"It's a quarter to one," I said. "At 2.15 on the seventeenth of June we are due at St. Miriam's. If you think we shall have bought anything by then, let's go on. If, as seems to me, there is no hope at all, then let's have lunch to-day anyhow. After lunch we may be able to find some way out of the _impasse_." After lunch I had an idea. "This afternoon," I said, "we will begin to get some furniture together." "But what about the electric fittings? We must finish off those." "This is an experiment. I want to see if we can buy a chest of drawers. It may just be our day for it." "And we settle the fittings to-morrow. Yes?" "I don't know. We may not want them. It all depends on whether we can buy a chest of drawers this afternoon. If we can't, then I don't see how we can ever be married on the seventeenth of June. Somebody's got to be, because I've engaged the church. The question is whether it's going to be us. Let's go and buy a chest of drawers this afternoon, and see." The old gentleman in the little shop Celia knew of was delighted to see us. "Chestesses? Ah, you _'ave_ come to the right place." He led the way into the depths. "There now. There's a chest--real old, that is." He gave it a hearty smack. "You don't see a chest like that nowadays. They can't _make_ 'em. Three pound ten. You couldn't have got that to-morrer. I'd have sold it for four pound to-morrer." "I knew it was our day," I said. "Real old, that is. Spanish me'ogany, all oak lined. That's right, sir, pull the drawers out and see for yourself. Let the lady see. There's no imitation there, lady. A real old chest, that is. Come in 'ere in a week and you'd have to pay five pounds for it. Me'ogany's going up, you see, that's how." "Well?" I said to Celia. "It's perfectly sweet. Hadn't we better see some more?" We saw two more. Both of them Spanish me'ogany, oak lined, pull-the-drawers-out-and-see-for-yourself-lady. Half an hour passed rapidly. "Well?" I said. "I really don't know which I like best. Which do you?" "The first; it's nearer the door." "There's another shop just over the way. We'd better just look there too, and then we can come back to decide to-morrow." We went out. I glanced at my watch. It was 3.30, and we were being married at 2.15 on the seventeenth of June. "Wait a moment," I said, "I've forgotten my gloves." I may be a slow starter, but I am very firm when roused. I went into the shop, wrote a cheque for the three chests of drawers, and told the man where to send them. When I returned, Celia was at the shop opposite, pulling the drawers out of a real old mahogany chest which was standing on the pavement outside. "This is even better," she said. "It's perfectly adorable. I wonder if it's more expensive." "I'll just ask," I said. I went in and, without an unnecessary word, bought that chest too. Then I came back to Celia. It was 3.45, and on the seventeenth of June at 2.15---- Well, we had four chests of drawers towards it.