Aunt Ruth gave a very Aunt Ruth-like sniff.
"I still say it will be a miracle if this wedding actually happens," she said to Emily and Ilse, who were gathered in the parlor at New Moon, as Aunt Laura put pins in the hem of Emily's dress.
Ilse rolled her eyes at this and Aunt Laura gave only a small, gentle smile- -but there was something steely behind it that was not usually there. Aunt Ruth could try the most patient person's nerves. Emily, however, was too happy to notice any sarcasm or snubs. It was her wedding day! She felt love for everyone in the world--yes, even for Aunt Ruth.
"Oh, I love my dress," she said, running her hands lovingly over her skirts. "I've finally gotten my silk dress--silk petticoat--and silk stockings! When I was young I never thought the day would come when this type of extravagance was allowed! And now, here it is!"
"Your legs are terrible skinny," was Aunt Ruth's reply. "I wouldn't notice except that your dress shows so much of them."
"Oh, Ruth, for heaven's sake!" Aunt Laura exploded. "If you can't say something nice to Emily, don't say anything at all!"
Aunt Ruth fixed Aunt Laura with a steely glare.
"I would mind you to treat me with some respect," she said. "I am still your elder, Laura, remember that."
"As if anyone could doubt that," whispered Ilse, and the three of them-- Aunt Laura, Emily and Ilse--broke out into bright peals of laughter. Such bright peals of laughter, in fact, that Daff, Emily's gray cat, who was sleeping on the settee, was startled out of his nap and tore madly around the room and out the door, upsetting Great-Grandmother Shipley's old Wedgwood vase in the process. Aunt Laura gave a gasp--Ilse ran to try and catch it--and Aunt Ruth stood stock still, watching the whole scene happen.
"Oh!" shrieked Emily. "How funny Daff looked, tearing around like a beast! But oh, no, Ilse, Aunt Laura, the vase--can it be fixed?"
"I don't think so," said Aunt Laura, who had abandoned Emily's hem to pick up the broken pieces of the Shipley vase. "Oh, what will Elizabeth say when she notices?"
"Put it in that drawer over there and close it tight," said Ilse. "It will be days before she does notice, and by then you'll have thought up and explanation."
It really was the only thing they could do. Aunt Laura hid the broken fragments shamefacedly.
"Likely this was all caused by your opal, Laura," said Aunt Ruth. "They bring bad luck, you know."
Aunt Laura carressed the fiery ring on her slim hand and said hotly, "Nonsense, Ruth. I believe nothing of the sort." Aunt Laura really loved that ring. It had been a present from Ilse's father, Allan Burnley, when he went to London for a medical conference. "Anyway, Ruth, you'd better not be superstitious. People might get the wrong idea."
Aunt Ruth did not deign to answer this, but gave a very foreboding sniff.
* * *
It had been threatening to rain all day, and finally, around noon, the skies opened up.
"I was so hoping it would clear up," said Emily dismally. "Now we can't be married in Lofty John's bush. It was my dream to be married there--Teddy and I used to tryst there when we were young."
"Oh, darling," said Ilse sympathetically.
"It's all for the best," said Aunt Ruth. "There's something not--right-- about being married out-of-doors. And the New Moon parlour is nicer than any bush on God's earth."
Emily and Ilse exchanged smiles. Aunt Ruth was not--and never had been--a chaser of rainbows.
* * *
There was so much to do! The girls flew about the house--setting up chairs-- laying out plates--putting bouquets of spring flowers on the sideboards and mantlepieces. Ilse brought some spruce garlands from Lofty John's bush and wound then around the bannisters by way of consolation. They all worked like they were possessed, scrubbing and straightening.
"Oh! Emily!" cried Aunt Elizabeth, suddenly catching sight of the clock. "You must go and get dressed. It's three o'clock. The guests will be arriving in an hour."
Emily and Ilse flew upstairs. A moment later there was a dismayed cry from the little lookout. Aunts Elizabeth, Laura and Ruth arrived in the doorway of Emily's room to find her holding her wedding dress and veil in front of her. What was wrong with Emily's dress and veil? Why--they were ripped-- they hung in tatters and shreds as if--as if--they had been clawed--!
"Daff!" Emily wailed. "Oh, you wretched, wretched cat. What am I to do? My dress--my veil--are ruined!" She gathered the tattered silk to her chest and tried to stifle a sob.
