“Honest old John Stephens will tie the knot,” said he, “and it will be just as tight as if Dr. McCanon manipulated the holy bonds. I trust we shall have the pleasure of your company, mother. Consider yourself invited. A few of the choicest spirits will be on hand. Clara will wear the most exquisite gray travelling suit you ever laid eyes on.”
The widow was flanked, outgeneralled, routed along the whole line. She brought forward all her reserve forces of good-breeding, and thus escaped a disastrous panic by retiring in good order.
The ceremony occurred, as George had announced, the following Wednesday. The near relatives and best friends of the young couple were present, and it was a quiet and thoroughly enjoyable affair for all who participated. An hour after they had been pronounced man and wife, George and his bride rode away to take the train for the mountains.
“And on her lover’s arm she leant,
And round her waist she felt it fold,
And far across the hills they went
In that new world which is the old.”
CHAPTER XII.
BABY TALK, OLD DIVES, AND OTHER THINGS.
The cottage seemed dull enough after the departure of George with his bride. Bessie was so absorbed by the care of our little one that she had very little time to think of anything else, and in fact the new-comer, for the time being, monopolized the attention of his grandmother as well as of his mother. I was therefore left to my own resources.
“Baby is not very well, Charlie,” Bessie informed me, one morning, with an anxious air. “Do you think it would do to wrap him up well and take him for a little ride this afternoon?”
“Yes, that’s a good idea. If I can get that black horse at the livery stable, I’ll bring him around this afternoon. But I don’t see why you should wrap him up. It’s hot as blazes.”
“You don’t know anything about babies, Charlie. Go along. Get a nice, easy carriage, and we’ll take mother with us. I long for a ride.”
I departed, and secured the desired “team.”