'O Dick!' said Fancy reproachfully.
'Why, dear, that's nothing,--only just a bit of a flourish. You be as nervous as a cat to-day.'
'And then, of course, when 'tis all over,' continued the tranter, 'we shall march two and two round the parish.'
'Yes, sure,' said Mr. Penny: 'two and two: every man hitched up to his woman, 'a b'lieve.'
'I never can make a show of myself in that way!' said Fancy, looking at Dick to ascertain if he could.
'I'm agreed to anything you and the company like, my dear!' said Mr. Richard Dewy heartily.
'Why, we did when we were married, didn't we, Ann?' said the tranter; 'and so do everybody, my sonnies.'
'And so did we,' said Fancy's father.
'And so did Penny and I,' said Mrs. Penny: 'I wore my best Bath clogs, I remember, and Penny was cross because it made me look so tall.'
'And so did father and mother,' said Miss Mercy Onmey.
'And I mean to, come next Christmas!' said Nat the groomsman vigorously, and looking towards the person of Miss Vashti Sniff.
'Respectable people don't nowadays,' said Fancy. 'Still, since poor mother did, I will.'
'Ay,' resumed the tranter, ''twas on a White Tuesday when I committed it. Mellstock Club walked the same day, and we new- married folk went a-gaying round the parish behind 'em. Everybody used to wear something white at Whitsuntide in them days. My sonnies, I've got the very white trousers that I wore, at home in box now, Ha'n't I, Ann?'
'You had till I cut 'em up for Jimmy,' said Mrs. Dewy.
'And we ought, by rights, after doing this parish, to go round Higher and Lower Mellstock, and call at Viney's, and so work our way hither again across He'th,' said Mr.
Penny, recovering scent of the matter in hand. 'Dairyman Viney is a very respectable man, and so is Farmer Kex, and we ought to show ourselves to them.'
'True,' said the tranter, 'we ought to go round Mellstock to do the thing well. We shall form a very striking object walking along in rotation, good-now, neighbours?'
'That we shall: a proper pretty sight for the nation,' said Mrs. Penny.
'Hullo!' said the tranter, suddenly catching sight of a singular human figure standing in the doorway, and wearing a long smock-frock of pillow-case cut and of snowy whiteness.
'Why, Leaf! whatever dost thou do here?'
'I've come to know if so be I can come to the wedding--hee-hee!' said Leaf in a voice of timidity.
'Now, Leaf,' said the tranter reproachfully, 'you know we don't want 'ee here to-day: we've got no room for ye, Leaf.'
'Thomas Leaf, Thomas Leaf, fie upon ye for prying!' said old William.
'I know I've got no head, but I thought, if I washed and put on a clane shirt and smock-frock, I might just call,' said Leaf; turning away disappointed and trembling.
'Poor feller!' said the tranter, turning to Geoffrey. 'Suppose we must let en come? His looks are rather against en, and he is terrible silly; but 'a have never been in jail, and 'a won't do no harm.'
Leaf looked with gratitude at the tranter for these praises, and then anxiously at Geoffrey, to see what effect they would have in helping his cause.
'Ay, let en come,' said Geoffrey decisively. 'Leaf, th'rt welcome, 'st know;' and Leaf accordingly remained.
They were now all ready for leaving the house, and began to form a procession in the following order: Fancy and her father, Dick and Susan Dewy, Nat Callcome and Vashti Sniff, Ted Waywood and Mercy Onmey, and Jimmy and Bessie Dewy. These formed the executive, and all appeared in strict wedding attire. Then came the tranter and Mrs.
Dewy, and last of all Mr. and Mrs. Penny;--the tranter conspicuous by his enormous gloves, size eleven and three-quarters, which appeared at a distance like boxing gloves bleached, and sat rather awkwardly upon his brown hands; this hall-mark of respectability having been set upon himself to-day (by Fancy's special request) for the first time in his life.
'The proper way is for the bridesmaids to walk together,' suggested Fancy.
'What? 'Twas always young man and young woman, arm in crook, in my time!' said Geoffrey, astounded.
'And in mine!' said the tranter.
'And in ours!' said Mr. and Mrs. Penny.
'Never heard o' such a thing as woman and woman!' said old William; who, with grandfather James and Mrs. Day, was to stay at home.
'Whichever way you and the company like, my dear!' said Dick, who, being on the point of securing his right to Fancy, seemed willing to renounce all other rights in the world with the greatest pleasure The decision was left to Fancy.
'Well, I think I'd rather have it the way mother had it,' she said, and the couples moved along under the trees, every man to his maid.
'Ah!' said grandfather James to grandfather William as they retired, 'I wonder which she thinks most about, Dick or her wedding raiment!'
