this indifferent fashion was anguish.
âWhat does D. V. mean, Judy?â
âOh, oh, it means if the Good Man Above is willing.â
âAnd what if He isnât willing, Judy?â
âThin it wud niver happen, me jewel.â
Pat wondered if she prayed to God not to be willing if it would do any good.
âWhat would happen if you prayed forâ¦for a wicked thing, Judy?â
âOh, oh, you might get it,â said Judy so eerily that Pat was terrified and decided that it was wiser to take no risks.
Eventually she became resigned to it. She found herself quite important in school because her aunt was going to be married. And there was a pleasant air of excitement about Silver Bush, which deepened as the days went by. Little was talked of but the wedding preparations. The old barn cat had what Judy called a âclutchâ of kittens and nobody was excited over it except Pat. But it was nice to have a bit of a secret. Only she and the barn cat knew where the kittens were. She would not tell until they were too old to drown. Somehow, most of the spring kittens had vanished in some mysterious fashion which Pat never could fathom. Only Tuesday and Thursday were left and Tuesday was promised to Aunt Hazel. So the new kittens were warmly welcomed, but finding names for them had to be left until the wedding was over because Pat couldnât get anyone interested in it just now.
The Poetâs room was re-papered, much to her joyâ¦though she was sorry to see the old paper torn offâ¦and when mother brought home new, cobwebby lace curtains for the Big Parlor Pat began to think a wedding had its good points. But she was very rebellious when her room was re-papered, too. She loved the old paper, with its red and green parrots that had been there ever since she could remember. She had never been without a secret hope that they might come alive sometime.
âI donât see why my room has to be papered, even if Aunt Hazel is going to be married,â she sobbed.
âListen to rason now, darlint,â argued Judy. âSure and on the widding day the placeâll be full av quality. All yer grand relations from town and Novy Scotia will be here and the Madisons from New Brunswickâ¦millionaires, they do be saying. And some av thim will have to be putting their wraps in yer room. Ye wudnât want thim to be seeing old, faded wallpaper, wud ye now?â
Noâ¦oâ¦o, Pat wouldnât want that.
âAnd Iâve tould yer mother ye must be allowed to pick the new paper yerselfâ¦sure and there do be a pattern of bluebells at the store that youâd love. So cheer up and help me wid the silver polishing. Ivery piece in the house must be rubbed up for the grand ivint. Sure and we havenât had a widding at Silver Bush for twinty years. It do be too much like heaven that, wid nather marrying nor giving in marriage. The last was whin yer Aunt Christine got her man. Sure and I hope yer Aunt Hazel wonât have the mischance to her widding veil that poor liddle Chrissy had.â
âWhy, what happened to it, Judy?â
âOh, oh, what happened to it, sez she. It had a cap av rose point that yer great-great-grandmother brought from the Ould Country wid her. Oh, oh, âtwas the illigant thing! And they had it lying in state on the bed in the Poetâs room. But whin they wint in to get it, me jewel,â¦well, there was a liddle dog here at Silver Bush thin and the liddle spalpane had got into the room unbeknownst and he had chewed and slobbered the veil and the lace cap till ye cudnât tell where one left off and the other begun. Poor liddle Chrissie cried that pitifulâ¦small blame to her.â
âOh, Judy, what did they do?â
âDo, is it? Sure they cud do nothing and they did it. Poor Chrissy had to be married widout her veil, sobbing all troo the cirrimony. A great scandal it made Iâm telling ye. Itâs meself that will kape
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