"Letty," he said, "ye needn't mind answerin' jist now. Think on't, an' to-morrow or next day tell me. Thar ain't no need o' hurry. I've waited quite a spell now, an' a day or two more won't matter."
"It's absurd," she said at last, when the tide of feeling ebbed, "and everybody will say so."
"'Tain't their funeral or weddin' either, is it?" he answered. "An' mark my words, Letty, thar's more on 'em here ez'll wish us well than ye think."
But when he came to go she said, "Why didn't you ask me forty years ago, Jess?"
"'Cause I was a durned fool 'n' dassent," he answered, "but I've outgrowed it now."
CHAPTER XL
A GOOD SEND-OFF
Out of the many weddings inevitably occurring on Rockhaven but few ever attained to the importance of a trip to the mainland. The sense of utility among them, the need of every dollar toward home furnishing, and the practical side of life always uppermost in the minds of all left no place for sentiment and honeymoon.
But when it became known, as it soon did, that the youthful romance of Jess Hutton and Letty Carver had finally culminated, and that the universal opinion and expectation of what they would do when Jess returned to the island was about to be realized a wave of enthusiasm and friendly interest swept over Rockhaven.