"How much do you suppose they charge, anyway?" asked Thyrsis.
"I don"t know--I think you give what you can spare. How much money have you?"
"I"ve got eight dollars to my name."
"Have you got it with you?"
"Yes--all of it."
"I get my twenty-five to-morrow," she added.
"Do you really get it?" he asked. "You can depend on it?"
"Oh yes--it comes the middle of each month."
"I"ve heard of people getting incomes from investments, and things like that, but it always seemed hard to believe. I never thought I"d meet with it in my own life."
"It"s certainly very nice," said Corydon.
"Where does it come from?"
"There"s a trustee of the estate who sends it. It"s Mr. Hammond."
"That bald-headed man I met once?"
"Yes, he"s the one. He"s quite a well-known lawyer, and they say I"m fortunate to have him."
"I see," said Thyrsis. "I"ll have to look into it some day. You know you have to endow me with all your worldly goods!"
They went on down the avenue, and came to a Jewish temple with a gilded dome. "I wonder how that would do," said Corydon.
"I don"t think it would do at all," said Thyrsis. "We"d surely have to believe something there."
So they went on again. And on a corner, as they stopped to look about them, a strange mood came suddenly to Thyrsis. It was as if a veil was rent before him--as if a bolt of lightning had flashed. What was he going to do? He was going to bind himself in marriage! He was going to be trapped--he, the wild thing, the young stag of the forest!
"What is it?" asked Corydon, seeing him standing motionless.
"I--I was just thinking," he said.
"What?"
"I was afraid, Corydon, I wondered if we were sure--if we realized--"
"If we _realized!_" she cried.
"You know--it"ll be forever--"
"Why, Thyrsis!" she exclaimed, in horror.
And so he started, and laughed uneasily. "It was just a queer fancy that came to me," he said.
"But how _could_ you!" she cried.
"Come, dearest," he said, hurriedly--"it"s nothing. It seems so strange, that"s all."
In the middle of the block they came to another church. "Unitarian!" he exclaimed. "Oh, maybe that"s just the thing!"
And so they went in, and found a friendly clergyman, Dr. Hamilton by name, to whom they explained their plight. They answered his questions--yes, they were both of age, and they had told their parents.
Also, with much stammering, Thyrsis explained that his worldly goods amounted to eight dollars.
"But--how are you going to live?" asked Dr. Hamilton.
Thyrsis was tempted to mention the masterpiece, but he decided not to.
"I"m going to earn money," he said.
"Well," responded the other, "I suppose it"s all right. I"ll marry you."
And so the s.e.xton was called in for a witness, and the clergyman stood before them and made a little speech, and said a prayer, and then joined their hands together and p.r.o.nounced the spell. The two trembled just a little, but answered bravely, "I do," in the proper places, and then it was over. They shook hands with the doctor, and promised to come hear one of his sermons; and with much trepidation they paid him two dollars, which he in turn paid to the s.e.xton. And then they went outside, and drew a great breath of relief. "It wasn"t half as bad as I expected,"
the bridegroom confessed.
Section 5. Thyris invested in a newspaper, and as they went back to get the violin they read the advertis.e.m.e.nts of furnished rooms. In respectable neighborhoods which they tried they found that the prices were impossible for them; but at last, upon the edge of a tenement district, they found a corner flat-house, with a saloon underneath, where there were two tiny bedrooms for rent in an apartment. The woman, who was a seamstress, was away a good deal in the day, and Corydon learned with delight that she might use the piano in the parlor. The rooms were the smallest they had ever seen, but they were clean, and the price was only fifty cents a day--a dollar and a half a week for Thyrsis" and two dollars for Corydon"s, because there was a steam-radiator in it.
There was a racket of school-children and of streetcars from the avenue below, but they judged they would get used to this; and having duly satisfied the landlady that they were married, and having ascertained that she had no objection to "light housekeeping," they engaged the rooms and paid a week"s rent in advance.
"That leaves us two and a half to start life on!" said Thyrsis, when they were on the street again. "Our housekeeping will be light indeed!"
They walked on, and sat down in the park to talk it over.
"It"s not nearly so reckless as it would seem," he argued. "For I have to earn money for myself any-how. And then there"s the book."
"When will you hear about it?"
"I called the man up the day before yesterday. He said they were reading it."
"Have you said anything to him about money?"
"Not yet."
"Will they pay something in advance?"
"They will, I guess, if they like the story. I don"t know very much about the business end of it."
"We mustn"t let them take advantage of us!" exclaimed Corydon.
"No, of course not. But I hate to have to think about the money side of it. It"s a cruel thing that I have to sell my inspiration."
"What else could you do?" she asked.