
  
  
  
         “I’m going to be married, Williamson,” he said.
  
  
  
  
  
         “ Which is no news to me, sir.” answered the butler. “I’ve been young myself.”
  
  
  
  
  
         “If you’ll stay on after the month, Williamson, I’ll raise you ten dollars,” said Mervyn.
  
  
  
  
  
         “