married there; but Lumley pointed out firstly, that there was not
the remotest chance of his obtaining leave of absence for years to come;
secondly, that the marriage tie, as tied by her brothers would be as
legally binding as if managed by an Archbishop of Canterbury or a
moderator of the Scottish General Assembly; and thirdly, that as he was
filled with as deep a reverence for the Church as herself, he would have
the rite re-performed, ("_ceremonially_, observe, Jessie, not _really_,
for that will be done to-day,") on the first possible opportunity.

If Jessie had been hard to convince, Lumley would not have ended that
little discourse with "thirdly." As it was, Jessie gave in, and the
marriage was celebrated in the decorated hall, with voyageurs, and
hunters, and fur-traders as witnesses. Macnab proved himself a worthy
minister, for he read the marriage-service from the Church of England
prayer-book with an earnest and slightly tremulous tone which betrayed
the emotion of his heart. And if ever a true prayer, by churchman or
layman, mounted to the Throne, that prayer was the fervent, "God bless
you, Jessie!" to which the Highlander gave vent, as he pressed the bride
to his heart when the ceremony was over.

There were some peculiarities about this wedding in the wilderness which
call for special notice. In the first place, the wedding-feast, though
held shortly after mid-day, was regarded as a dinner--not as a
breakfast. It was rather more real, too, than civilised feasts of the
kind. Those who sat down to it were hungry. They meant feeding, as was
remarked by Salamander when more "venison steaks" were called for. Then
there was no champagne or strong drink of any kind. Teetotalism--with
or without principle--was the order of the day, but they had gallons of
tea, and they consumed them, too; and these stalwart Nor'westers
afterwards became as uproarious on that inspiring beverage as if they
had all been drunk. There was this peculiarity, however, in their
uproar, that it was reasonable, hearty, good-humoured; did not
degenerate into shameful imbecility, or shameless impropriety, nor did
it end in stupid incapacity. It subsided gradually into pleasant
exhaustion, and terminated in profound refreshing slumber.

Before that point was reached, however, much had to be done. Games had
to be undertaken as long as the daylight lasted--chief among which were
tobogganing down the snow-slope, and football on the i