to hold Rebekah."

"Well, I'm goin' to be Mr. Scoot, so there!"

"Ain't!"

"Are so!"

The two would-be divines made a simultaneous dash for the place of
honor, and scrambling upon it, crushed their way, side by side, into
the hole, which was scarcely large enough for one. In the struggle
Rebekah gained her liberty, and with a loud squawk she leaped down the
steps, her blue gown and her bridal veil streaming behind. She flopped
right on top of Joshua, who had lain down in his harness, and rudely
broke his slumber. Now, Joshua was a wise dog, who knew his own
household, and would no more have thought of barking at Rebekah than at
Hannah. But when this madly struggling bundle of clothes dashed over
his nose he saw in it no smallest resemblance to anything he had ever
permitted to pass his gateway. So, hampered though he was by Joey's
cart, he made a dash at his disguised friend, and, barking madly,
chased her out through the gate. The two rival clergymen, nearly
squeezed to death within the narrow confines of the pulpit, screamed,
and struggled for liberty, and called on Joshua to come back, but to no
purpose. Down the street he clattered, snapping at Rebekah's flying
veil. The runaway bride dodged this way and that, and finally darted
in at Miss Arabella's gate, Joshua following fiercely. Miss Arabella's
door also stood open. Rebekah dashed up the walk and into the house.

All had been very still in the crowded little parlor. The ceremony was
over, and the bowed heads had just been raised from prayer, when into
the reverent hush there penetrated from the kitchen a loud, complaining
voice: "Oh, Lordy! ain't we havin' a slow time!" An electric current
quivered through the room, the two boys in the corner writhed in a
spasm of giggles, and the minister said sternly, "Hush!" But the next
instant the necessity for constraint was over. A tremendous uproar
burst from the front doorway, and into the midst of the wedding guests
there dashed an astounding pair--a small, turbulent creature, dressed
exactly like the bride, in blue silk and a streaming white veil,
followed fiercely by a dog, dragging the remnants of a shattered cart.
Around the room they leaped in a mad circle, upsetting everything in
their way. Then the blue-robed creature, with a scream, rose above the
heads of the astonished guests, and landed in the kitchen, with a
deafening crash of breaking dishes. The rest of the disturbance
followed, bark