And I wanted to laugh twice before that and DID N'T . It was the Story Girl 's stories made me want to laugh , so I do n't think it 's fair for her to be mad at me . She had n't ought to tell me stories about people if she do n't want me to laugh when I see them . When I looked at Samuel Ward I thought of him getting up in meeting one night , and praying that he might be guided in his upsetting and downrising . I remembered the way she took him off , and I wanted to laugh . And then I looked at the pulpit and thought of the story she told about the old Scotch minister who was too fat to get in at the door of it , and had to h ` ist himself by his two hands over it , and then whispered to the other minister so that everybody heard him . '' ' This pulpit door was made for speerits ' -- and I wanted to laugh . And then Mr. Frewen come -- and I thought of her story about his sidewhiskers -- how when his first wife died of information of the lungs he went courting Celia Ward , and Celia told him she would n't marry him unless he shaved them whiskers off . And he would n't , just to be stubborn . And one day one of them caught fire , when he was burning brush , and burned off , and every one thought he 'd HAVE to shave the other off then . But he did n't and just went round with one whisker till the burned one grew out . And then Celia gave in and took him , because she saw there was n't no hope of HIM ever giving in . I just remembered that story , and I thought I could see him , taking up the cents so solemn , with one long whisker ; and the laugh just laughed itself before I could help it . '' We all exploded with laughter on the spot , much to the horror of Mrs. Abraham Ward , who was just driving past , and who came up the next day and told Aunt Janet we had `` acted scandalous '' on the road home from church . We felt ashamed ourselves , because we knew people should conduct themselves decently and in order on Sunday farings-forth . But , as with Peter , it `` had laughed itself . '' Even Felicity laughed . Felicity was not nearly so angry with Peter as might have been expected . She even walked beside him and let him carry her Bible . They talked quite confidentially .
Perhaps she forgave him the more easily , because he had justified her XXXXX her predictions , and thus afforded her a decided triumph over the Story Girl .
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