E-text prepared by Robin Eugene Escovado
Author of John Halifax, Gentleman, &c., &c., &c. New York Harper &
Brothers, Publishers Franklin Square.
Inscribed affectionately to John and Lucy
"So I will do my best a gude wife to be, For Auld Robin Grey is vera kind to me."
"I think this will do, my dear; just listen;" and in a mysterious halfwhisper, good Mrs. Ferguson, wife of James Ferguson, the well-to-dosilversmith and jeweler, of High Street, Avonsbridge, read aloud fromthe sheet of paper in her hand:
"'On the 21st instant, at the University Church, Avonsbridge, by the
Reverend John Smith, the Reverend Arnold Grey, D.D., Master of Saint
Bede's College, Avonsbridge, to Christian, only child of the late Edward
Oakley, Esq., of that place.' Will it do? Because, if so, James will
send it to 'The Times' at once."
"Better ask Dr. Grey first," answered the bride.
As she spoke, Dr. Grey turned round from the window where he had beenconversing—that is, responding to conversation—with Mr. Ferguson,chiefly on the weather; for it was a snowy December day.
This precise moment, half an hour after his marriage—his secondmarriage—is hardly a fair time to describe Dr. Arnold Grey; suffice itto say that he was a gentleman apparently about forty-five, rather lowin stature, and spare in figure, with hair already thin and iron-gray.The twenty-five years between him and his newly-married wife showedplainly—only too plainly—as she stood, in all her gracefulness ofgirlhood, which even her extreme pallor and a certain sharp, worn,unnaturally composed look could not destroy. He seemed struck by this.His face clouded over for a minute, and he slightly sighed. But thepain, whatever it was, was only momentary. He looked like a man who wasnot in the habit of acting hastily or impulsively—who never did anything without having previously fully counted the cost.
"What were you saying, Mrs. Ferguson?" said he, addressing her with thegrave and somewhat formal politeness which was his natural manner, butwhich always somewhat awed that rather vulgar, though kind-hearted andwell-meaning woman.
She put the paper into his hands. "It's the notice for 'The Times;'
James and I made it up last night. James thought it would save you
trouble, master—" Mrs. Ferguson always hesitated between this common
University custom of address and plain, "Dr. Grey."
"Thank you; Mr. Ferguson is always kind," returned the Master of Saint
Bede's.
"You see," continued Mrs. Ferguson, lowering her tone to a confidentialwhisper, "I thought it was better only to put 'Edward Oakley, Esq.,' andnothing more. Wouldn't you like it to be so, sir?"
"I should like it to be exactly as—" he paused, and the color rushedviolently over his thin, worn, and yet sensitive face, as sensitive asif he had been a young man still—"exactly as Mrs. Grey pleases."
Mrs. Grey! At the sound of her new name Christian started, and she, too,turned scarlet. Not the sweet, rosy blush of a bride, but the dark redflush of sharp physical or mental pain, which all her self-control couldnot hide.
"Poor dear! poor dear! this is a great change for her, and only a yearsince her father died," said Mrs. Ferguso