“It’s too bad that Pendleton couldn’t have lived to know his son’s wife,” he said.
A little later Don gave Sally the envelope to open. It contained a check for five hundred dollars.
“Good Heavens!” exclaimed Don, “we’re 315 rolling in wealth. I guess when we get back to town we’ll have to buy a car.”
“When we get back to town we’ll open a bank account,” corrected Sally.
CHAPTER XXXIII
A BULLY WORLD
As Sally came down the stairs at a quarter of three in her white silk wedding gown the wonder was how, after a morning of such honest hard work as she had put in, it was possible for her to look so fresh. Many a town bride, after spending the entire morning resting in preparation for such an event, has at the last moment failed to turn up with such apple-red cheeks or brilliant eyes. There was a gently serious expression about her mouth, to be sure, but that was not due to fatigue. In spite of her light-heartedness during the last few days she had been all the while keenly conscious that she was accepting a great responsibility. She was about to marry not only a lover, but a man whose future was to be in her keeping. Among other things he was to be a future partner in the firm of Carter, Rand & Seagraves, and that meant several years of very hard work ahead of them. Then there 317 were the secret responsibilities––the unborn responsibilities. These were not very definite, to be sure, but she felt them, timidly, gravely, in queer little tuggings at her heart.
When finally she stood in front of the clergyman with Don by her side, she felt, not that she was in a bower of wild flowers, but before an altar. The ritual for her had a deeply religious significance. She made her responses in a steady voice heard by every one in the room. When she made the promise “to love, cherish, and obey,” she spoke it as though she meant it. It did not disturb her in the slightest to utter the word “obey,” because she knew well that whatever commands came to her from Don would be of her own inspiring. To her this promise was no more than an agreement to obey her own best impulses.