“On receipt of this the Captain put himself into an express train, quickly covering the hundred and fifty miles which separated us. My lover told me that when we parted in London he had feared that it was impossible to make me love him, but he could never forget me, and, in spite of all obstacles, had the firm conviction I should yet be his.
“My father rather reluctantly gave his consent to our marriage, the date of which was then fixed.
“I remember telling my father that I should be obliged to marry Captain Reid, despite his objection. But his disposition was the most gentle and confiding.
“The last letter from my fiancé contains the following:
“I shall soon now call you my own, and gaze again into those beautiful eyes.
“Your love falls on my heart like dew on the withered leaf. I am getting old, and blasé, and fear that your love for me is only a romance, which cannot last when you know me better. Do you think you can love me in my dressing-gown and slippers?
“The word blasé puzzled me very much. It was not then in my vocabulary.”
Her aunt was greatly astonished at hearing the news of the marriage, as she was daily expecting her niece’s arrival en route for school.
The child had gone to school of a different kind to educate herself in the real experiences of life.
After Captain Reid’s marriage many amusing incidents occurred in relation to his “Child Wife.” One day Captain Reid, accompanied by his little lady, was choosing a bonnet for her at a fashionable milliner’s in Regent Street.