Celia, her Ronald is a man
of powerful fibre, and when he says he will do a thing he does
it--eventually. She shall have her wedding all right; I have sworn it.
But I do wish that there weren't so many things to be arranged first.

The fact that we had to fix a day was broken to me one afternoon when
Celia was showing me to some relatives of hers in the Addison Road. I
got entangled with an elderly cousin on the hearth-rug; and though I
know nothing about motor-bicycles I talked about them for several hours
under the impression that they were his subject. It turned out
afterwards that he was equally ignorant of them, but thought they were
mine. Perhaps we shall get on better at a second meeting. However, just
when we were both thoroughly sick of each other, Celia broke off her gay
chat with an aunt to say to me:

"By the way, Ronald, we did settle on the eleventh, didn't we?"

I looked at her blankly, my mind naturally full of motor-bicycles.

"The wedding," smiled Celia.

"Right-o," I said with enthusiasm. I was glad to be assured that I
should not go on talking about motor-bicycles for ever, and that on the
eleventh, anyhow, there would be a short interruption for the ceremony.
Feeling almost friendly to the cousin, I plunged into his favourite
subject again.

On the way home Celia returned to the matter.

"Or you would rather it was the twelfth?" she asked.

"I've never heard a word about this before," I said. "It all comes as a
surprise to me."

"Why, I'm _always_ asking you."

"Well, it's very forward of you, and I don't know what young people are
coming to nowadays. Celia, what's the _good_ of my talking to your
cousin for three hours about motor-bicycling? Surely one can get married
just as well without that?"

"One can't get married without settling the day," said Celia, coming
cleverly back to the point.

Well, I suppose one can't. But somehow I had expected to be spared all
this bother. I think my idea was that Celia would say to me suddenly one
evening, "By the way, Ronald, don't forget we're being married
to-morrow," and I should have said "Where?" And on being told the time
and place, I should have turned up pretty punctually; and after my best
man had told me where to stand, and the clergyman had told me what to
say, and my solicitor had told me where to sign my name, we should have
driven from the church a happy married couple ... and in the carriage
Celia would have told me where we were