“Not go to church indeed!” said Lucy. “Am I, then, going to marry a heathen? What would the Vicar say an he missed your face today, Master Benjamin? So go straightways and put on your best coat and lose no time, for I can hear the bells ringing now.”
“And what shall I do, and where shall I look,” said poor Ben, “when the parson reads out our names? I shall feel fit to drop through the floor. Everybody will look at me. I can stand a good deal, but to have a churchful of folk staring at me as if I were a prize bullock is more than a man ought to stand.”
“Will they not stare at you tomorrow?” cried Lucy. “Quick, I say, and make ready to go with us. Surely if we can stand hearing the banns read out, you ought to.”
So away we all went, and on coming into the village street at Darrington fell in with many of our acquaintance, who wished us joy and happiness so heartily that the girls blushed for pleasure, and Ben hung down his head and looked as if he were a criminal that had been caught in the commission of some awful deed. It was indeed very hard on Benjamin that the girls had insisted on his presence at church that morning, for the nave and aisles were filled with people, and we had no sooner got to our seats than everybody turned to look at us, so that Ben’s face glowed like a red rose, and I felt far from comfortable myself. Here, however, I could not but admire the wonderful self-possession of our sweethearts, who seemed to be wholly unconscious of the eyes turned upon them, but gave their attention entirely to the service, and looked as demure as cats that bask in front of a warm fire. So the service went on until the time came for reading out the banns of such folk as were to be married, and then indeed I felt that every eye in the church was upon us, and that the ploughboys in the dark corners under the belfry were smiling and the village girls laughing. As for me, I know not how I looked, but I professed to be mightily interested in Rose’s Prayerbook, while poor Ben, after turning red and then white, finally folded his arms and fixed his eyes desperately on a certain corner of the roof, until Parson Drumbleforth had made an end of our names for the third and last time, and went forward to the next part of the service.
Now, after morning prayer and sermon was over, and Holy Communion had been celebrated with such ceremonies as they use on Easter Day, we went out into the churchyard, and were there joined by Jack Drumbleforth, who brought us a message from his father to the effect that we must dine with him at the Vicarage, which invitation we straightway accepted. So Jack had us into the best parlour, where the Vicar kept his books, and his father shortly appearing in his cassock and gown made us heartily welcome and gave us good advice upon our future enterprises, until Mistress Deborah called us to dinner. After the meal was over we amused ourselves with various matters until the time for afternoon service, when we all went to church again, Ben this time looking as bold as brass, and carrying himself with exceeding great dignity. And towards the end of the afternoon we walked homewards across the fields with many good and holy thoughts in our minds, which had been prompted by the influences of that great day. And there was only one regret in my heart, namely, that my dear father and mother were not there to see our happiness, but were lying side by side in their quiet graves in the churchyard which we had just left.
So the day had passed well enough until then, and it went better in the evening, when Rose and I went for a long walk across our fields, and talked, as lovers will talk, of past and present and future. We were happy enough, and I doubt not Ben and Lucy were the same, for they seemed on good terms with themselves when we went back home. The girls went early to bed that night, for there were many matters to be attended to in the morning. Ben and I therefore were left to ourselves by nine o’clock, and for a good half-hour we sat staring at the fire with never a word to say.
“Heigho!” sighed Ben at last. “I wish it were tomorrow! I cannot rest for thinking of it. What are you going to do, Will?”
For I had risen and was going towards the door.
“I am going for a ride in the moonlight, Ben. ’Tis better than sitting over the fire and hearing thee sigh like a furnace.”
“Marry, and a good notion, too. Lend me a horse, and I will go with thee.”
We made fast the house-door, and, going to the stables, saddled and bridled our horses and rode away into the meadows. The moon had risen over the woods, and everything was filled with a silver radiance. Spring as it was, there was yet a slight touch of frost in the night air,
