"How did you ever manage it! I thought I had refused you!"
"I don't understand it myself. It just happened. It had to be."
"You ought to be a highwayman!"
"It's partly your fault, you know!"
"And I've known you only a month! How reckless! It must have been that incorrigible, irresistible, unexpected, unkissed nick in your chin! I've gone from new moon to full, at a bound! Now I'm a bride-rampant: I could fight my way to you through eight miles of jungle! Was I pretty, Leah?" She turned and held out her hand.
"'Deed you were, Miss Joy, honey, I never see you' beat!"
How she laughed! "And you were the sweetest bridesmaid, too! See her eyes, Chester, please look round! Never mind if we do run into a tree, to-day. Did you ever see such hidden depths of gold as are beneath her eyes? Isn't that color and outline perfect? There's no wildfire or heroics about Leah, but she's got more brains than both of us put together! And she's got a southern accent now, that you couldn't dissipate with an electric battery. Leah, you're as beautiful as a jaguar! Can't you go faster, chauffeur, dear? I'd rather eat flypaper than ride in a slow automobile! Say, it's awfully stimulating to get married, isn't it? I'm going to do it all the time, after this."
I leaned over to kiss her, and we nearly ran into the depot-wagon on its way from the train. We were followed by two dozen eyes till we were hidden by a turn of the road.
So her brain coined as we sped along, shrieking with laughter. But Joy's frolic mood subsided as we approached Midmeadows. She looked at me plaintively and said:
"The idea of the White Cat's being married before she's had her head and tail cut off!"