I Forbid the Banns! — page 158: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Tas Ae ‘7 FORBID THE BANNS!” and no mistake. Lord, how it brings back the old time!” What was Mr. Charlton to say in reply to this exuber- ance—the exuberance of a schoolboy with overflowing spirits ? He said nothing; he only looked at Bertha. She was the same as ever, although surrounded by the horrible types of furniture that were produced during the early years of the queen's reign. The Windsor chair, the couch with a hump, the vulgar mahogany sideboard with much of the veneer peeled away—these were the most prominent objects in the room. ‘The pictures were German prints of the Empress Eugénie, the queen and the prince consort, and her Majesty handing a Bible to the amazed nondescript barbaric chief, assuring him that it was the secret of England’s greatness. In-spite of all she was exquisite. But what could he say to her with that big brute standing at her elbow? “ You did not find that your home was in ashes ?”’ said she. ‘That is what the returned wanderer. in stories usually does, when he has set all his expectations on seeing his home once again.” “The only ashes were those of the logs in the fireplace,” said he. ‘‘ They had made a fire for me, feeling sure that I would appreciate it.” ‘And you sat once more by your own fiteside ?.” “ On the contrary, I strolled away through the grounds. I heard the blackbirds, the rooks, the cuckoos.” “And you felt that you had everything to make your home happy ¢”’ “Not quite, not quite.” She looked into his face and understood him. ‘TY wonder what I shall think of your blackbirds—what I shall think of your cuckoos,” said she. Gomichooks sco