Todd is Mrs. B.T. Edwards, the widow of Judge Benjamin T. Edwards,
and sister-in-law of Mr. Ninian Edwards, who had married Miss Todd's
sister. She came to Springfield in 1839, and was intimately acquainted
with Mr. Lincoln and Miss Todd, and knew, as well as another could
know, their affairs. Mrs. Edwards is still living in Springfield, a
woman of the most perfect refinement and trustworthiness. In answer to
the question, "Is Mr. Herndon's description true?" she writes:

"I am impatient to tell you that all that he says about this
wedding--the time for which was 'fixed for the first day of
January'--is a fabrication. He has drawn largely upon his imagination
in describing something which never took place.

"I know the engagement between Mr. Lincoln and Miss Todd was
interrupted for a time, and it was rumored among her young friends
that Mr. Edwards had rather opposed it. But I am sure there had been
no 'time fixed' for any wedding; that is, no preparations had ever
been made until the day that Mr. Lincoln met Mr. Edwards on the street
and told him that he and Mary were going to be married that evening.
Upon inquiry, Mr. Lincoln said they would be married in the Episcopal
church, to which Mr. Edwards replied: 'No; Mary is my ward, and she
must be married at my house.'

"If I remember rightly, the wedding guests were few, not more than
thirty; and it seems to me all are gone now but Mrs. Wallace,
Mrs. Levering, and myself, for it was not much more than a family
gathering; only two or three of Mary Todd's young friends were
present. The 'entertainment' was simple, but in beautiful taste; but
the bride had neither veil nor flowers in her hair, with which to 'toy
nervously.' There had been no elaborate _trousseau_ for the bride of
the future President of the United States, nor even a handsome wedding
gown; nor was it a gay wedding."

Two sisters of Mrs. Lincoln's who are still living, Mrs. Wallace
of Springfield, and Mrs. Helm of Elizabethstown, Kentucky, deny
emphatically that any wedding was ever arranged between Mr. Lincoln
and Miss Todd but the one which did take place. That the engagement
was broken after a wedding had been talked of, they think possible;
but Mr. Herndon's story, they deny emphatically.

"There is not a word of truth in it!" Mrs. Wallace broke out,
impulsively, before the question about the non-appearance of Mr.
Lincoln had been finished. "I never was so amazed in my life as when I
read that stor