"It is my fault," said Aunt Elizabeth weakly. "I came in to make sure you'd laid out your clothes properly--you used to leave them all wrinkled when you were a child--and I suppose I forgot to close the door behind me. Emily, dear, I'm sorry--sorrier than I've ever been."
"Aunt Elizabeth--I forgive you--but what will we do now?" asked Emily wildly. "I haven't got anything else--proper--for a bride to wear."
"This is all the fault of that opal, Laura," hissed Aunt Ruth.
Aunt Laura defiantly ignored her.
"Eureka!" cried Ilse from the depths of Emily's closet. She emerged with a lacy garment in her arms--a creamy, low-necked, gauzy dress. "I knew I'd seen this before, when we used to play dress up, together, Emily. It must have been your mother's old dress. Try it on, dearest--when we take the bustle off, it will look quite fashionable."
Emily did as Ilse bid her, and it must be admitted that the dress did look fashionable, and suited her quite nicely. They put a crown of little white roses on her shining hair.
"It suits you better than the silk," Aunt Laura pronounced.
But oh! Emily's dream of being a lovely, silken bride was gone--and gone forever!
* * *
The guests arrived--the parlour was filled with friendly faces. All the Murrays known to man were there. Some of Emily's Shrewsbury chums, were too, and Miss Royal, from New York. Perry had come in with a hideous reproduction of Michelangelo's David--it was his wedding present to Teddy and Emily.
Teddy--speaking of which--where was Teddy? It was ten to four--the minister was already in place--and he was no where to be found.
"He's jilted her," Aunt Ruth wailed from the upstairs hallway. "Oh, poor Em'ly. I knew this would happen."
"He has not jilted me," said Emily through gritted teeth.
"I knew it was to good to be true," said Aunt Elizabeth dolefully.
"He will be here, and the wedding will take place as planned," said Emily.
"This is all the fault of Laura's opal," moaned Aunt Ruth.
"Oh, bosh," said Aunt Elizabeth irreverently. "That's pure, un-Christian superstition, Ruth Dutton. Teddy Kent will be here."
But--where could he be? The telephone rang--they all looked at each other-- Emily and Ilse and the aunts flew into the kitchen and clustered around the receiver.
"Teddy?"
"It's me," came the muffled response.
"Where are you?" Emily cried.
"I'm at home--in the Tansy Patch--I'll be there, Emily, honest I will, I just got held up."
"Held up!" said Ilse scornfully.
"Oh, will you send Perry Miller over?" Teddy asked desperately.
* * *
Perry returned with Teddy a quarter of and hour later. Teddy was wearing a splendid morning suit and looked very handsome. Perry--looked very strange. Not at all like he had looked when he set off from New Moon.
He was wearing his dress shirt and suit jacket. But instead of suit pants, his bottom half was clothed in a pair of Teddy's striped pajama bottoms.
"I went to pick up my suit from the shop last night," Teddy told Emily later. "And I didn't check to see if everything was there, I just took the box and left with it. And when I this morning when I went to dress I realized that they'd forgotten to give me my pants--I had the jacket and the tie--but no pants. I've been calling around all morning trying to find a pair. You know I don't keep much at the Tansy Patch anymore--most of my clothes are still being shipped from Montreal. The pajama pants and my old, paint-spattered dungarees were all I had! Am I lucky Perry happens to be the same size as me!"
But when poor Emily came down the stairs on the arm of Cousin Jimmy, she knew nothing about this whole transaction. She saw Perry Miller standing ridiculously by Teddy in striped pajama bottoms and assumed it was one of Perry's jokes. The Murray temper flared up dangerously. She gritted her teeth.
* * *
"Dearly beloved," said Reverend Jones, the new minister, in the parlour of New Moon, "We are gathered here today in the sight of God to join this man and woman in holy matrimony."
Emily smiled up at Teddy from where they stood. Aunts Elizabeth and Laura looked teary-eyed. Cousin Jimmy beamed, and Ilse, the bridesmaid, exchanged secret glances with Perry, the best man. A murmur had gone up when Emily entered the room. Why--she looked downright pretty! Why had no one noticed it before? Her hair shone like obsidian and she was as lithe and graceful as a wild, shadowy violet. Cousin Andrew--who had once thought Emily would be lucky to have him--now thought quite the reverse. Even Aunt Ruth admitted it.
"If there is anyone who, before God and us all, voices an objection to this match, let him speak now or forever hold his peace."
Ilse gave a titter, and Aunt Laura's devilish opal winked in the sunlight.
