Then, eager whispers of:
“The bride is going! the bride is going!” ran through the crowd.
And quadrilles were suddenly broken up, and dancers came flocking to the door, knowing that they were too late to bid her good-by, yet still exclaiming to each other:
“The bride is going! the bride is going!”
“The bride is gone, my dear young friends,” said General Lyon, kindly, “but she leaves me to make her adieus, and to pray you not to let her departure interrupt your enjoyment. The bride and bridegroom have to meet the Washington steamer that passes the Stormy Petrel landing at about nine o’clock. Now, ‘on with the dance!’”
And the young folks immediately took the old gentleman at his word, and the music struck up, and the dancing recommenced.
And so Anna and Dick departed for Washington city on their way to New York.
Much discussion had been held on the subject of that marriage tour. Many suggestions had been made. Europe had been mentioned. But Anna had scouted that idea.
“None but a lunatic,” she had said, “would ever think of taking a sea voyage, and risking sea-sickness in the honeymoon.”
And for her part she positively declined putting Dick’s love to so severe a test in the earliest days of their married life.