e at it and ask why I was so late."

"My poor, foolish dear!" sighed Waitstill.

Patty's tears flowed faster at the first sound of sympathy in
Waitstill's voice, for self-pity is very enfeebling. She fairly sobbed
as she continued:--

"So my only wedding-journey was the freezing drive back from Allentown,
with Ellen crying all the way and wishing that she hadn't gone with us.
Mark and I both say we'll never be married again so long as we live!"

"Where have you seen your husband from that day to this?"

"I haven't laid eyes on him!" said Patty, with a fresh burst of woe. "I
have a certificate-thing, and a wedding-ring and a beautiful frock and
hat that Mark bought in Boston, but no real husband. I'm no more married
than ever I was! Don't you remember I said that Mark was sent away on
Tuesday morning? And this is Thursday. I've had three letters from him;
but I don't know, till we see how father takes it, when we can tell
the Wilsons and start for Portsmouth. We shan't really call ourselves
married till we get to Portsmouth; we promised each other that from the
first. It isn't much like being a bride, never to see your bridegroom;
to have a father who will fly into a passion when he hears that you are
married; not to know whether your new family will like or despise you;
and to have your only sister angered with you for the first time in her
life!"

Waitstill's heart melted, and she lifted Patty's tear-stained face to
hers and kissed it. "Well, dear, I would not have had you do this for
the world, but it is done, and Mark seems to have been as wise as a man
can be when he does an unwise thing. You are married, and you love each
other. That's the comforting thing to me."

"We do," sobbed Patty. "No two people ever loved each other better than
we; but it's been all spoiled for fear of father."

"I must say I dread to have him hear the news"; and Waitstill knitted
her brows anxiously. "I hope it may be soon, and I think I ought to be
here when he is told. Mark will never under-stand or bear with him, and
there may be trouble that I could avert."

"I'll be here, too, and I'm not afraid!" And Patty raised her head
defiantly. "Father can unmarry us, that's why we acted in this
miserable, secret, underhanded way. Somehow, though I haven't seen Mark
since we went to Allentown, I am braver than I was last week, for now
I've got somebody to take my part. I've a good mind to go upstairs and
put on my gold beads and my wed