If you must tell 'em, wait a year or
two, till they've settled down----'
A loud knock on the door interrupted her. 'There they are now,' I
remarked. 'And no matter what you say I shall explain everything
before they leave to-day. They shall know how they've been hoodwinked.'
'Orl right, then,' said Elizabeth, 'an' let the consingquences be on
your own head. You'll see 'ow they'll take it.' And darting defiant
looks, she went to open the door.
The next moment Marion was enfolded in my arms. Then I turned to greet
William. As I did so the words of welcome died on my lips and I stood
staring at him in puzzled wonder.
'Why, what has happened to you?' I asked.
He grinned. 'Don't you like me as I am at present?'
I did not, but thought it polite to refrain from saying so. He had
gone back to his former state of fuzziness, and looked more like Rip
van Winkle than ever. Indeed, his beard seemed even more fierce and
bristly than in the old days--probably shaving had tended to strengthen
the roots.
'How do you do, William?' I said, extending my hand, deciding as I did
so that I would not give him any other kind of salute after all. Yet
it was with a tinge of regret I thought of that nice mouth of his
hidden under such a rank undergrowth of whisker.
Marion looked on complacently as I greeted him. I remembered then that
she had rather seemed to resent the sisterly salute I thought necessary
to bestow on him after the wedding, and the brotherly salutes (repeated
four times in succession) he had given me in return.
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