"Yes! oh, yes!" cried Barbara, hopping from twig to twig. (I cannot help it: she really was exactly like a bird!) "I mean, No! oh, no!"
"And you must be bridesmaid!"
Barbara's face expressed rapture. "Marjory!" And then with eager curiosity, "Who is it?"
"Sh!" whispered Marjolaine. She pointed to Doctor Sternroyd's house. "There!"
Barbara was genuinely amazed. She had heard of May and December, but this was May of this year and December of the year-before-last. "Not Doctor Sternroyd?" she asked aghast.
Marjolaine burst out laughing. "No, no!" She pointed again where Jack was standing behind the curtain, the picture of misery. "There! At the window!"
Barbara gazed and understood. "Oh, how lovely!" she cried, alluding to the romance and secrecy.
But, of course Marjolaine accepted the epithet for Jack. "Yes, is n't he?" She drew Barbara to the elm. "We are to be married by special licence."
"What's that?" asked Barbara.
"I don't know. Doctor Sternroyd's getting it. It lets you go and be married anywhere, whenever you like."