"Mamma will not object, and for the present Papa must not know of it. It is all I can do for George."
She threw her arms about Fannie's neck, and a flood of tears followed. Mrs. Hamblin came later, and to her daughter's appeal for consent to the proposed marriage she yielded. She knew her husband would not approve the arrangement, but acting upon her own convictions she could not refuse.
None were present at the ceremony but Mrs. Hamblin, Fannie Alden, and the clergyman, besides the strangely joined pair.
The sufferer had been awake a long time, his eyes beaming with pleasure at the prospect of marriage with the girl he loved. The clergyman, approaching the bedside, commenced the ceremony. The mother trembled, and, turning to conceal her emotion, burst into tears at the moment the clergyman finished the ceremony.
The husband looking into the face of his wife, his eyes filled with joy, and he gasped:
"I—I—am so—so—happy!" and then lost consciousness.
Loving hands quickly applied restoratives, and in a few moments the sufferer opened his eyes, and said:
"I thought I was married—but it was only a dream."
"It is not a dream, for I am your wife," said Belle.