"Don't be alarmed!" said Lady Thornyhaugh. "We will manage the matter. Nephew, is it your pleasure that I send for this good man?"
"Of course! Send at once!" replied Sir Julius. "I only trust that the fatigue of the ceremony may not be too much for my daughter."
"Never fear! She will not die from getting her own way!" answered Lady Thornyhaugh. "I will send Alick, directly."
Within an hour, Walter Cheriton and Amabel Leighton were wedded.
"Thank you, dear father!" said Amabel, sinking back, when we had all kissed her.
"Now, I am ready to go!"
"Hoot, toot, bairn! You are just ready to stay!" said the old lady. "Would you go and leave your good man so soon, after you have had all this fash to get him? Go down now all of you, and leave this child to Alice and me for awhile. She will be the better of rest and quiet, and you will be muckle the better of your dinners."
"But I fear I must return to Edinburgh, to-night, aunt!" said Sir Julius, hesitating.
"You will do nothing of the kind!" said Lady Thornyhaugh, positively. "Would you leave the bairn before she is able to talk five minutes with you? Na, na! Your place is here just now. Yon lad at Edinbro' can want you well enough, and maybe you will think better of it and go home."
I do not think the prospect of going home was very enticing to Sir Julius, after all that had happened, but he readily agreed to stay a few days till it should be seen what turn Amabel would take. Now that the thing was done, I believe he was glad to have her made happy in her own way. He was not altogether a bad man. He might even have been a good one if he had always lived with good people. The trouble was that he had absolutely no mind of his own.