Part 35 (1/2)
Bella's head shot out and in, the door slammed again, and there arose from the other side of it faint, squeaky sounds from the organ.
”Goodness me! you can hardly hear her!” cried Mrs. Winters. ”I told Christena Martha'd spoil it! My sakes! I wish Ella Anne Long hadn't run away so soon! Now open the door, Bella, awful slow. Now, Elsie, go on. Arabella, hang on to your flowers! It's a perfect shame your brother ain't with you! For goodness' sake, stand up straight, an'
don't look as if you was goin' to be hung! Go on, Elsie!”
But the bride was clinging desperately to her maid's arm, and refused to let her go. ”I--I can't go, Susan!” she whispered.
”Oh, mercy me! Everything's goin' to be spoiled!” wailed her sister-in-law.
”Arabella's going to walk out holding my arm,” said Elsie firmly, seeing that the little bride's condition demanded immediate relief.
”Well, go on, then,” said Mrs. Winters, with a gesture of despair.
”It'll be a fool of a thing, anyhow. Now, Bella, open the door, slow--slow!”
The door swung gradually, but when it was half open Mrs. Winters slammed it again.
”Arabella,” she cried, in a panic, ”did you shut Polly up?”
The bride stared at her, uncomprehending.
”No, she never, maw,” whispered Bella hysterically, ”an' she'll be sure to come right out with them swear-words in the middle of everything.”
Once more the bridesmaid met the emergency. ”It can't be helped now,”
she said. ”Please don't bother her. Open the door, Bella.”
The door swung back for the third and last time, and the little blue figure and the tall white one walked slowly up to where Martin and the doctor stood before the minister. The distance from the spare bedroom door to their destination was a matter of about three yards, and Mrs.
Winters had overlooked the fact that it was out of all proportion to the wedding march. Cousin Martha from Glenoro, in a panic of nervousness, was laboring hard to get to the end of it, but long after the bridal party was in position the faint, jerky sounds still wavered on, now vanis.h.i.+ng altogether in a dumb show, now, just as the people were hopefully thinking the ordeal over, becoming huskily audible.
There seemed enough of the thing, Mrs. Long said afterward, to give Arabella time to walk over to the next concession to get married.
The minister put on his gla.s.ses, took them off, fumbled with his handkerchief in his coat-tail pocket, and cleared his throat. The groom s.h.i.+fted from one foot to the other. Over in a corner, behind the sofa, Davy Munn and the eldest orphan ducked their heads and giggled.
Bella rattled her pink silk nervously; Mrs. Winters frowned at her husband.
Cousin Martha from Glenoro turned another page, the wedding march took a new start, and grew stronger; and the blacksmith's small remnant of patience vanished. He leaned over the heads of half a dozen guests, and said in a loud whisper, ”For the Lord's sake, Marthy, hold up a minit an' let 'em get hitched!” The wedding march ceased abruptly; the guests drew a sigh of relief, and the ceremony began.
A deep hush fell over the crowded little room. To several there, besides the bride and groom, this ceremony was especially impressive.
The groomsman felt a lump in his throat as he looked at Martin, and thought of all the years his little bride and the blue silk gown had waited, and how he had helped to lengthen the time. And over in a corner, sitting beside Tim, John McIntyre gazed at his old comrade's radiant face, and raised his heart in reverent thankfulness that they had been spared to see this day together.
The ceremony ended in a hushed solemnity, and when the minister p.r.o.nounced them man and wife, and all bowed in prayer, even Tim, touched by the signs of emotion in John McIntyre's face, was quiet and well behaved. But, unfortunately, the house was too near the Sawyers'
household to long enjoy peace and prosperity. Jake and Hannah, of course, were among the guests, and, the evening before, Mrs. Winters had secured a promise from Uncle Hughie Cameron to take the youngest orphan under his care during the wedding, and had wrung from the twins a solemn promise that they would neither be seen nor heard until after the dinner had been served. Faithful to their contract, the two had lain concealed beneath the lilacs, watching Arabella's home, and talking in breathless whispers while the guests were arriving. But when every one had disappeared indoors, and silence settled upon the village, time hung heavily upon the orphans' hands. They crawled out from their ambush, and simultaneously their fertile brains were possessed of a scheme for enlivening the dull hours. They would have a wedding themselves! They had witnessed a ceremony at the Orphans'
Home, when one of the maids was married, and knew exactly how it should be conducted. There were Isaac and Rebekah strutting about the back yard; they would serve as the bridal couple, and the twelve tribes would be guests. No sooner said than done; the twins set vigorously to work. The first and most important consideration, of course, was the bride's toilette, and there was that remnant of blue silk Miss Arabella had given them from her gown. The twins ran upstairs for it with screams of delight. It would fit beautifully around Rebekah's shoulders, and the smart tan shoes Nature had bestowed upon her would look perfectly elegant with a blue silk dress. They tore down the little lace curtain from the kitchen window for a bridal veil; and the next thing to be done was to catch Rebekah and dress her.
Now, the Sawyer cat, and the dog, yes, and even the pig, had at various times been arrayed in human apparel, but never yet had Rebekah been forced into the habiliments of civilization. She showed, from the first, a decided distaste for them. The twins struggled and panted, while the unwilling bride dodged and squawked and disarranged her toilet again and again, and the alarmed bridegroom flew hither and thither, with widespread pinions, uttering loud protests.
But in spite of her struggles, Rebekah was at last made ready, and then arose the question of Isaac's dress. The black-haired twin, being the more venturesome of the two, suggested dressing him up in Joey's Sunday suit; but he was even harder to manage than the bride, and as he was just now showing an inclination to be violent, the breathless modistes decided, after the fas.h.i.+on of the day, not to bother about the bridegroom's clothes. So the fair-haired twin held Rebekah in a tight grip while her sister hitched Joshua to Joey's little cart, and placed him ready at the steps, to be used after the ceremony. Next, the black-haired twin took her turn at holding the protesting bride, while the other proceeded to dress up the veranda as a church; for this was to be no common home wedding like Arabella's. The parlor chairs were the pews, the sewing-machine was the organ, and Hannah's best red-and-white bedspread made a beautiful carpet for the aisle. The only thing needed now was a pulpit, and soon Lenora appeared in triumph from the kitchen, dragging an old wash-stand. It had a round opening in the top, in which the wash-basin fitted, and when she climbed up and let herself down into this aperture she looked as like Mr. Scott in his pulpit, her admiring sister declared, as two peas.
When everything was in readiness, and the fair-haired twin was setting out to capture the bridegroom, there arose an unfortunate dispute.