And Aunt Hannah told me that if I could have
seen Billy's face I'd have known that she'd have
gone to Bertram then if he'd been at the top of
the Himalaya Mountains, or at the bottom of the
China Sea. So perhaps it's just as well--for
Aunt Hannah's sake, at least--that he was in
no worse place than on his own couch at home.
Anyhow, she went, and in half an hour they
blandly informed Aunt Hannah that they were
going to be married to-day.

``Aunt Hannah said she tried to stop that, and
get them to put it off till October (the original
date, you know), but Bertram was obdurate.
And when he declared he'd marry her the next
day if it wasn't for the new license law, Aunt
Hannah said she gave up for fear he'd get a special
dispensation, or go to the Governor or the President,
or do some other dreadful thing. (What a
funny old soul Aunt Hannah is!) Bertram told
_me_ that he should never feel safe till Billy was
really his; that she'd read something, or hear
something, or think something, or get a letter
from me (as if anything _I_ could say would do
any good-or harm!), and so break the engagement
again.

``Well, she's his now, so I suppose he's
satisfied; though, for my part, I haven't changed my
mind at all. I still say that they are not one bit