"Toby told him, and he and the widow stood in front of the study
window, and were married in the dark, and Toby gave a phosphorescent
button for the fee.

"The widow took longer steps than ever on the way home, and Toby ran
till he was all out of breath; she fairly lifted him off his feet
sometimes, and carried him along on her arm.

"_Link, link, bobolink_! sang the crazy loon when Toby and his bride
entered the house.

"'Now let's have a light,' cried Toby's wife, and her voice was
sharper than ever. It frightened the crazy loon so that he left the
link off the end of his song, and merely said bobo--

"'Yes,' answered Toby, bustling about cheerfully after the matches,
'and then you will make the soup.'

[Illustration: TOBY RAN TILL HE WAS OUT OF BREATH.]

"'I will make the soup,' laughed his wife.

"Toby felt frightened, he hardly knew why, but he found the matches,
and lit the lamp. Then he turned to look at his new wife, and saw--the
Ogress! He had married the Ogress! Horrors!

"Toby sank down on his knees and shook with fear, his little kinky
curls bristling up all over his head.

"'Pshaw!' said the Ogress contemptuously. 'You needn't shake! Do
you suppose I would eat such a little tough, bony fellow as you for
supper? No! When do your grandchildren come home from school?'

"'Oh,' groaned Toby, 'take me, dear Mrs. Ogress, and spare my
grandchildren!'

"'I should smile,' said the Ogress. That was all the reply she made.
She talked popular slang along with her other bad habits.

"Toby wept, and groaned, and pleaded, but he could not get another
word out of her. She filled the great soup-kettle with water, set it
over the fire (Toby shuddered to see her), then she sat down to wait
for the grandchildren to come home from school. She was uncommonly
homely, even for an ogress, and she wore a brown calico dress that was
very unbecoming.

"Poor Toby gazed at her in fear and disgust. He looked out of the
door, expecting every moment to see his grandchildren coming, one
behind the other, swinging their little lanterns. School children
always walked one behind the other in Pokonoket. It was against the
law to walk two abreast.

"Finally, when the Ogress was leaning over the soup-kettle, putting
her fingers in, to see if it was hot enough, Toby slipped out of the
door, and ran straight to the minister's.

"He stood outside the study window and groaned.

"'What is the trouble?' asked the minister, poking