`` It 's true , ` pon my word , '' protested Julius . `` Adelia was up last night and told Ma all about it . Ma 's her cousin , you know . The wedding is to be in June , and Adelia asked Ma to help her get her quilts and things ready . '' Julius reeled all this off so glibly that Dan finally believed the story , despite the fact that the people thus coupled together in prospective matrimony were the very last people in Valley View who could have been expected to marry each other . Young Thomas was a confirmed bachelor of fifty , and Adelia Williams was forty ; they were not supposed to be even well acquainted , as the Everetts and the Williamses had never been very friendly , although no open feud existed between them . Nevertheless , in view of Julius 's circumstantial statements , the amazing news must be true , and Dan was instantly agog to carry it further . Julius watched Dan and the grey mare out of sight , fairly writhing with ecstasy . Oh , but Dan had been easy ! The story would be all over Valley View in twenty-four hours . Julius laughed until he came near to falling off the gatepost . At this point Julius and Danny drop out of our story , and Young Thomas enters . It was two days later when Young Thomas heard that he was to be married to Adelia Williams in June . Eben Clark , the blacksmith , told him when he went to the forge to get his horse shod . Young Thomas laughed his big jolly laugh . Valley View gossip had been marrying him off for the last thirty years , although never before to Adelia Williams . `` It 's news to me , '' he said tolerantly . Eben grinned broadly . `` Ah , you ca n't bluff it off like that , Tom , '' he said . `` The news came too straight this time .
Well , I was glad to hear it , XXXXX I was mighty surprised .
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