And then he clasped her to his honest heart in an ecstasy of love and went off into the most extravagant rhapsodies about his happiness.
"And I no friends to back my cause withal, But the plain devil and dissembling looks. I have him, but I will not keep him long."
"Did you tell the coachman where to drive?" inquired the bride, as the carriage rolled rapidly through one of the principal streets of the city.
"Yes, dearest," answered the infatuated bridegroom. "I told him to drive to the Asterick, where I am stopping, and where I have had elegant rooms prepared for your reception. Do you think I could have forgotten anything in which your comfort was concerned?"
"No, I am sure you could not; but--" She hesitated a moment, and then added: "I wanted to go somewhere else."
"My love--my love, you shall go where you please. After we have got to our rooms at the Asterick, and refreshed and rested ourselves, we will consult about where to go and spend a pleasant fortnight together," he answered, affectionately.
"Yes; but I don't want to go to the Asterick just yet."
"Where then? I will go anywhere you wish."
"You know I did not come to this city alone."
"No; I came with a party of lady friends. And I left them all abruptly this morning to meet you, without telling them where I was going or when I should be back. I have now been gone two hours. They will be uneasy about me by this time. I must go back there and relieve their anxiety, and also get my traveling-bag."
"Very well, my darling, we will drive there immediately."
"No, no; _you_ must not go there! I have not told them anything about my intended marriage, so I don't want them to know anything about it, lest they should be offended. There is a reading-room at the corner of the street near the hotel. Stop there, and I will get out and walk to the house and take leave of my friends, and then return to the reading-room and join you. In the meantime you can send the carriage away, and while waiting for me you can amuse yourself looking over the books."
"But I hate to lose you even for an hour."
"Ah, be reasonable, and remember that it will be but for an hour or less time. And when we meet again it will be to part no more forever--or until death himself shall part us."