“Never mind it, uncle. I won’t trouble you, then, if it is not convenient,” I replied, in a thoroughly off-hand manner, as though the little favor I asked was of more consequence to him than to me. “I shall expect to see you at the house of Mr. Oliphant at the ceremony, and remember the levee is at eight o’clock. Don’t fail to be there, uncle.”
“Stop a minute! I suppose if you need three hundred dollars, I can let you have it,” he added.
“O, it is of no consequence. Don’t trouble yourself. Two or three of my friends wanted to lend it to me, but I did not exactly like to accept such a favor outside of the family. Aunt Rachel, I dare say, will be glad to accommodate me.”
“Write a note,” said he, rather crustily, as he went to one of the desks, and drew a check for the amount I required.
I could not help smiling, as I wrote the due bill, to think of the address with which I had managed my case. I am confident if I had whined and begged until the sun went down, he would have been hard enough to refuse me. Possibly he did not like to have me apply to Aunt Rachel. She was a maiden sister of my father who had about twenty thousand dollars and lived with my mother. Her inheritance had been the same as my father’s, but, having no expenses, she had kept certain lands in the middle of the town till they increased in value so that she was made independent. As I wished to be her heir, I had always treated her with the utmost consideration. Captain Halliard managed some stocks for her, and he was anxious to keep in her good graces.
I put the check in my pocket with the utmost nonchalance, and again begging my uncle not to fail to be present at the ceremony, I left him. It was all right with me for the present. When I started on my bridal tour I owed about six hundred dollars, which I calculated that I could easily pay off in six months with my increased salary. When we returned from Washington I had barely money enough left to pay the hackman for conveying us to the house of my wife’s father. If I had not been so cautious as to count up my money, and estimate the expenses of the return trip, I should have exhausted my exchequer before we reached home. When I found I had just enough left to pay these expenses, I told Lilian that I had received a letter which compelled me to return immediately, though we had intended to stay two days longer.
She pouted, but I told her I should lose my situation if I did not go back. She thought I might get another situation rather than break up the pleasant excursion so abruptly. I told her I could easily get another situation, but it was not exactly prudent to give up one until the other was obtained. It almost broke my heart to cross her in anything, and if I could have met a friend good-natured enough to lend me a hundred dollars I might have been spared the annoyance. I met no such friend, and we went on cheating each other as before. It was stupid in me to do so, but I had not the courage to tell her that I was not made of money, and I permitted her to believe that my pockets were still well lined.
We returned home, but on the way I was obliged to pretend that I was sick, in order to save the expense of supper aboard the steamer. We had dined at four o’clock, and though it was absurd to eat again at six, Lilian wanted to see who were at the tables; but my pretended illness saved me, and, what was more important, saved the two dollars for the hack hire in Boston.
“What shall we do when we get home?” asked Lilian, as we sat that evening in the cabin of the steamer.
“We shall live on love for years to come,” I replied, with enthusiasm.