in the dark and thought. He realized that he was hungry, yes,
desperately hungry, for love--the love of one woman, Alice Pettengill.
Why should he wait longer? Even if his father and mother objected his
Aunt Ella was on his side, and her action had made him independent. He
had felt himself so before, but now there was no doubt of it.

This determined young man then made up his mind he would declare his
love at the first auspicious moment. Then he would go to his parents and
learn their verdict on his proposed action. Thinking thus he went to
bed, and in his dreams, ushers, and bridesmaids, and cut flowers, and
potted plants, and miles of silken ribbon, and cream-colored horses, and
carriages, and clergymen, and organists, and big pipe organs were
revolving about him and Alice, as the planets revolve about the sun.

Once more Quincy's breakfast was on the stove being kept warm, and once
more Mrs. Hawkins was waiting impatiently for him to come down.

Betsy Green and she were washing the breakfast dishes. How happy Eve
must have been in Eden, where there was no china, no knives and forks,
and no pots and kettles, and what an endless burden of commonplace
drudgery she entailed upon her fair sisters when she fell from her high
estate. Man's labor is uniformly productive, but woman's, alas! is still
almost as uniformly simply preservative.

"Mr. Sawyer," said Mrs. Hawkins to Betsy Green, "is no doubt a very nice
young man, but I shouldn't want him for a steady boarder, 'less he got
up on time and eat his meals reg'lar."

"I s'pose he's all tired out," remarked Betsy. "He had a pretty hard day
of it yesterday, you know, Mis' Hawkins."

"Wall, I s'pose I ought to be kinder easy on him on that account. I must
say he managed things fust rate."

"How did the brides look?" asked Betsy.

Poor girl, she was one of the few who were not able to view the grand
sight.

"I can think of no word to express my feelin's," replied Mrs. Hawkins
after a pause, "but splendiferous! Huldy's dress was a white satin that
would a stood alone. She had a overskirt of netted white silk cord,
heavy enough to use for a hammock. You know she's neither light nor
dark, kind of a between, but she looked mighty poorty all the same."

"Was Tilly James dressed in white, too?" inquired Betsy.

"No," answered Mrs. Hawkins. "She wore a very light pink silk, with a
lace overskirt, and it just matched her black eyes and black hair fine,
I can tell yer."