And then--BOOM! There was an explosion and the whole room rocked from it. The chandelier swayed ominously and the guests shrieked and covered their heads. The room was filling with thick, black smoke from the kitchen--Aunt Addie fainted--Miss Royal ran to the window and threw it up--her dog, Chu- Chin, who was tied to the gate outside was barking like mad.
Emily gathered her lacy skirts and followed the throng of people out of doors--Cousin Jimmy was ushering them out. The guests coughed from the smoke and winked at each other in confusion. Aunt Elizabeth, who had run into the kitchen while the rest of them were fleeing the house, came outside finally, with her hair escaping in wisps from its net and her face blackened with soot.
"Ruth Dutton, you left a bottle of cooking oil next to the gas burner when you were making the sauce for the pudding," she said in a dangerous, low voice. "It exploded--a tea towel caught fire--but it is out now, don't worry. But the house is filled with smoke--we can't go back in there."
Emily gasped. Teddy shook his head. Ilse began to laugh. She said later that she couldn't help it. The guests went through reactions over the entire spectrum of disbelief, shock and dismay.
"Laura," said Aunt Elizabeth, advancing purposefully toward her. "Give--me-- that--opal."
"Elizabeth!" Aunt Laura chided. "I don't believe you!"
"It's bad luck," Aunt Elizabeth said, grabbing Laura's hand and fighting for the ring. "First the dress--then the rain--then Teddy--and now this! Well, Laura Murray, I may not be superstitious, but I say it's better to be safe than sorry. There now!"
The crowd watched in disbelief as Elizabeth Murray turned and, with all her might, pitched the opal ring Dr. Burnley had picked out in London for Laura toward the pig pen.
An amazing thing happened then. The rain, which had been coming dismally down all through this, stopped abruptly, as if someone had turned it off with a switch. The skies cleared--the sun came out--and Emily Starr and Teddy Kent were married in their original location, in Lofty John's bush, with a picnic following the ceremony, in the old orchard. But--
"This was all your opal's fault, Laura," said Aunt Elizabeth later, as they scoured the blackened kitchen.
"My opal! It was Ruth Dutton's forgetfulness," Laura defended. "I am not superstitious--I know better!"
All the same, she did not wear the opal again--at least, not around Elizabeth.
"I still say it will be a miracle if this wedding actually happens," she said to Emily and Ilse, who were gathered in the parlor at New Moon, as Aunt Laura put pins in the hem of Emily's dress.
Ilse rolled her eyes at this and Aunt Laura gave only a small, gentle smile- -but there was something steely behind it that was not usually there. Aunt Ruth could try the most patient person's nerves. Emily, however, was too happy to notice any sarcasm or snubs. It was her wedding day! She felt love for everyone in the world--yes, even for Aunt Ruth.
"Oh, I love my dress," she said, running her hands lovingly over her skirts. "I've finally gotten my silk dress--silk petticoat--and silk stockings! When I was young I never thought the day would come when this type of extravagance was allowed! And now, here it is!"
"Your legs are terrible skinny," was Aunt Ruth's reply. "I wouldn't notice except that your dress shows so much of them."
"Oh, Ruth, for heaven's sake!" Aunt Laura exploded. "If you can't say something nice to Emily, don't say anything at all!"
Aunt Ruth fixed Aunt Laura with a steely glare.
"I would mind you to treat me with some respect," she said. "I am still your elder, Laura, remember that."
"As if anyone could doubt that," whispered Ilse, and the three of them-- Aunt Laura, Emily and Ilse--broke out into bright peals of laughter. Such bright peals of laughter, in fact, that Daff, Emily's gray cat, who was sleeping on the settee, was startled out of his nap and tore madly around the room and out the door, upsetting Great-Grandmother Shipley's old Wedgwood vase in the process. Aunt Laura gave a gasp--Ilse ran to try and catch it--and Aunt Ruth stood stock still, watching the whole scene happen.
"Oh!" shrieked Emily. "How funny Daff looked, tearing around like a beast! But oh, no, Ilse, Aunt Laura, the vase--can it be fixed?"
"I don't think so," said Aunt Laura, who had abandoned Emily's hem to pick up the broken pieces of the Shipley vase. "Oh, what will Elizabeth say when she notices?"
"Put it in that drawer over there and close it tight," said Ilse. "It will be days before she does notice, and by then you'll have thought up and explanation."
It really was the only thing they could do. Aunt Laura hid the broken fragments shamefacedly.
