It was
the hand of Providence that guided me to you this morning. I can but
believe the same hand will guide me to the end."
On this they parted. Valentine told his cabman to drive to the Edgware
Road; and in one of the churches of the immediate neighbourhood of that
thoroughfare he gave notice of his intention to enter the bonds of holy
matrimony. He had some difficulty in arranging matters with the clerk,
whom he saw in his private abode and non-official guise. That functionary
was scarcely able to grasp the idea of an intending Benedick who would
not state positively when he wanted to be married. Happily, however, the
administration of half-a-sovereign considerably brightened the clerk's
perceptions.
"I see what you want," he said. "Young lady a invalid, which she wants to
leave her home as she finds uncomfortable, she being over twenty-one
years of age and her own mistress. It's what you may call a runaway
match, although the parties ain't beholden to any one, in a manner of
speaking. _I_ understand. You give me half an hour's notice any morning
within the legal hours, and I'll have one of our young curates ready for
you as soon as you're ready for them; and have you and the young lady
tied up tight enough before you know where you are. We ain't very long
over _our_ marriages, unless it is something out of the common way."
The clerk's familiarity was more good-natured than flattering to the
applicant's self-esteem; but Valentine was in no mood to object to this
easy-going treatment of the affair.
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