The Astonishing History of Troy Town Part 54

Caleb did not wait for the end of the sentence, but darting out, discovered the brothers in the porch, and haled them back.

"I beg your pardon most heartily," said Mr. Fogo, as they appeared; "the fact is--"

"There's no call, sir. I reckon us'll get the grip o't wi' time an'

practice; on'y bein' new to the ropes, so to spake--"

Mr. Fogo looked at Tamsin. She broke into a merry laugh.

It snapped the spell. The Twins, who had been waiting on each other for a lead with the first spoonful of soup, set down their spoons and joined in, at first decorously, then with uproar.

"Talk 'bout fun!" gasped Peter at length, with tears in his eyes, "Bill Stickles at the Market Ord'nary can't match et--an' he's reckoned a tip-topper for fun. An' this es fash'n! Well, I never did. Ho, ho, ho!"

From this moment the success of the dinner was a.s.sured. All talked, and talked with freedom. The brothers threw off their restraint, and were their natural and well-mannered selves. It is true that Peter would pause now and again to slap his thigh and renew his mirth; it is true also that he continued to wear his white gloves throughout the meal. But he pocketed them when Caleb removed the cloth, and the company fell into more easy postures.

It was late that evening when the Twins consulted their watches and rose to go, and as yet nothing had been said on the subject nearest to Mr. Fogo's heart. He motioned them back to their seats.

"There is still one more question that I must ask you," he said, rising and stepping to Tamsin's side. "You guess what it is?"

"I mou't," admitted Peter slowly.

"I ask you, then, if Tamsin has your leave to make me happy.

Knowing what it costs you--"

"No cost, sir, where our little maid's happiness es consarned.

Tamsin knaws that, but 't 'as been the harder to talk wi' her as us shud ha' wished, an' that there's no denyin'. Us knawed all along she'd be leavin' us some day, an' oft'n Paul an' me have a-made up each other's mind to 't. I mis...o...b..s, sir--I mis...o...b..s sorely-- seein' 'tes _you_ her heart es set to marry--meanin' no offence, sir.

But as _'tes_ set--Tamsin, girl, we'll be goin', I reckon.

I'm thinkin' I've a-parted wi' enough o' my heart's blud for wan night."

He moved towards the door, but came back again to shake hands, with a word of self-reproach for his lack of courtesy. Then, with a tenderness almost motherly on his mahogany face--

"Be gentle wi' her," he said. "She's quick to larn--an' takes cold aisy, which, ef seen to early, a little nitre will a'most al'ays pervent. Come 'long, Tamsin."

CHAPTER XXV.

WHICH ENDS THE STORY OF TROY.

The wedding took place in less than two months after Mr. Fogo's dinner-party. A longer interval would have proved, I believe, fatal to both Peter and Paul, who wore themselves thin over small anxieties, from the trousseau to the cake.

Three days before the wedding, for instance, they rowed down to Kit's House and awoke Caleb at 4.30 a.m. by throwing gravel against his window.

"Oh, 'tes you," said Caleb, as he thrust open the lattice; "what's amiss now?"

"We have been considerin' which of us two es to gi'e Tamsin away."

"Toss up."

"We _have_ tossed up--scores o' times."

"Well?"

"The results," said Peter gravely, "es versified."

"What?"

"Otherwise, various. The results es various--inclinin' to Paul."

"Well, let Paul do it."

"Peter es oulder," objected Paul.

"By dree minnits--which don't fairly count," put in Peter.

"Peter," observed Caleb, "looks th' oulder--by full dree minnits."

"Paul went to school afore me," said Peter, "by two days--along o'

measles."

"Look 'ere," decided Caleb, "let Paul gi'e her away, an' you, bein'

the better spokesman, can propose th' health o' the bride an'

bridegroom."

This satisfied them, and so it was arranged at the wedding. I am not going to describe the ceremony--at which I had the privilege of holding my friend's hat--beyond saying that woman, as is usual on these occasions, was a success, and man a dismal failure. There was one exception. When little Susie Clemow, who at Mr. Fogo's express desire was one of the bridesmaids, identified the bridegroom with the strange gentleman who had frightened her in the lane, and burst into loud screams in the middle of the service, I could not sufficiently admire the readiness with which Peter Dearlove produced a packet of brandy-b.a.l.l.s from his tail-pocket to comfort her, or the prescience which led him to bring such confectionery to a wedding.

At the breakfast, too, which, owing to the dimensions of the Dearloves' cottage, was perforce select, Peter again shone.

In proposing the health of Mr. and Mrs. Fogo, he said--

"On an occasion like the present et becomes us not to repine.

These things es sent us for our good" (here he looked doubtfully at the cake), "an' wan man's meat es t'other's p'ison, which I hopes"

(severely) "you knawed wi'out my tellin' 'ee; an' I shudn' wonder ef Paul an' me was to draw lots wan o' these fine days as to which o' us shud take the pledge--I means, the plunge--an' go an' scarify hissel'

'pon the high menial altar."

Immense excitement at this point prevailed among certain elderly spinsters present.

"That was a joke," explained the speaker, with a sudden and stony solemnity, "an' I hopes 'twill be tuk in the sperrit in which 'twas meant. An' wi' that I gi'es Tamsin's health an' that o' P. Fogo, Esquire, to whom she has been this day made man an' wife; an' bless them an' their dear offspring!"

At this point he was sitting down when Paul leant across and whispered in his ear.

"You are right, Paul," said the orator--"or offsprings. Bless their dear offspring _or_ offsprings--as the case may be."

And with this he resumed his seat amid frantic applause.

The Twins alone escorted the bride and bridegroom to the railway-station; and with the accident that there befell, the chronicle of Mr. Fogo's adventures may for the present close.

While the brothers saw Tamsin to her carriage, and with their white waistcoats and gigantic favours planted awe in the breast of the travelling public, the bridegroom dived into the Booking Office to take the tickets for London; for Mr. and Mrs. Fogo were to spend some days in the Metropolis before crossing the Channel.