"Vevette, what does this mean?" exclaimed Mother Mary. "Wicked, shameless girl, what are you doing?"
"Good words, madame," said Andrew in French. "This lady was long ago betrothed to me by the consent of all our parents. We have been separated a long time by the force of circumstances; but having come together again, we resolved to put it out of any human power to separate us, and so we were married this morning by the Reverend Mr. Norton, a Church of England minister, who is on board, as Captain Mayhew can certify."
The captain bowed. "Oh, yes, he is a regular minister," said he. "I know him and all his folks. It is all right, Mr. Folsom. Tell the lady so."
The lady was told so, but she refused to listen. With her most majestic air she commanded me to return to her side.
"No, madame," I answered; "I thank you for all your kindness, but my place is with my husband."
"Wretched, deluded child! Know you not that a marriage by a heretic minister is no marriage, and is in itself a crime?"
"In France, madame, no doubt; but we are not in France. This is an English colony, and governed by English laws."
"But a heretic," said Mother Mary; "a blasphemer of our holy religion!"
"A heretic according to your thinking, but no blasphemer, madame," said Andrew. "My wife is herself a Protestant, as her fathers have been before her."
"It is true," said I; "I have been deluded for a time; but I have seen my error. I am of the Reformed, heart and soul; or rather," remembering our old family boast, "I am a Waldensian—of that people who never corrupted the faith, and so needed no reformation."