“Yes, I do. And Dick, you must be groomsman and hand the license and the fee both over to the minister. See, here they are in this pretty envelope. Grandpa got it ready for you. So, Dick, you must do it.”
“If I do, may I he eternally consigned to the deepest pit in—”
—“Hush, Dick, and don’t go off at a tangent. Look me in the face, sir! right in the eyes!”
“Anna, what do you mean?” he inquired, meeting her steady gaze.
“Do you see anything ‘iniquitous’ in my countenance?” she asked.
“No; but I see a mystery there.”
“A holy mystery, as I suppose a ‘pious fraud’ may be called. Now, sir, will you open this envelope, which is to be entrusted to you, to be delivered to the minister, and examine its contents?”
“Why,” said Dick in perplexity, as he looked at the enclosure, “this is—”
“Yes, it is. I have taken advantage of my grandpa’s absence to burn my marriage license and substitute this one. And you must hand it enclosed in the envelope, with the fee, to the minister, when we stand up to be married. And now, Dick, do you begin to see daylight?” laughed Anna.
“I think I do. Yet I do not quite comprehend yet. You mean—”