After a while they discovered that it was raining. As a matter of fact,it had been raining for some time and was now raining hard, but asGalusha said, it didn't make a bit of difference, really. They put upthe umbrella, which until now had been quite forgotten, and walked homealong the wet path, between the dripping weeds and bushes. It was almostdark and, as they passed the lighthouse, the great beacon blazed fromthe tower.
Galusha was babbling like a brook, endlessly but joyful.
"Miss Martha--" he began. Then he laughed aloud, a laugh ofsheer happiness. "It--it just occurred to me," he exclaimed. "Howextraordinary I didn't think of it before. I sha'n't have to call youMiss Martha now, shall I? It is very wonderful, isn't it? Dear me, yes!Very wonderful!"
Martha laughed, too. "I'm afraid other people are goin' to think it isvery ridiculous," she said. "And perhaps it is. Two middle-aged, settledfolks like us startin' up all at once and gettin' married. I know Ishould laugh if it was anybody else."
But Galusha stoutly maintained there was nothing ridiculous about it. Itwas wonderful, that was all.
"Besides," he declared, "we are not old; we are just beginning to beyoung, you and I. Personally, I feel as if I could jump over a bush andannihilate a--ah--June bug, as Luce did that night when we went out tosee the moon."
Luce himself was at the door waiting to be let in. He regarded the pairwith the air of condescending boredom which the feline race assumes whenconfronted with the idiosyncrasies of poor humanity. Possibly he wasreflecting that, at least, he knew enough to go in when it rained.Martha opened the door, but Galusha paused for a moment on thethreshold.
"Do you know," he said, "that, except--ah--occasionally, in wet weather,it scarcely ever rains in Egypt?"
Galusha the Magnificent Page 24