“I suppose it is all right; but how is it possible for a man to make such a consummate ass of himself?”
“You have just given a demonstration of how it is done, Wade and I adding material help in the demonstration.”
The captain looked to the ground in deep thought. When he raised his eyes there was an odd twinkle in them.
“I say, parson, wasn’t that a rather cheeky performance of yours, when you made them man and wife?”
“The circumstances warranted it. There’s no saying what might have happened, if it had been deferred for only a few minutes.”
“True,” replied the veteran thoughtfully; “it begins to look as if the hand of Providence was in it.”
“It is in everything that occurs in this life. It was in your coming to New Constantinople; in the blessed influence of your child upon that barbarous community; in the impulse that led you to bring Lieutenant Russell to us, and now comes the crowning Providence of all in their marriage.”
“Parson, you ain’t such a poor preacher after all.”
“Perhaps I can preach a little, but my practice has been away off, though I hope to get back one of these days to where I was, but––”