"I"d give _him_ away with pleasure," replied Dawn. "If I _must_ be _given_ away like a slave or animal, you"ll give me away grandma, or I"ll stay where I am. "Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?" the old parson will ask; why won"t he also ask, "Who giveth this man?" as if he too were only a chattel belonging to some one?"
That she would be disposed of by no one but her grandmother rather pleased the old lady than otherwise; so she invested in yet another black silk gown, over which she was to wear a seldom seen cape of point lace worked by Dawn"s mother; and she also purchased a wonderful bonnet, and armed herself with a new pair of "lastings." Thus Dawn was to have her way in this particular, but the old dame adhered to her original intention in the matter of the Mudeheepes.
"I"ve kep" "em at bay long enough now. I"ll just acknowledge "em this once, or it will seem as if you was a "illegitimate,"" said she in the plenitude of her worldly wisdom, and thereupon "writ" a stiff though not discourteous letter to Dawn"s father, inviting any number of the bride"s relatives up to six, to come and spend a week before the wedding in her home, for the purpose of making Dawn"s acquaintance.
"There, I have done me duty, and they can suit theirselves whether they come or go to Halifax," she remarked as she despatched the communication.
They came. Dawn"s father, his second wife, and his youngest sister, Miss Mudeheepe, arrived three days before the wedding and remained to grace the ceremony.
Dawn, being a mere girl, perhaps it was Ernest"s wealth and position induced them to meet Mrs Martha Clay"s overture, for they were thorough sn.o.bs, but if they had come prepared to patronise, their intention was killed ere it bore fruit.
The hostess hired the town "bus to convey them from the station, and despatched Andrew, with many injunctions to "conduct hisself with reason," to meet them there, while she and Dawn waited to receive them on one of the old porches. It was a bower of roses and pot-plants, and further shaded by a graceful pepper-tree, and made a beautiful frame for the grandmother and the maiden,--the old dame so straight and vigorous, the girl as roseate and fresh as her name, but each equally haughty and bent upon maintaining their iron independence of the people who had discarded the girl and her mother ere the former had been born.
Personal appearance was much in their favour, and no practised belle of thirty could have held her own better than the inexperienced girl of nineteen, whose native wit and downright honesty of purpose were more than equal to all the diplomacy of thrust and parry to be gained by living in society. Her stepmother, who was apparently as good-natured as she seemed brainless, was prepared to be gushing, but that was nipped in the bud by the way Dawn extended her pretty, firm hand with the dimpling wrist and knuckles and exquisitely tapering fingers.
Her father and aunt, who were tall and angular, with thin faces of dull expression, met a similar reception, and she presented them to me herself, explaining that I was a very dear friend with her for the wedding.
I had long since risen from a boarder to be a guest and friend of the house, and it had devolved upon me to exhibit the presents and interview the endless callers at this time of nine days" wonder.
It being hot, the ladies retired to doff their hats ere partaking of afternoon tea, and Dawn took her father"s hat while he trumpeted in his handkerchief and attempted a few commonplace plat.i.tudes from the biggest and stiffest arm-chair in the "parler," into which he had subsided. I left the room, but could hear him from where I stood awaiting the ladies" reappearance, one from the room that had been Miss Flipp"s and the other from the one I had at first occupied, and Mr George Mudeheepe was to occupy the third one of these apartments, which had been empty since the tragedy.
"Dawn, my dear, you are your mother once again," he said with a sigh; "I have never seen you, and now you are sufficiently grown to be married."
"Yes," said the girl.
"Will you give me a kiss?"
"I"d rather not. You see you are only a stranger to me. I have never heard of you only as the man who was a monster to my mother. I never saw her, but I remember to love her for what she did for me, whereas you, what did you do for her and me? I would like you to understand how I feel on this subject, so that there can be no mistake," said the girl honestly.
"Oh, well, I didn"t come here to be told that, but to give consent to your marriage."
"Oh!" said the girl, rearing the pretty head with its wealth of bright hair, "as for that, I"m going to marry. If you like to exercise your authority I"ll run away and you can"t unmarry me. It is at grandma"s wish you are here; she said to let old bitterness sleep for the time you are here, and so I will now that I have explained that I utterly refuse to recognise that a father is anything but a stranger unless he discharges the responsibilities of the office. For the sake of the race I maintain this ground," she concluded in words that had been put into her mouth by one of the speakers at Ada Grosvenor"s election league, and the appearance of the ladies put an end to further contention.
Dawn"s judgments were remorseless, as becoming clean-souled, fearless youth as yet unacquainted with the great gulf "twixt the ideal and real, and untainted by that charity and complaisance which, like senility, come with advancing years.
The aunt was elderly and unprepossessing, and the stepmother of the type bespeaking champagne and too much eating for the exercise taken, for her head was partly sunk in a huge ma.s.s of adipose substance that had once been bosom, and the other proportions of her figure were in keeping.
The cups were spread in the dining-room, so thither we repaired to eat and drink while representations of Jim Clay and Jake Sorrel, senior, who had wept for the sufferings of the convicts, glowered down upon the gathering of plebeians who were half swells and the swells who were wholly plebeian.
Presently grandma and I excused ourselves and left Dawn with her relations.
"What do you think of "em? Are they any better than Dawn an" me?" said the old dame as we got out of hearing. "How do I compare with that old sack of charcoal?"
Ay, how did she compare? As a slight, active, handsome woman, still vigorous at seventy-six, with one who, though thirty years her junior, was already almost helpless from obesity and natural clumsiness,--that"s how she compared!
