“S-sh! Theo!” I whispered, still wondering about those banns.... Would it come to that? Would my employer feel himself obliged, before our twelve-months’ contract was up, to let those banns be actually published?
“If any of you know any just cause or impediment why these persons should not be joined together in Holy Matrimony,” concluded the curate’s voice, “ye are to declare it.”
What in the world was Mr. Waters going to “declare” about it to his family when we reached that point? What just cause or impediment (except the real ones) would he choose to “announce” as the bar to our getting married? Or would he, just as he did this morning at breakfast, leave all explanations to me, and reward me with a grateful look when I’d achieved them?
Well!...
Plenty of time before that happens....
* * * * *
To-night, though, there’d be that other explanation: his to me about that—really, under the circumstances it might be called that outrage! Even yet I hadn’t made up my mind how I was to accept what he should say. The only thing left standing of all the many answers I’d considered and rejected was, “Well, it must never happen again, that’s all!”
Even that doesn’t sound right, somehow.
Perhaps something really clinching will occur to me later.