`` When is the wedding to be ? '' I asked . `` Oh ! '' Aunt Olivia blushed distressfully . `` I do not know the exact date . Nothing can be definitely settled until Mr. Malcolm MacPherson comes . But it will not be before September , at the earliest . There will be so much to do . You will tell your father , wo n't you ? '' We promised that we would , and Aunt Olivia arose with an air of relief . Peggy and I hurried over home , stopping , when we were safely out of earshot , to laugh . The romances of the middle-aged may be to them as tender and sweet as those of youth , but they are apt to possess a good deal of humour for onlookers . Only youth can be sentimental without being mirth-provoking . We loved Aunt Olivia and were glad for her late , new-blossoming happiness ; but we felt amused over it also . The recollection of her `` Mr. Malcolm MacPherson '' was too much for us every time we thought of it . Father pooh-poohed incredulously at first , and , when we had convinced him , guffawed with laughter . Aunt Olivia need not have dreaded any more opposition from her cruel family . `` MacPherson was a good fellow enough , but horribly poor , '' said father . `` I hear he has done very well out west , and if he and Olivia have a notion of each other they are welcome to marry as far as I am concerned . Tell Olivia she must n't take a spasm if he tracks some mud into her house once in a while . ''
Thus it was all arranged , and , XXXXX we realized it at all , Aunt Olivia was mid-deep in marriage preparations , in all of which Peggy and I were quite indispensable .
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