"
"I thank the Lord that hath delivered me."
"You ought,--you ought to have chosen some lady of high standing,"
said Mary, thinking with ineffable joy of the stately dame who was
not to come to Bragton. "Do you know what I was thinking only the
other day about it?--that you had gone up to London to look for
some proper sort of person."
"And how did you mean to receive her?"
"I shouldn't have received her at all. I should have gone away. You
can't do it now."
"Can't I?"
"What were you thanking the Lord for so heartily?"
"For you."
"Were you? That is the sweetest thing you have said yet. My own;--
my darling;--my dearest! If only I can so live that you may be able
to thank the Lord for me in years to come!"
I will not trouble the reader with all that was said at every
stile. No doubt very much of what has been told was repeated again
and again so that the walk round the park was abnormally long. At
last, however, they reached the house, and as they entered the
hall, Mary whispered to him, "Who is to tell your aunt?" she said.
"Come along," he replied striding upstairs to his aunt's bedroom,
where he knew she would be at this time. He opened the door without
any notice and, having waited till Mary had joined him, led her
forcibly into the middle of the room. "Here she is," he said; "my
wife elect"
"Oh, Reginald!"
"We have managed it all, and there needn't be any more said about
it except to settle the day.
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