It was over very soon and the two walked down the aisle.  Old Sammy rushed out and waved his arms frantically towards the cove, whereupon the little brass gun boomed and the flag saluted, as if the Snowbird also thrilled with the general rejoicing.

Dr. Grant and his wife stepped out into the road, which passes by the door of the little church.  The wedding reception was held there, for the Cove has no walls capable of holding all their friends.  Mrs. Barnett, who had come out upon my arm, was the first to kiss the bride, but other women were thus favored, even poor decrepit old things in whose houses she had carried the sunshine of her presence.

Susie Sweetapple, worthy descendant of the earliest settler, stood modestly to one side, with a very red nose, for she had been weeping copiously.

“Are you not going to kiss me also, Susie?” asked her mistress.

The little servant came forth, with shining red eyes showing utmost delight, and was kissed affectionately.  When she retired, to make room for others, I heard her speaking to her old mother.

“Belike I’ll not be washin’ me face fer a month now.  I’ll not be wantin’ ter scrub that kiss away.”

Then I noticed that the bride was searching the crowd, and appeared to be disappointed because some one was missing!  Finally she discovered that Frenchman Yves, who watched so endlessly and devotedly for days and days, and beckoned to him.

He came forward, timidly, and the glorious young woman stretched out her hands to him.  His own trembled as he took them.

“La Sainte Vierge vous benisse” he said.

She thanked him, sweetly, as she does all things, and lifted his little boy up in her arms, and kissed him, tenderly.

“Je vous aime” declared the little chap.

“What’s th’ laddie sayin’?” a man asked me.

“He says he loves her,” I answered.

“We all does that,” he cried.  “We all loves every hair o’ th’ heads o’ they.”

Finally the crowd moved down towards the cove.  The flakes that had been deserted, that morning, became tenanted again by an eager crowd, and on the sharply slanted roofs of the little fish-houses some boys secured precarious perches.

The yacht had been warped to the little dock, and there was a gangplank over which our three dear friends went on board.  There was a good deal more of fervent handshaking, and the plank was withdrawn.  The siren shrieked its farewell as the ship began to move, and the little gun saluted the Cove.

She moved out, slowly increasing her speed, and her great white wings began to unfold since, once outside, the breeze alone would carry them.  On the rocks at the entrance stood men with heavy sealing guns, whose crashing detonations thundered a farewell.  The bits of bunting ran up and down the masts of the little schooners at anchor, and everywhere gaily colored handkerchiefs were fluttering.