'
'Yes, I'll tell John all about that by and by!' interposed Selina; at
which, perceiving that the secret which he did not like keeping was to be
kept even yet, her father held his tongue with some show of testiness.
The subject of a dance having been broached, to put the thought in
practice was the feeling of all. Soon after the tables and chairs were
borne from the opposite room to this by zealous hands, and two of the
villagers sent home for a fiddle and tambourine, when the majority began
to tread a measure well known in that secluded vale. Selina naturally
danced with the sergeant-major, not altogether to her father's
satisfaction, and to the real uneasiness of her mother, both of whom
would have preferred a postponement of festivities till the rashly
anticipated relationship between their daughter and Clark in the past had
been made fact by the church's ordinances. They did not, however,
express a positive objection, Mr. Paddock remembering, with
self-reproach, that it was owing to his original strongly expressed
disapproval of Selina's being a soldier's wife that the wedding had been
delayed, and finally hindered--with worse consequences than were
expected; and ever since the misadventure brought about by his government
he had allowed events to steer their own courses.
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