“I’ll betcha the buggy broke down,” she said. “They’ll both come walkin’ in pretty soon. Peggy, you dry them tears. Joe’s all right. Yuh can’t tell what’s happened. Bein’ the sheriff, he might have been called at the last minute. The law don’t wait on marriages. You just wait and see, Peggy.”
“Oh, I hope everything is all right,” sighed Peggy. “He’s twenty minutes late right now, Aunt Emma.”
Still they did not come. Some of the cowboys volunteered to ride back to Pinnacle City to see what the trouble might be, when the long-looked-for buggy hove in sight. They could see it far down the road in the moonlight. Laura had seen it from the bedroom window and came running back to Peggy.
“Good gracious, stand up, Peggy!” she exclaimed. “Your gown is all wrinkled. They’re coming at last. Heavens, your cheeks are all tear-streaked! No, don’t wipe them! You little goose, why did you shed all those tears?”
“Well, what would you have done?” laughed Peggy, allowing Laura to smooth her gown.
“I wouldn’t cry, that’s a sure thing.”
She darted back to the window, flinging the curtain aside.
“They’ve stopped at the gate,” she said. “I think they are talking to your father. Now he’s coming with them.”
Aunt Emma came running up the stairs, calling to Peggy.
“They’re here,” she called. “Goodness knows, it’s time.”