“Yes, yes, you are right!” John answered,—“but say no more about it.”
“No! when I am offended I must say all that is in my mind. I know best when to be silent, for it is you who have offended me. If another had said any thing that was unjust, I should have turned from it; but in you I dare not leave a single shadow unobserved. To joke of our relation to each other seems to me as profane as to play with the crucifix as if it were a doll.”
“Oh, ho! not so bad as that; but it seems you do not understand a joke.”
“I understand it well, as you will soon learn; but now no more of this; I have done; it is all well!”
This little difference showed both of them early, that with all their loving devotion, they must each respect the other. Amrie felt that she had been a little too warm, and John learnt that Amrie’s dependent condition, and her unbounded confidence and trust in him, must be no subjects of sport.
The few morning clouds soon were scattered by the penetrating beams of the sun, and Amrie was as gay as a child, when a pretty, green Berner wagon came to the door, with a round, cushioned seat. Before the horse was harnessed, she jumped in, and clapping her hands for joy, she said to John,—
“Now you must make me fly; I have ridden with you, I am going to drive with you, and nothing remains but to fly.”
It was a beautiful morning, and a well-built road. The horse found easy work, and the dog ran before them, barking for joy. After some time, Amrie said,—
“Only think, John, the hostess took me for your wife.”
“And so you are, and I shall ask no one’s leave, and care not what they say. Thou, Heaven, and ye larks, and you trees, and fields, and hills,—look, this is my little wife! When she scolds she is just as dear as when the most beautiful things drop out of her mouth. Oh! my mother is a wise woman! Ah! she knows! She told me to observe how a woman appeared when she was angry, for then, all that is within comes out. That was a dear, sharp, cutting, beautiful, wicked little thing, that came out to-day when you were angry. Now I know you, and all the kindred, and I like them. Oh! thou wide, wide world, I thank you all,—all in the world; and I ask you, if so long as you have stood, you have ever seen such a dear little wife? Huzza! Huzza!”