l.' Then suddenly, as if his master had whistled, he
sped to the side of Mrs. Sickles. Backward and forward these two walked,
Sam talking earnestly and the toll-gate woman listening with great
interest. Captain Abner now and then gave them an impatient glance, but
the other couple did not regard them at all.

"'But, Mr. Twitty,' said Mrs. Sickles, 'this is so unexpected. I had
an idea of the kind about Cap'n Abner, for I could not help it, but
you--really! I've heard of you often, Mr. Twitty, but I never saw you
until to-day.'

"'Now, Mrs. Sickles,' said Sam, 'you couldn't have had a better day to
see me in, if you'd waited a year; and a-speakin' quick and sharp as
I've got to do, for the sun's keepin' on goin' down, there couldn't be a
better day to marry me in.'

"'Oh, Mr. Twitty!' cried Mrs. Sickles, with flushed face.

"'There couldn't be a better time or a better place,' said Sam, 'and a
minister right here, and two witnesses.'

"'But, Mr. Twitty,' said she, 'I really thought that Cap'n Budlong--and
from what he told me about his house and his things--'

"'Cap'n Abner is one of the finest men in this world,' interrupted Sam,
'and he's got a fust-class house, and I ain't got none, and he's got all
sorts of things from all parts of the world that he's put in it. But I
can get a house and things to put in it, and I can do without gilded
idols and king conch-shells, and, what's still more to the p'int,
Mrs. Sickles, I wants you, and he don't.'

"'There's something in that,' said the toll-gate woman, and then she
added: 'but as to marryin' you here and now, Mr. Twitty, it's not to be
thought of.'

"Sam walked slowly away; one might have thought his head drooped under a
rebuke. He approached the young minister and the girl of the buggy.

"'Look a' here,' said he to the former; 'you don't mean to say, sir,
that you'd back out of marryin' a couple right here and now, that was
growed up and of full age, and nothin' to hinder.'

"'Marry!' cried Miss Denby. 'A wedding right here on this beautiful
island! Oh, that would be glorious! Who wants to be married?'

"'I do,' said Sam.

"They both laughed. 'But the other person?' asked Mr. Rippledean. 'There
must be a bride if you want a wedding.'

"'Oh, the bride'll be Mrs. Sickles,' said Sam. 'But the trouble is she
ain't altogether willin'.'

"'I told you,' said the merry Miss Denby--'you know I told you that you
are the funniest people I ever met, and you truly ar