“TWO or three dollars! My soul and body! Is two dollars all you're willin' to give up to get MARRIED? Is THAT all the ceremony's worth to you? Two dollars! My soul!”
“Oh, let up! I don't care. I'll—I'll—” after a desperate wrestle with his sense of economy. “I'll give him whatever you say—in reason. Eh! . . . What's that foolhead horse stoppin' for now? What in the tunket's the matter with him?”
The matter was simply that in his hasty harnessing Mr. Hammond had but partially buckled one of the girths, and the horse was now half-way out of the shafts, with the larger part of the harness well up towards his ears. Caleb groaningly climbed down from the seat, rummaged out and lit the lantern, which he had been thoughtful enough to put under the seat before starting, and proceeded to repair damages. This took a long time, and in getting back to the carryall he tore a triangular rent in the back of his Sunday coat. He had donned his best clothes to be married in, and, to add to his troubles, had left his watch in the fob-pocket of his everyday trousers, so they had no means of knowing the time.
“That's a nice mess,” he grumbled, taking off his coat to examine the tear by the light of the lantern. “Nice-lookin' rag-bag I'll be to get married.”
“Maybe I can mend it when we get to Bayport,” said Miss Parker.
“What'll you mend it with—pins?”
“No, there's a needle and thread in my reticule. Wait till we get to Bayport and then—”
“Can't mend it in broad daylight ridin up and down the main street, can you? And I'd look pretty shuckin' my coat in the minister's parlor for you to patch up the holes in it. Couldn't you mend it now?”
Hannah announced her willingness to try, and the reticule being produced, the needle was threaded after numerous trials, and the mending began. Caleb, holding the lantern, watched the operation anxiously, his face falling at every stitch.
“I'm afraid I haven't made a good job of it,” sighed Hannah, gazing sorrowfully at the puckered and wrinkled star in the back of the garment. “If you'd only held that lantern steady, instead of jigglin' it round and round so, I might have done better.”