demanded.
"You know I don't," she said, sighing.
"She'd take you away to-morrow," he threatened, "if she knew I had--Ihad--"
"She sha'n't know it."
"Well, then, we've got to get spliced to-morrow."
"Oh, Alfred, no! I don't believe Dr. Lavendar would--"
"I'll have no dealings with Lavendar," the Captain said, with suddenstiffness; "he's like all the rest of 'em. I'll get a license in UpperChester, and we'll go to some parson there."
Mrs. North's eyes snapped. "Oh, no, no!" she protested; but in anotherminute they were shaking hands on it.
"Cyrus and Gussie can go and live by themselves," said the Captain,joyously, "and I'll get that hold cleaned out; she's kept the ports shutever since she married Cyrus."
"And I'll make a cake! And I'll take care of your clothes; you reallyare dreadfully shabby"; she turned him round to the light, and brushedoff some ashes. The Captain beamed. "Poor Alfred! and there's a buttongone! that daughter-in-law of yours can't sew any more than a cat (andshe _is_ a cat!). But I love to mend. Mary has saved me all that. She'ssuch a good daughter--poor Mary. But she's unmarried, poor child."
* * * * *
However, it was not to-morrow. It was two or three days later that Dr.Lavendar and Danny, jogging along behind Goliath under the buttonwoodson the road to Upper Chester, were somewhat inconvenienced by the dustof a buggy that crawled up and down the hills just a little ahead. Thehood of this buggy was up, upon which fact--it being a May morning ofrollicking wind and sunshine--Dr. Lavendar speculated to his companion:"Daniel, the man in that vehicle is either blind and deaf, or else hehas something on his conscience; in either case he won't mind our dust,so we'll cut in ahead at the watering-trough. G'on, Goliath!"
But Goliath had views of his own about the watering-trough, and insteadof passing the hooded buggy, which had stopped there, he insisted upondrawing up beside it. "Now, look here," Dr. Lavendar remonstrated, "youknow you're not thirsty." But Goliath plunged his nose down into thecool depths of the great iron caldron, into which, from a hollow log,ran a musical drip of water. Dr. Lavendar and Danny, awaiting hispleasure, could hear a murmur of voices from the depths of the eccentricvehicle which put up a hood on such a day; when suddenly Dr. Lavendar'seye fell on the hind legs of the other horse. "That's Cipher's trotter,"he said to himself, and leaning out, cried: "Hi! Cy?" At which the otherhorse was drawn in with a jerk, and Captain Price's agitated facepeered out from under the hood.
"Where! Where's Cyrus?" Then he caught sight of Dr. Lavendar. "'_Thedevil and Tom Walker!_'" said the Captain, with a groan. The buggybacked erratically.
"Look out!" said Dr. Lavendar--but the wheels locked.
Of course there was nothing for Dr. Lavendar to do but get out and takeGoliath by the head, grumbling, as he did so, that Cyrus "shouldn't ownsuch a spirited beast."
"I am somewhat hurried," said Captain Price, stiffly.
The old minister looked at him over his spectacles; then he glanced atthe small, embarrassed figure shrinking into the depths of the buggy.
("Hullo, hullo, hullo!" he said, softly. "Well, Gussie's done it.)You'd better back a little, Captain," he advised.
"I can manage," said the Captain.
"I didn't say 'go back,'" Dr. Lavendar said, mildly.
"Oh!" murmured a small voice from within the buggy.
"I expect you need me, don't you, Alfred?" said Dr. Lavendar.
"What?" said the Captain, frowning.
"Captain," said Dr. Lavendar, simply, "if I can be of any service to youand Mrs. North, I shall be glad."
Captain Price looked at him. "Now, look here, Lavendar, we're going todo it this time, if all the parsons in--well, in the church, try to stopus!"
"I'm not going to try to stop you."
"But Gussie said you said--"
"Alfred, at your time of life, are you beginning to quote Gussie?"
"But she said you said it would be--"
"Captain Price, I do not express my opinion of your conduct to yourdaughter-in-law. You ought to have sense enough to know that."
"Well, why did you talk to her about it?"
"I didn't talk to her about it. But," said Dr. Lavendar, thrusting outhis lower lip, "I should like to."
"We were going to hunt up a parson in Upper Chester," said the Captain,sheepishly.
Dr. Lavendar looked about, up and down the silent, shady road, thenthrough the bordering elder-berries into an orchard. "If you have yourlicense," he said, "I have my prayer-book. Let's go into the orchard.There are two men working there we can get for witnesses--Danny isn'tquite enough, I suppose."
THERE WAS A LITTLE SILENCE, AND THEN DR. LAVENDER BEGAN]
The Captain turned to Mrs. North. "What do you say, ma'am?" he said. Shenodded, and gathered up her skirts to get out of the buggy. The two oldmen led their horses to the side of the road and hitched them to therail fence; then the Captain helped Mrs. North through the elder-bushes,and shouted out to the men ploughing at the other side of the orchard.They came--big, kindly young fellows, and stood gaping at the three oldpeople standing under the apple-tree in the sunshine. Dr. Lavendarexplained that they were to be witnesses, and the boys took off theirhats.
There was a little silence, and then, in the white shadows and perfumeof the orchard, with its sunshine, and drift of petals falling in thegay wind, Dr. Lavendar began.... When he came to "Let no man putasunder--" Captain Price growled in his grizzled red beard, "Nor woman,either!" But only Mrs. North smiled.
When it was over, Captain Price drew a deep breath of relief. "Well,this time we made a sure thing of it, Mrs. North!"
"_Mrs. North?_" said Dr. Lavendar; and then he did chuckle.
"Oh--" said Captain Price, and roared at the joke.
"You'll have to call me Letty," said the pretty old lady, smiling andblushing.
"Oh," said the Captain; then he hesitated. "Well, now, if you don'tmind, I--I guess I won't call you Letty. I'll call you Letitia."
"Call me anything you want to," said Mrs. Price, gayly.
Then they all shook hands with one another and with the witnesses, whofound something left in their palms that gave them great satisfaction,and went back to climb into their respective buggies.
"We have shore leave," the Captain explained; "we won't go back to OldChester for a few days. You may tell 'em, Lavendar."
"Oh, may I?" said Dr. Lavender, blankly. "Well, good-bye, and goodluck!"
He watched the other buggy tug on ahead, and then he leaned down tocatch Danny by the scruff of the neck.
"Well, Daniel," he said, "'_if at first you don't succeed_'--"
And Danny was pulled into the buggy.
THE END
Transcriber's Note:
Both Lavender and Lavendar have been retained as they appear in the original publication.
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