"Likely this was all caused by your opal, Laura," said Aunt Ruth. "They bring bad luck, you know."
Aunt Laura carressed the fiery ring on her slim hand and said hotly, "Nonsense, Ruth. I believe nothing of the sort." Aunt Laura really loved that ring. It had been a present from Ilse's father, Allan Burnley, when he went to London for a medical conference. "Anyway, Ruth, you'd better not be superstitious. People might get the wrong idea."
Aunt Ruth did not deign to answer this, but gave a very foreboding sniff.
* * *
It had been threatening to rain all day, and finally, around noon, the skies opened up.
"I was so hoping it would clear up," said Emily dismally. "Now we can't be married in Lofty John's bush. It was my dream to be married there--Teddy and I used to tryst there when we were young."
"Oh, darling," said Ilse sympathetically.
"It's all for the best," said Aunt Ruth. "There's something not--right-- about being married out-of-doors. And the New Moon parlour is nicer than any bush on God's earth."
Emily and Ilse exchanged smiles. Aunt Ruth was not--and never had been--a chaser of rainbows.
* * *
There was so much to do! The girls flew about the house--setting up chairs-- laying out plates--putting bouquets of spring flowers on the sideboards and mantlepieces. Ilse brought some spruce garlands from Lofty John's bush and wound then around the bannisters by way of consolation. They all worked like they were possessed, scrubbing and straightening.
"Oh! Emily!" cried Aunt Elizabeth, suddenly catching sight of the clock. "You must go and get dressed. It's three o'clock. The guests will be arriving in an hour."
Emily and Ilse flew upstairs. A moment later there was a dismayed cry from the little lookout. Aunts Elizabeth, Laura and Ruth arrived in the doorway of Emily's room to find her holding her wedding dress and veil in front of her. What was wrong with Emily's dress and veil? Why--they were ripped-- they hung in tatters and shreds as if--as if--they had been clawed--!
"Daff!" Emily wailed. "Oh, you wretched, wretched cat. What am I to do? My dress--my veil--are ruined!" She gathered the tattered silk to her chest and tried to stifle a sob.
"It is my fault," said Aunt Elizabeth weakly. "I came in to make sure you'd laid out your clothes properly--you used to leave them all wrinkled when you were a child--and I suppose I forgot to close the door behind me. Emily, dear, I'm sorry--sorrier than I've ever been."
"Aunt Elizabeth--I forgive you--but what will we do now?" asked Emily wildly. "I haven't got anything else--proper--for a bride to wear."
"This is all the fault of that opal, Laura," hissed Aunt Ruth.
Aunt Laura defiantly ignored her.
"Eureka!" cried Ilse from the depths of Emily's closet. She emerged with a lacy garment in her arms--a creamy, low-necked, gauzy dress. "I knew I'd seen this before, when we used to play dress up, together, Emily. It must have been your mother's old dress. Try it on, dearest--when we take the bustle off, it will look quite fashionable."
Emily did as Ilse bid her, and it must be admitted that the dress did look fashionable, and suited her quite nicely. They put a crown of little white roses on her shining hair.
"It suits you better than the silk," Aunt Laura pronounced.
But oh! Emily's dream of being a lovely, silken bride was gone--and gone forever!
* * *
The guests arrived--the parlour was filled with friendly faces. All the Murrays known to man were there. Some of Emily's Shrewsbury chums, were too, and Miss Royal, from New York. Perry had come in with a hideous reproduction of Michelangelo's David--it was his wedding present to Teddy and Emily.
Teddy--speaking of which--where was Teddy? It was ten to four--the minister was already in place--and he was no where to be found.
"He's jilted her," Aunt Ruth wailed from the upstairs hallway. "Oh, poor Em'ly. I knew this would happen."
"He has not jilted me," said Emily through gritted teeth.
"I knew it was to good to be true," said Aunt Elizabeth dolefully.
"He will be here, and the wedding will take place as planned," said Emily.
"This is all the fault of Laura's opal," moaned Aunt Ruth.
"Oh, bosh," said Aunt Elizabeth irreverently. "That's pure, un-Christian superstition, Ruth Dutton. Teddy Kent will be here."
But--where could he be? The telephone rang--they all looked at each other-- Emily and Ilse and the aunts flew into the kitchen and clustered around the receiver.
"Teddy?"
"It's me," came the muffled response.
"Where are you?" Emily cried.
