Plans

Hepsey had been gone an hour before Mrs. Ball realised that she had sent
away one of the witnesses of her approaching wedding. "It don't matter,"
she said to Ruth, "I guess there's others to be had. I've got the dress
and the man and one of 'em and I have faith that the other things will
come."

Nevertheless, the problem assumed undue proportions. After long study,
she decided upon the minister's wife. "If 'twa'nt that the numskulls
round here couldn't understand two weddin's," she said, "I'd have it in
the church, as me and James first planned."

Preparations for the ceremony went forward with Aunt Jane's customary
decision and briskness. She made a wedding cake, assisted by Mr. Ball,
and gathered all the flowers in the garden. There was something pathetic
about her pleasure; it was as though a wedding had been laid away in
lavender, not to see the light for more than thirty years.

Ruth was to assist in dressing the bride and then go after the minister
and his wife, who, by Aunt Jane's decree, were to have no previous
warning. "'T ain't necessary to tell 'em beforehand, not as I see," said
Mrs. Ball. "You must ask fust if they're both to home, and if only one
of 'em is there, you'll have to find somebody else. If the minister's to
home and his wife ain't gaddin', he'll get them four dollars in James's
belt, leavin' an even two hundred, or do you think two dollars would be
enough for a plain marriage?"