her father was safely off everything was packed
in a big hamper and taken down to the Pryor house. Joe soon arrived in
his uniform and a state of violent excitement, accompanied by his best
man, Sergeant Malcolm Crawford. There were quite a few guests, for all
the Manse and Ingleside folk were there, and a dozen or so of Joe's
relatives, including his mother, "Mrs. Dead Angus Milgrave," so called,
cheerfully, to distinguish her from another lady whose Angus was
living. Mrs. Dead Angus wore a rather disapproving expression, not
caring over-much for this alliance with the house of
Whiskers-on-the-moon.

So Miranda Pryor was married to Private Joseph Milgrave on his last
leave. It should have been a romantic wedding but it was not. There
were too many factors working against romance, as even Rilla had to
admit. In the first place, Miranda, in spite of her dress and veil, was
such a flat-faced, commonplace, uninteresting little bride. In the
second place, Joe cried bitterly all through the ceremony, and this
vexed Miranda unreasonably. Long afterwards she told Rilla, "I just
felt like saying to him then and there, 'If you feel so bad over having
to marry me you don't have to.' But it was just because he was thinking
all the time of how soon he would have to leave me."

In the third place, Jims, who was usually so well-behaved in public,
took a fit of shyness and contrariness combined and began to cry at the
top of his voice for "Willa." Nobody wanted to take him out, because
everybody wanted to see the marriage, so Rilla who was a bridesmaid,
had to take him and hold him during the ceremony.

In the fourth place, Sir Wilfrid Laurier took a fit.

Sir Wilfrid was entrenched in a corner of the room behind Miranda's
piano. During his seizure he made the weirdest, most unearthly noises.
He would begin with a series of choking, spasmodic sounds, continuing
into a gruesome gurgle, and ending up with a strangled howl. Nobody
could hear a word Mr. Meredith was saying, except now and then, when
Sir Wilfrid stopped for breath. Nobody looked at the bride except
Susan, who never dragged her fascinated eyes from Miranda's face--all
the others were gazing at the dog. Miranda had been trembling with
nervousness but as soon as Sir Wilfrid began his performance she forgot
it. All that she could think of was that her dear dog was dying and she
could not go to him. She never remembered a word of the ceremony.

Rilla, who in spite of Jims