"I'm at home--in the Tansy Patch--I'll be there, Emily, honest I will, I just got held up."
"Held up!" said Ilse scornfully.
"Oh, will you send Perry Miller over?" Teddy asked desperately.
* * *
Perry returned with Teddy a quarter of and hour later. Teddy was wearing a splendid morning suit and looked very handsome. Perry--looked very strange. Not at all like he had looked when he set off from New Moon.
He was wearing his dress shirt and suit jacket. But instead of suit pants, his bottom half was clothed in a pair of Teddy's striped pajama bottoms.
"I went to pick up my suit from the shop last night," Teddy told Emily later. "And I didn't check to see if everything was there, I just took the box and left with it. And when I this morning when I went to dress I realized that they'd forgotten to give me my pants--I had the jacket and the tie--but no pants. I've been calling around all morning trying to find a pair. You know I don't keep much at the Tansy Patch anymore--most of my clothes are still being shipped from Montreal. The pajama pants and my old, paint-spattered dungarees were all I had! Am I lucky Perry happens to be the same size as me!"
But when poor Emily came down the stairs on the arm of Cousin Jimmy, she knew nothing about this whole transaction. She saw Perry Miller standing ridiculously by Teddy in striped pajama bottoms and assumed it was one of Perry's jokes. The Murray temper flared up dangerously. She gritted her teeth.
* * *
"Dearly beloved," said Reverend Jones, the new minister, in the parlour of New Moon, "We are gathered here today in the sight of God to join this man and woman in holy matrimony."
Emily smiled up at Teddy from where they stood. Aunts Elizabeth and Laura looked teary-eyed. Cousin Jimmy beamed, and Ilse, the bridesmaid, exchanged secret glances with Perry, the best man. A murmur had gone up when Emily entered the room. Why--she looked downright pretty! Why had no one noticed it before? Her hair shone like obsidian and she was as lithe and graceful as a wild, shadowy violet. Cousin Andrew--who had once thought Emily would be lucky to have him--now thought quite the reverse. Even Aunt Ruth admitted it.
"If there is anyone who, before God and us all, voices an objection to this match, let him speak now or forever hold his peace."
Ilse gave a titter, and Aunt Laura's devilish opal winked in the sunlight.
And then--BOOM! There was an explosion and the whole room rocked from it. The chandelier swayed ominously and the guests shrieked and covered their heads. The room was filling with thick, black smoke from the kitchen--Aunt Addie fainted--Miss Royal ran to the window and threw it up--her dog, Chu- Chin, who was tied to the gate outside was barking like mad.
Emily gathered her lacy skirts and followed the throng of people out of doors--Cousin Jimmy was ushering them out. The guests coughed from the smoke and winked at each other in confusion. Aunt Elizabeth, who had run into the kitchen while the rest of them were fleeing the house, came outside finally, with her hair escaping in wisps from its net and her face blackened with soot.
"Ruth Dutton, you left a bottle of cooking oil next to the gas burner when you were making the sauce for the pudding," she said in a dangerous, low voice. "It exploded--a tea towel caught fire--but it is out now, don't worry. But the house is filled with smoke--we can't go back in there."
Emily gasped. Teddy shook his head. Ilse began to laugh. She said later that she couldn't help it. The guests went through reactions over the entire spectrum of disbelief, shock and dismay.
"Laura," said Aunt Elizabeth, advancing purposefully toward her. "Give--me-- that--opal."
"Elizabeth!" Aunt Laura chided. "I don't believe you!"
"It's bad luck," Aunt Elizabeth said, grabbing Laura's hand and fighting for the ring. "First the dress--then the rain--then Teddy--and now this! Well, Laura Murray, I may not be superstitious, but I say it's better to be safe than sorry. There now!"
The crowd watched in disbelief as Elizabeth Murray turned and, with all her might, pitched the opal ring Dr. Burnley had picked out in London for Laura toward the pig pen.
An amazing thing happened then. The rain, which had been coming dismally down all through this, stopped abruptly, as if someone had turned it off with a switch. The skies cleared--the sun came out--and Emily Starr and Teddy Kent were married in their original location, in Lofty John's bush, with a picnic following the ceremony, in the old orchard. But--
"This was all your opal's fault, Laura," said Aunt Elizabeth later, as they scoured the blackened kitchen.
"My opal! It was Ruth Dutton's forgetfulness," Laura defended. "I am not superstitious--I know better!"
All the same, she did not wear the opal again--at least, not around Elizabeth.