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Show - 100 - the strains of the Wedding March started. Everyone turned their eyes towards the house, including Penny. In a moment Claudine appeared and stood at the threshold of the opened French doors of the living room. She paused for a moment, looked at the guests and then lowered her eye3 and started to walk slowly toward the bower where Andre was waiting for her. She wore the same white gown that Penny continually saw her in. It had never occurred to the girl that the ghost was wearing a wedding dress. It was the same one pictured in the portrait, but even that did not show the veil which now covered her face and trailed on the ground behind her. Except for the time when she had first seen Claudine on the balcony of Gaven House, Penny had never noticed the veil before. The same waxy gardenias encircled her neck and in her hands was another bouquet of the same blooms. Their fragrance was almost overpowering. This was no radient bride, thought the girl. With downcast eyes the daughter of the Gavens walked slowly, followed by her bridesmaids which reminded Penny of a cluster of beautiful butterflies. Their diaphanous gowns of various pastel shades and the nosegays of flowers they carried further enhanced the beauty of the bride, whose pale blonde hair fell loosely on her shoulders. Claudine stopped beside Andre when she arrived at the bower and the attendants grouped around her in a flurry. The minister raised his hand over thier heads and proceeded to begin the ceremony. It was brief, and within a few moments Claudine and Andre were man and wife. Penny sat there in a stupor. It was inconceivable to her that Claudine had married Andre. In all the encounters shed had with the ghost never a word of a marriage had been mentioned. Betrayal--that was the word Chang Lin had used. Dirk had been betrayed by the woman he loved. Not even Maddie or Tom had mentioned anything about this union. For the first time Penny began |