hing to us. Everybody was afraid of him, especially the boys. Well,
probably he didn't know who it was, or but what maybe it was a big dog.
So he stood a minute and then began to back off and finally turned and
ran away into the darkness. Then we looked in again, and by now the
minister was readin' from a book; and finally Mr. Hedges put a ring on
Nellie's finger; then they knelt down and the minister prayed. Then they
got up and kissed and the music started; and everybody stood in line to
shake Nellie's hand and Mr. Hedges' hand, and kiss Nellie. And there was
a lot of talk and laughin' and they began to dance. And Mitch whispered
to me we'd better go; that we'd seen it and we could get to my house so
as to let Delia go out and maybe square everything. So we took a
different way from what Doc Lyon did, and ran as fast as we could,
lookin' out for corners we turned, and got home. Delia was awful mad; it
was about 9 o'clock now and she couldn't go out. She said this wedding
was no wedding anyway; that Nellie Bennett was a heathen, havin' never
been baptized and that people that got married without bein' baptized
committed a sin. She was mad; but we edged around her, and finally she
made some butter scotch for us and promised not to tell on us; and so
did Myrtle and Little Billie.

Then Mitch and me began to talk about Doc Lyon and whether I shouldn't
tell my pa so as to have him arrested; that he was a dangerous
character. But how could I tell him without lettin' him know that we had
been to the weddin', and our havin' Delia fixed? Then Mitch thought if
we told and got my pa to arrest Doc Lyon and he got out, he would come
for us, or maybe do somethin' to my pa. Anyhow Myrtle broke her word and
told; but pa didn't say nothin' or do nothin'; he didn't talk much
sometimes and nobody knew what he was thinkin' about.

Well, finally, Delia took Myrtle and Little Billie up to bed, and Mitch
began to ask me if I knew about marriage. I had never seen anybody
married before, but I knew about it because when I was only 6, the first
day I went to school, a boy told me all about it, and it made me so
shamed I didn't know what to do. And I didn't believe it; and when I
told my ma, she said not to let boys tell me dirty lies, and to walk
away from 'em. But since that time I had thought about it, and heard
other things. I had heard my pa and ma say that Mrs. Rainey was in love
with Temple Scott and wanted to marry him, although already