There were, now, hundreds of guests in the huge garden, some dancing on the

Wooden platform bedecked with flowers, others sitting at long tables piled high

With spicy food and gallon jugs of black, homemade wine. The bride, Connie

Corleone, sat in splendor at a special raised table with her groom, the maid of

Honor, bridesmaids and ushers. It was a rustic setting in the old Italian style. Not

to the bride's taste, but Connie had consented to a "guinea" wedding to please

Her father because she had so displeasured him in her choice of a husband.

The groom, Carlo Rizzi, was a half-breed, born of a Sicilian father and the

North Italian mother from whom he had inherited his blond hair and blue eyes.

His parents lived in Nevada and Carlo had left that state because of a little trouble

With the law. In New York he met Sonny Corleone and so met the sister. Don

Corleone, of course, sent trusted friends to Nevada and they reported that Carlo's

Police trouble was a youthful indiscretion with a gun, not serious, that could

Easily be wiped off the books to leave the youth with a clean record. They also

Came back with detailed information on legal gambling in Nevada which greatly

Interested the Don and which he had been pondering over since. It was part of the

Don's greatness that he profited from everything.

Connie Corleone was a not quite pretty girl, thin and nervous and certain to