There was only one hitch in the entire programme.  That was that when they got to the church Tweedwell did not show up.  Jack was distressed even though Mrs. Rosscott laughed.  Mitchell wanted to read the ceremony, but Aunt Mary was afraid it wouldn’t be legal, and Mr. Stebbins agreed with her.  In the end the regular clergyman married them; and just as they were all filing out they met Tweedwell and Lucinda tearing along, he in his surplice and she in the black silk dress which Aunt Mary had given her in celebration of the occasion.  They were both too exhausted to be able to explain for several minutes; but it finally came out (of Lucinda) that Burnett, whose place it was to have overseen officiating Tweedwell, had forgotten all about him, and the poor fellow, exhausted by his long journey, had never awakened until Lucinda, going in to clear up his room, had let forth a piercing howl of surprise.

So far from dampening anyone’s spirits this little contretemps only seemed to set things off at a livelier pace.  They had a brisk ride home, and the wedding feast and the wedding cake were all that could be desired.  What went with it was the finest that any of the guests ever tasted before or since, and the champagne was all but served in beer steins.

When it came to the healths they drank to Aunt Mary along with the bride and groom, and Mitchell made a speech, invoking Heaven’s blessings on the triple compact and covering himself with glory.

“Here’s to Aunt Mary and her bride and her groom,” he cried, when they told him to rise and proclaim.  “Here’s to Aunt Mary and her bride and groom, and here’s to their health and their wealth and their happiness.  Here’s to their brilliant past, their roseate present and their gorgeous future.  And here’s to hoping that Fate, who is ready and willing to deal any man a bride, may some time see fit to deal some one of us another such as Jack’s Aunt Mary.  So I propose her health before all else.  Aunt Mary, long may she wave!”

Aunt Mary looked as if words and actions were poor things in which to attempt to express her feelings, but no one who glanced at her could be in two minds as to her state of approval as to everything that was going on.

The bridal pair drove away somewhere after five o’clock, and about seven the main body of the guests returned to the city.

Mrs. Rosscott’s mother and Mitchell and Burnett remained a day or two to keep Aunt Mary from feeling blue, but Aunt Mary was not at all inclined that way.

“If those two young people are lookin’ forward to anythin’ like as much fun as I am,” she said over and over again, “well, all is they’re lookin’ forward to a good deal.”

“Won’t we whoop her up next summer!” said Burnett; “well, I don’t know!”

“My dear Robert,” said his mother gently.

“Don’t stop him,” said Aunt Mary.  “He knows just how I feel an’ I know jus’ how he feels.  It isn’t wrong, Mrs. Burnett, it’s natural.  We were born to be happy, only sometimes we don’t know just how to set about it.”