"Them"s some of the swells for you--one of the "old families," who think they"re made of different stuff to you an" me. What do you think of Dawn, Jim Clay"s granddaughter, who drove the coach, when placed beside her aunt, the granddaughter of an admiral in the army?"
"She looks as though Jim Clay had been a general in the navy and she had done justice to her heredity," I gravely replied.
"Andrew, come here an" tell me how you managed "em, an" what you think of the great bugs now you"ve seen "em," commanded the old lady of that individual, as he emerged from the kitchen with both hands full of cake.
"Did you walk up to "em an" say, "Are you Mr and Mrs Mudeheepe, I"m Mrs Clay"s grandson?" like I told you."
"No; I seen it on their luggage without arskin" them, an" one look at "em was enough for me. I didn"t bother tellin" "em who I was. I didn"t care if they had fell down an" broke their necks--the bloomin"
long-nosed old goats! I just took hold of their things an" flung "em in the "bus, and the old fat one she says, "Are you Mrs Clay"s groom?"
an" I says, "Mrs Clay is my grandma," an" she says, "Oh"!"
"Well, you might have introduced yourself a bit better to make things more agreeabler, but they really are the untakin"est people I"ve seen for a long time. Ain"t I delighted that Dawn took after my side! An"
now, though she"s me own, do you think I"m over conceited to think her fit for the king"s son?"
"Certainly not," I replied; for it would have taken a very estimable son of a king to be meet for this Princess of the Break-of-Day, appropriately christened Dawn!
THIRTY.
FOR FURTHER PARTICULARS CONSULT "THE NOONOON ADVERTISER" OF THAT DATE.
That was a grand wedding celebrated in Noonoon ere the orange blossoms had turned into oranges, but for details it would be better to refer to that most reliable little journal, "The Noonoon Advertiser." Only a few particulars remain in my mind, but the paper published a full account, including a minute description of the bride"s gown and a careful list of the presents. It was much to the horror of Ernest that the latter was inserted, but it would have been much more horrible to Grandma Clay had the mention of so much as a jam-spoon been omitted, so he consoled himself with the reflection that it was only in "The Noonoon Advertiser," and took care to keep the list out of the account which appeared in the Sydney dailies. The curious, by consulting a back number of the little country sheet, may learn that Mrs L. Witcom (_nee_ Carry, the ex-lady help) gave the bride one of many pairs of shadow-work pillow shams, and that Miss Grosvenor contributed one of the equally numerous drawn-thread table centres. Mrs Bray presented a ribbon-work cushion; Dr Smalley, some of the jam-spoons; Andrew, a bread-fork; and Mr J. Sorrel, great-uncle of the bride, a silver cream-jug; while Mr Claude (alias "Dora") Eweword kept himself in mind by an afternoon tea-set. The complete list took a column, and included dozens of magnificent articles from sporting a.s.sociations and chums of the bridegroom.
The bride--a glorious vision in d.u.c.h.esse satin and accessories in keeping, and with real orange blossoms in hair, corsage, and train; the proud shyness of the gentle and stalwart groom standing beside her, and the brave old grandmother drawn up a little in the rear, formed a picture I shall never forget. The old lady performed her office with flashing eyes, a steady voice, and an individuality which none could despise or overlook.
Excepting her grandmother, Dawn was unattended, and as the young couple came down the aisle, by previous request of the bride, I had the honour of accompanying the old lady from the church, and she said, as we drove away over the scattered rose petals to be in readiness to receive the guests--
"I"ve done it--give me little girl away, an" without misgivin"s, for if she"s as happy as I was she"ll do. When the time was here there was some patches of me life wasn"t too soft, but lookin" back, I would marry Jim Clay over again if I could."
The caterpillars that had been eating the grape-vines and giving Andrew exercise as destroyer, had turned into millions of white b.u.t.terflies that flecked the golden sunlight like a vast flotilla of miniature aerial yachts, and enhanced the splendour of that balmy wedding-day. It was the month of roses, and, intertwined with jasmine and mignonette, they formed the chief decorations in the roomy marquee erected for the breakfast under the big old cedars overlooking the river. All Noonoonites of any importance sat down to the repast, and their names, from that of Mrs Bray to Mrs Dr Tinker, are recorded in "The Noonoon Advertiser." The last-mentioned lady did not exhibit any of her famous characteristics at the function further than to use a gorgeous fan she carried in rapping her husband over the knuckles every time his attention wandered from her remarks. The toasts were many and long, and it fell to "Dora" Eweword to respond to that of the "ladies." Since the announcement of Dawn"s engagement to Ernest, "Dora" had been frequently seen out driving with Ada Grosvenor, and he paid her marked attention at the wedding; but this was private, not public, information.
After I had helped Dawn into her travelling dress I had a few words apart with Ernest while Grandma Clay bade a private good-bye to his wife.
"Well," he said, with self-contained and pardonable triumph, "I"ve won her in spite of that dish of water."
"Yes, we three have accomplished our desire."
"What three?"
"Mr and Mrs R. E. Breslaw and myself!"
"Oh, was it your desire too?" he said with a happy laugh.
The bride now appeared, and wringing my hand as he said--
"You"ll come to us when we return," he stepped forward to place her in the carriage that took them to the railway.
The paper had better be again consulted for accurate account of the confetti pelting and other customary happenings that took place at the station. These details, and the real greatness of Dawn"s match, and her aristocratic relatives, who, as often suspected, had not proved to be only a myth, were the chief theme of conversation for many days.