“For the sake of my name, and my niece,” he said to himself, “I must bear it like a man.”

And, in answer to an earnest adjuration, Colonel Pinckney Macon solemnly promised that he would never reveal, to man or woman, that his friend did not marry the Widow Keswick entirely of his own wish and accord.

It was the desire of Mrs Keswick that the marriage, although conducted in church, should be very simple in its arrangements.  There would be no bridesmaids or groomsmen; no flowers; no breakfast; and the couple would be dressed in travelling costume.  The friends of the old lady persuaded her to make considerable changes in her attire, and a costume was speedily prepared, which, while it suggested the fashions of the present day, was also calculated to recall reminiscences of those of a quarter of a century ago.  This simplicity was the only thing connected with the affair which satisfied Mr Brandon, and he would have been glad to have the marriage entirely private, with no more witnesses than the law demanded.  But to this Mrs Keswick would not consent.  She wanted to have her former friends about her.  Accordingly, the church was pretty well filled with old colonels, old majors, old generals, and old judges, with their wives and their sisters, and, in a few cases, their daughters.  All the elderly people in Richmond, who, in the days of their youth, had known the gay Miss Matty Pettigrew, and the handsome Bob Brandon, felt a certain rejuvenation of spirit as they went to the wedding of the couple, who had once been these two.

The old lady looked full of life and vigor, and, despite the circumstances, Mr Brandon preserved a good deal of his usual manly deportment.  But, when in the course of the marriage service, the clergyman came to the question in which the bride-groom was asked if he would have this woman to be his wedded wife, to love and keep her for the rest of their lives, the answer, “I will,” came forth in a feeble tone, which was not wholly divested of a tinge of despondency.

With the lady it was quite otherwise.  When the like question was put to her, she stepped back, and in a loud, clear voice, exclaimed:  “Not I!  Marry that man, there?” she continued in a higher tone, and pointing her finger at the astounded Mr Brandon.  “Not for the world, sir!  Before he was born, his family defrauded and despoiled my people, and as soon as he took affairs into his own hands, he continued the villainous law robberies until we are poor, and he is rich; and, not content with that, he basely wrecks and destroys the plans I had made for the comfort of my old age, in order that his paltry purposes may be carried out.  After all that, does anybody here suppose that I would take him for a husband?  Marry him!  Not I!” And, with these words, the old lady turned her back on the clergyman, and walked rapidly down the centre aisle, until she reached the church door.  There she stopped, and turning towards the stupefied assemblage, she snapped her bony fingers in the air, and exclaimed:  “Now, Mr Robert Brandon of Midbranch, our account is balanced.”