What have I
been doing all my life but thinking, and waiting for it to be a
convenient and suitable time for me to do this or that, wondering what
others will think if I do or don't; thinking that the disagreeable was
duty, often simply because it was disagreeable. Surely you have been
hampered by this perpetual thinking too, and watching the thumb of custom
to see if it pointed up or down. No, I'm done with it. We've agreed to be
married, so why not this very afternoon, and have the wedding over before
you go, as the boys suggested?"
"The best possible idea, though I should have hardly dared suggest it,"
said Martin, tramping to and fro in excitement. "How shall we manage? Go
down here to the rectory?"
"I would rather go over to town," said Miss Lavinia, beginning, in
spite of herself, to realize difficulties. "We do not know who might
drop in here."
"Very well," said Martin, decisively, looking at his watch. "I have it!
Timothy is off to-day; I will harness the grays to the stanhope, as we
can't wait to send to the stable, and we will drive over the back way by
the Ridge and be home again by dinner time. The rector of All Saints' was
a classmate of mine, and I met him again only the other day, so we shall
have no trouble there."
"Are you sure you can harness the horses properly?" asked Miss Lavinia,
with characteristic caution, and then smiling at herself, as Martin
hurried off to the stable.
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