"When Moses got sober he was greatly alarmed; but it was too late to recede. More than twenty people had heard his promise of marriage. The young woman's father threatened to have a suit brought for breach of promise; and her big brother said that he would cudgel the swain if he proved false to his engagement. So Moses, dreadfully frightened, was led like a lamb to the altar, and now has a very pretty wife, and looks contented and happy."
Toney purchased the property for his friend, and in a few weeks the Professor and Dora arrived with the intention of making it their permanent home. Tom became the owner of an adjoining estate. The three friends, with their wives, frequently assembled in the parlor of the Widow Wild, with whom Toney and Rosabel continued to reside after their marriage. Not long subsequent to the arrival of the Professor and Dora, Clarence and Harry, with Claribel and Imogen, came to Mapleton on a visit. During the conversation of the evening, Tom asked Toney if he still adhered to the opinion which he once so emphatically expressed as they sat on the veranda of the hotel in Bella Vista.
"What was that?" asked Toney.
"That the right man is never married to the right woman."
"No; I do not," said Toney, with emphasis. And he looked at Rosabel.
"There must be a recantation of such opinions when experience has demonstrated their fallacy," said the Professor, with a look of tender affection at Dora. Each husband looked at his wife, and each wife returned the glance; and it was evident that the ladies and gentlemen present were unanimously of opinion that the right men had been married to the right women.
"And what has become of the Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts?" asked Tom.
"The organization has been destroyed by a power which man has never been able to resist," said Toney.
"What is that?" asked Rosabel.
"Love," said her husband.