English. The meaning of it, when all the
"whereas's and aforesaids" were picked out, was, that Winnie had about a
hundred a year of her own. It could not make me love her a shade better
than I did; but at the same time I won't be so absurd as to say that I
was not glad, or to deny that it made our marriage much easier than it
would otherwise have been.

Poor Whitehall came in on the morning of the ceremony. He was staggering
under the weight of a fine Japanese cabinet which he had carried round
from his lodgings. I had asked him to come to the church, and the old
gentleman was resplendent in a white waistcoat and a silk tie. Between
ourselves, I had been just a little uneasy lest his excitement should
upset him, as in the case of the dinner; but nothing could be more
exemplary than his conduct and appearance. I had introduced him to
Winnie some days before.

"You'll forgive me for saying, Dr. Munro, sir, that you are a ---- lucky
fellow," said he. "You've put your hand in the bag, sir, and taken out
the eel first time, as any one with half an eye can see. Now, I've had
three dips, and landed a snake every dip. If I'd had a good woman at my
side, Dr. Munro, sir, I might not be the broken half-pay skipper of an
armed transport to-day."

"I thought you had been twice married, captain."

"Three times, sir. I buried two. The other lives at Brussels. Well, I'll
be at the church, Dr. Munro, sir; and you may lay that there is no one
there who wishes you better than I do."

And yet there were many there who wished me well. My patients had
all got wind of it; and they assembled by the pew-full, looking
distressingly healthy. My neighbour, Dr. Porter, was there also to lend
me his support, and old General Wainwright gave Winnie away. My mother,
Mrs. La Force, and Miss Williams were all in the front pew; and away
at the back of the church I caught a glimpse of the forked beard and
crinkly face of Whitehall, and beside him the wounded lieutenant,
the man who ran away with the cook, and quite a line of the strange
Bohemians who followed his fortunes. Then when the words were said,
and man's form had tried to sanctify that which was already divine, we
walked amid the pealings of the "Wedding March" into the vestry, where
my dear mother relieved the tension of the situation by signing the
register in the wrong place, so that to all appearance it was she who
had just married the clergyman. And then amid congratulations and kindly