"Ay, call me that; call me that always," exclaimed the locksmith"slittle daughter; "never speak coldly to me, never be distant, neveragain reprove me for the follies I have long repented, or I shalldie, Joe."
"I reprove you!" said Joe.
"Yes--for every kind and honest word you uttered, went to my heart.
For you, who have borne so much from me--for you, who owe yoursufferings and pain to my caprice--for you to be so kind--so nobleto me, Joe--"
He could say nothing to her. Not a syllable. There was an oddsort of eloquence in his one arm, which had crept round her waist:
but his lips were mute.
"If you had reminded me by a word--only by one short word," sobbedDolly, clinging yet closer to him, "how little I deserved that youshould treat me with so much forbearance; if you had exulted onlyfor one moment in your triumph, I could have borne it better."
"Triumph!" repeated Joe, with a smile which seemed to say, "I am apretty figure for that."
"Yes, triumph," she cried, with her whole heart and soul in herearnest voice, and gushing tears; "for it is one. I am glad tothink and know it is. I wouldn"t be less humbled, dear--I wouldn"tbe without the recollection of that last time we spoke together inthis place--no, not if I could recall the past, and make ourparting, yesterday."
Did ever lover look as Joe looked now!
"Dear Joe," said Dolly, "I always loved you--in my own heart Ialways did, although I was so vain and giddy. I hoped you wouldcome back that night. I made quite sure you would. I prayed forit on my knees. Through all these long, long years, I have neveronce forgotten you, or left off hoping that this happy time mightcome."
The eloquence of Joe"s arm surpassed the most impassioned language;and so did that of his lips--yet he said nothing, either.
"And now, at last," cried Dolly, trembling with the fervour of herspeech, "if you were sick, and shattered in your every limb; if youwere ailing, weak, and sorrowful; if, instead of being what youare, you were in everybody"s eyes but mine the wreck and ruin of aman; I would be your wife, dear love, with greater pride and joy,than if you were the stateliest lord in England!"
"What have I done," cried Joe, "what have I done to meet with thisreward?"
"You have taught me," said Dolly, raising her pretty face to his,"to know myself, and your worth; to be something better than Iwas; to be more deserving of your true and manly nature. In yearsto come, dear Joe, you shall find that you have done so; for I willbe, not only now, when we are young and full of hope, but when wehave grown old and weary, your patient, gentle, never-tiringwife. I will never know a wish or care beyond our home and you,and I will always study how to please you with my best affectionand my most devoted love. I will: indeed I will!"
Joe could only repeat his former eloquence--but it was very much tothe purpose.
"They know of this, at home," said Dolly. "For your sake, I wouldleave even them; but they know it, and are glad of it, and are asproud of you as I am, and as full of gratitude.--You"ll not comeand see me as a poor friend who knew me when I was a girl, willyou, dear Joe?"
Well, well! It don"t matter what Joe said in answer, but he said agreat deal; and Dolly said a great deal too: and he folded Dolly inhis one arm pretty tight, considering that it was but one; andDolly made no resistance: and if ever two people were happy in thisworld--which is not an utterly miserable one, with all its faults-we may, with some appearance of certainty, conclude that theywere.
To say that during these proceedings Mr Willet the elder underwentthe greatest emotions of astonishment of which our common nature issusceptible--to say that he was in a perfect paralysis of surprise,and that he wandered into the most stupendous and theretoforeunattainable heights of complicated amazement--would be to shadowforth his state of mind in the feeblest and lamest terms. If aroc, an eagle, a griffin, a flying elephant, a winged sea-horse,had suddenly appeared, and, taking him on its back, carried himbodily into the heart of the "Salwanners," it would have been tohim as an everyday occurrence, in comparison with what he nowbeheld. To be sitting quietly by, seeing and hearing these things;to be completely overlooked, unnoticed, and disregarded, while hisson and a young lady were talking to each other in the mostimpassioned manner, kissing each other, and making themselves inall respects perfectly at home; was a position so tremendous, soinexplicable, so utterly beyond the widest range of his capacity ofcomprehension, that he fell into a lethargy of wonder, and could nomore rouse himself than an enchanted sleeper in the first year ofhis fairy lease, a century long.
"Father," said Joe, presenting Dolly. "You know who this is?"
Mr Willet looked first at her, then at his son, then back again atDolly, and then made an ineffectual effort to extract a whiff fromhis pipe, which had gone out long ago.
"Say a word, father, if it"s only "how d"ye do,"" urged Joe.
"Certainly, Joseph," answered Mr Willet. "Oh yes! Why not?"
"To be sure," said Joe. "Why not?"
"Ah!" replied his father. "Why not?" and with this remark, whichhe uttered in a low voice as though he were discussing some gravequestion with himself, he used the little finger--if any of hisfingers can be said to have come under that denomination--of hisright hand as a tobacco-stopper, and was silent again.
And so he sat for half an hour at least, although Dolly, in themost endearing of manners, hoped, a dozen times, that he was notangry with her. So he sat for half an hour, quite motionless, andlooking all the while like nothing so much as a great Dutch Pin orSkittle. At the expiration of that period, he suddenly, andwithout the least notice, burst (to the great consternation of theyoung people) into a very loud and very short laugh; andrepeating, "Certainly, Joseph. Oh yes! Why not?" went out for awalk.