'All went merry as a
marriage bell', at any rate as far as Patience was concerned. Not a word
had yet fallen from that dear mouth, not a look had yet come over that
handsome face, which tended in any way to mar her bliss. Her first day
of acknowledged love was a day altogether happy, and when she prayed for
him as she knelt beside her bed there was no feeling in her mind that
any fear need disturb her joy.
I will pass over the next three or four days very quickly, merely saying
that Patience did not find them so pleasant as that first day after her
engagement. There was something in her lover's manner--something which
at first she could not define--which by degrees seemed to grate against
her feelings. He was sufficiently affectionate, that being a matter on
which she did not require much demonstration; but joined to his
affection there seemed to be--; she hardly liked to suggest to herself a
harsh word, but could it be possible that he was beginning to think that
she was not good enough for him? And then she asked herself the
question--was she good enough for him? If there were doubt about that,
the match should be broken off, though she tore her own heart out in the
struggle.
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