Thereupon he secured a buggy with an old gray horse, and from this combination their felicity was much increased. The old horse they called Browser, because of the only thing he would do without being urged; and it required but a single drive to develop his good points, which happened to be the very qualities required. He was dreamy, inattentive, never hasty, and not easily disgusted. His influence was distinctly restful, and his capacity for ignoring a foolish conversation phenomenal. It was decided by his present associates that these virtues were either hereditary, or had been developed to the highest perfection by a long and tender experience.
“It’s my opinion,” remarked the groom, “that being so extensively used as a nuptial horse has resulted in his regarding honeymoon foolishness as the usual form of conversation. He probably thinks they talk that way in the courts and on the Stock Exchange.”
But accustomed as Browser was to cloying repetitions, there were times when his endurance was sorely tried. On one occasion the bride alighted from the buggy, and going a little ahead, gathered wild flowers by the roadside; and as she returned, Amos, who was giving Browser a handful of grass, raised his hat in a ceremonious manner and advanced toward her with extended hand, exclaiming:
“Why, Miss Cabot! How do you do? I had no idea you were here. My name is Judd.”
“I beg your pardon,” she replied, drawing stiffly back, “your name is not Judd, and you don’t know what it is. I can never marry a man who—”
“Wait till you are asked,” he interrupted, then threw both arms about her, and so they stood for a moment, she making no effort to escape.
Browser blushed and turned away.
In secluded corners of the vast and ramifying hotel piazza they spent long evenings and watched the moon, the other people, and the distant ocean, and talked, and talked, and talked. Of this talk no serious pen could write. The very ink would laugh or turn to sugar and run away in shame. And when these conversations were finished, two well-dressed and seemingly intelligent people would arise, and with brazen faces enter the grand rotunda of the hotel, where other guests would see them enter the elevator, float heavenward and disappear from human eyes. But the vexatious color still came and went in Molly’s face, and seemed ever ready to give the lie to the gentle dignity and composure which rarely deserted her. Strolling through the gardens of the hotel one afternoon, they met a stately matron with her two daughters, whom Molly knew, and as they separated after the usual conversation, Amos jeered at the bride, saying: “Really, old Girl, it is mortifying the way you blush upon this trip. I don’t blame the blushes for selecting such a face, but you only give yourself away. It is merely another manner of saying ‘I know I am guilty, and just see how ashamed I am!’”
“Oh, don’t talk about it! It’s hideous, but I can’t help it. Are all brides such fools?”
“I don’t know, I never travelled with one before, but I shall leave you behind if you keep it up. Try and think you have been married for twenty years. Do you suppose the daisies giggle and the sun winks at the other planets every time we look out the window? Or that it is because Molly and Amos are spliced that the carnations blush and the violets hide their faces? But I will say this for you, Spirit of Old-fashioned Roses, that all this blushing and unblushing is tremendously becoming.”