“The old fox!  Is she not a sly one?  She thought to throw us off, I do believe.  But I am as bright as she,” said Harry Bennett, after the interview.

“Really, Bennett, that is not a very respectful way of speaking of the mother of your promised wife,” replied Doctor Wadsworth.

“Well, no; you are right.  But just to think of her talking so to us!” answered Harry, with an air of injured pride.

The ceremony was over.  After an acquaintance of less than six weeks, Doctor Wadsworth and Harry Bennett had won their wives.

And while the brides had retired to change their dress for the travelling-suit, the happy young husbands requested to speak a moment with their mother-in-law.

“Indeed you must speak; I will not,” said Doctor Wadsworth, in a low tone, as he closed the door, and with Bennett approached Mrs. Brownson.

After a moment’s hesitation, Harry Bennett said: 

“Now, Mrs. Brownson, that we have proved our sincerity and real love for your daughters, there is no reason for any longer concealment.”

“About what, sir?” asked his mother-in-law.

“Come, my dear madam; this is entirely useless.  You have tried and proved us.  Now to business.”

“Really, Mr. Bennett, I am at a loss to understand you!  Will you please to be explicit?”

“Well, madam, then I must tell you that I am perfectly well aware that my wife is entitled to the one-third of two hundred thousand dollars left by her father.  Now, my dear madam, we are going on a very long and expensive trip, and may need more than I have in ready money.  Now, that is just the whole truth,” said Harry, who had gotten over his slight embarrassment, and then spoke in a very business sort of manner.

Not so Doctor Wadsworth; he seemed very much mortified, and looked as if he wished he was away from that scene.

“Mr. Bennett, I spoke to you about this report, and told you how false it was, did I not?”

“Oh, yes, madam; but you see—­”

“You still believe this, even when I again tell you that neither I nor my daughters have a dollar in the world beyond the small amount I have now from the sale of my household effects?  I assure you, sir, I speak the truth,” said Mrs. Brownson, in a tone and manner that would have enforced belief.

But Harry Bennett said, triumphantly: 

“Madam, I have seen Mr. Brownson’s will.”

“That will, my dear sir, is not worth the paper it is written on.  Mr. Brownson was out of his head, and imagined he was possessed of that sum in bonds and stock.  If you can find any such possession, no one would welcome it more gladly than I. You can readily prove the truth.”

Harry Bennett gazed bewildered from his mother-in-law to Doctor Wadsworth, and then said in a low voice, as if to himself: 

“Caught and caged.”

“And I am glad of it,” exclaimed the doctor, who was truly glad of anything to end that very embarrassing interview.  “Come, Bennett, we must arrange our trip to suit the extent of our purse, and be happy with the prizes we have won.”