"You will take me to that country place and live there. I fear the world of fashion and I have no wish to live in London. I have learned from the Lady Anastasia how the great ladies pass their time."
"Everything shall be as you wish, Molly. Everything, believe me."
He then, by way of illustrating this assurance, proposed a thing which he himself wished.
"We must be married immediately, Molly, because I am called away, by affairs of importance, to Gloucestershire. I ought to leave this place not later than Saturday." The day was Thursday.
"Saturday? We must be married on Saturday?"
"Sooner than Saturday. To-morrow. That will give us time enough to make what little preparations may be necessary."
"To-morrow? But we cannot be married so soon."
"Everything is prepared. I have the license. We can be married to-morrow."
"Oh!" It was all she could say.
"There is another thing. Your guardian would like to make a public ceremony of the wedding; he would hang the town with flags, and ring the bells, and summon the band of the marrowbones and cleavers, while all the world looked on."