The rector gravely shook hands with every one.
Mr. Force merely nodded and smiled his adieus, and said that he should be back in the evening in time for tea.
Then the two gentlemen went out, mounted their horses and rode away, attended by the groom—the minister to his parochial duties, the squire to find an officer to serve his warrants.
CHAPTER XXX
THE BRIDEGROOM’S NEXT MOVE
Meanwhile the two visitors in Mrs. Force’s parlor had a pleasant time of it.
Mrs. Force, seeing that the gossip between Mrs. Anglesea and Miss Sibby Bayard would be sure to turn on the character and antecedents of the gallant Col. Angus Anglesea, and thinking that their discourse would not prove very edifying to her young daughters, sent Wynnette and Elva with a message to Miss Meeke, and gave them an intelligible hint that they need not return.
“You never let on a word to me that you was the wife of that man who was going to marry Odalite Force—no, not even when we was all a-talking about the wedding!” said Miss Sibby, reproachfully, before she had been many minutes seated in the parlor.