The faint sounds of the orchestra playing in the grand ballroom downstairs floated in through the open windows on the warm June night wind. He sat up in bed, grunting involuntarily as a sudden sharp pain stabbed through his temples. “Jesus!” he exclaimed, almost aloud to himself. “It can’t be the booze, I didn’t drink that much. Besides Perino told me it was the real stuff.”He got off the bed and padded in his bare feet into the bathroom. The marble of the floor was cold and he went back for his slippers. He turned on the water and splashed it on his face. The headache began to ease and he stared at himself in the mirror. Bit by bit the day came back to him.It had begun with the wedding at St. Stephen’s at noon and then moved to the lawn reception at Hardeman Manor from two o’clock until five. Then everyone began to leave. But it wasn’t over yet. They were merely going home to rest and change their clothes. The grand wedding ball was to begin at eight o’clock that evening.He remembered going upstairs and taking off his jacket.
