“O Dick!” she exclaimed, “I am so glad you are come! I knew you would, of course, but I thought, Oh if you shouldn’t!”
“Not come, Fancy! Het or wet, blow or snow, here come I to-day! Why, what’s possessing your little soul? You never used to mind such things a bit.”
“Ah, Mr. Dick, I hadn’t hoisted my colours and committed myself then!” said Fancy.
“’Tis a pity I can’t marry the whole five of ye!” said Dick, surveying them all round.
“Heh-heh-heh!” laughed the four bridesmaids, and Fancy privately touched Dick and smoothed him down behind his shoulder, as if to assure herself that he was there in flesh and blood as her own property.
“Well, whoever would have thought such a thing?” said Dick, taking off his hat, sinking into a chair, and turning to the elder members of the company.
The latter arranged their eyes and lips to signify that in their opinion nobody could have thought such a thing, whatever it was.
“That my bees should ha’ swarmed just then, of all times and seasons!” continued Dick, throwing a comprehensive glance like a net over the whole auditory. “And ’tis a fine swarm, too: I haven’t seen such a fine swarm for these ten years.”
“A’ excellent sign,” said Mrs. Penny, from the depths of experience. “A’ excellent sign.”
“I am glad everything seems so right,” said Fancy with a breath of relief.