"Dear Aunt Hannah:—
"Don't you think, I am going to be married! Now, you never expected that of me, did you? Neither did I, but that is the way the matter stands. Now, the question is: May I come home to the wedding? The old farm-house is all the home I have, you know. I hope you will let us come; I am giving you plenty of notice; we shall not want to come until after the spring term; one of us wants to be there by the seventeenth of June, I thought I ought to tell you before the spring house-cleaning. Let me hear from you as soon as you can, so that I may know how to plan.
"I could be married in the church, I presume, but I feel, and the other one concerned feels so too,—that I would like to go back to the old farm-house. We won't make much trouble, nor have any fuss, you know.
"Dear Aunt Hannah, I am so glad the money gave you comfort. Then I am so very glad that you thought about that other matter of which I wrote; that is the greatest and best thing to have in the world. I think so now, when I am on the eve of other blessings; that one stands before them all. The gentleman whom I am to marry is a minister. He is very good.
"Aunt Hannah I shall want your advice about all sorts of sewing when I come home. I shall come in May, that is, if you let me come at all. I hope you will. Give my love to Uncle Reuben. My friend sends his respects to you both. Lovingly,
"Marion J Wilbur."
She had a fondness during those days, for writing out that name in full.
A gentle tap at the door being answered, admitted Flossy Shipley.
"You darling!" said Marion, brightly, as she gave her eager greeting. "How nice of you to come and see me when you have so much to think of. Flossy where is Mr. Roberts? Why don't you bring him to call on me?"
"He hasn't time to call on anybody," Flossy said, with a mixture of pride, and a sort of comic pettishness.