Providence Road. The train of
solemn, wide-eyed little flower bearers was received by the wedding
guests, who were assembled around the Meeting-house door, with a
positive wave of rapture and no hint of the previous hurricane of
rebellion showed in their rosy, cherubic countenances. They separated
at the designated point and according to instructions took their stand
along the side of the walk from the gate to the steps. Billy stepped
high, roly-poly little Bettie steered Martin Luther into place and
Eliza had the joy of catching a glimpse of the pale face across the
store-yard, peering out of the window with the greatest interest.

Then from the Pratt home, directly across the Road, came the Deacon and
Bettie, and the enthusiasm at this point boiled up and ran over in a
perfect foam of joy. And, indeed, the pair made a picture deserving of
every thrill, Bettie in her dove gray muslin and the Deacon bedight
according to Eliza's expert opinion of good form. He beamed like a
gentle old cherub himself, while she giggled and blushed and nodded to
the children as she stepped over the rain of roses, on up to the very
door itself. Immediately following the children, the congregation filed
in and settled itself for the long prayer, that the Deacon always used
to open such solemn occasions.

The singer lady found herself seated between Mother Mayberry and the
Doctor on the end of the pew, and out of the corner of her eye she
essayed a view of his magnificence, but caught him in the act of making
the same pass in her direction. They both blushed, and her smile was
wickedly tantalizing, though she kept her eyes fixed on the Deacon's
face as he began to read the words of the service in his sweet old
voice, with its note of tender affection for the pair of friends for
whom he read them. And she never knew why she didn't realize it or why
she thought of permitting it, but as the impressive words enfolded the
pair at the altar, one of her own small hands was gently possessed in a
warm, strong one, and tightly clasped. For moments the pair of hands
rested on the bench between them, hid by a filmy fold of the rose gown.
There was just nothing to be done about it that the singer lady could
see, so she let matters rest as they were and gave her attention to
trying to keep the riot in her own heart in reasonable bounds. However,
it might have been a comfort to her to know that across the church,
Buck had captured five of Pattie's sunburn