"The interesting thing is," said he, "that the thing has happened. That while the inhabitants of this smug village kept one dull eye on the decalogue and another on their neighbors, Romance on its rosy pinions was hovering over it. Two people have gone the right old way of man and maid. They have defied the paralyzing conventions of the engagement. Oh! the unutterable, humiliating, deadening period! When each young person has to pass the inspection of the other's relations. When simpering friends maddeningly leave them alone in drawing-rooms and conservatories so that they can hold each other's hands. When they are on probation _coram publico_. Our friends have defied all this. They have defied the orange blossoms, the rice, the wedding presents, the unpleasant public affidavits, the whole indecent paraphernalia of an orthodox wedding--the bridal veil--a survival from the barbaric days when a woman was bought and paid for and a man didn't know what he had got until he had married her and taken her home--the senseless new clothes which brand them immodestly wherever they go. Two people have had the courage to avoid all this, to treat marriage as if it really concerned themselves and not Tom, Dick, and Harry. They've done it. Why, doesn't matter. All honor to them." He waved his stick in the air--they had met on the common--and the lame donkey, who had strayed companionably near them, took to his heels in fright. "Even the donkey," said Zora, "Mr. Dix's most intimate friend, doesn't agree with you." "The ass will agree with the sage only in the millennium," said Rattenden. But Zora was not satisfied with the professional philosopher's presentation of the affair. She sought Wiggleswick, whom she found before a blazing fire in the sitting-room, his feet on the mantelpiece, smoking a Havana cigar. On her approach he wriggled to attention, and extinguishing the cigar by means of saliva and a horny thumb and forefinger, put the stump into his pocket. "Good morning, Wiggleswick," said Zora cheerfully. "Good morning, ma'am," said Wiggleswick. "You seem to be having a good time." Wiggleswick gave her to understand that, thanks to his master's angelic disposition and his own worthiness, he always had a good time. "Now that he's married there will have to be a few changes in household arrangements," said Zora. "What changes?" "There will be a cook and parlor maid and regular hours, and a mistress to look after things." Wiggleswick put his cunning gray head on one side. "I'm sure they'll make me very comfortable, ma'am. If they do the work, I won't raise no manner of objection." Zora, regarding the egoist with mingled admiration and vexedness, could only say, "Oh!" "I never raised no objection to his marriage from the first," said Wiggleswick. "Did he consult you about it?"