Adam Bede

  Chapter LV

  Marriage Bells

  IN little more than a month after that meeting on the hill--on a rimymorning in departing November--Adam and Dinah were married.

  It was an event much thought of in the village. All Mr. Burge's men hada holiday, and all Mr. Poyser's, and most of those who had a holidayappeared in their best clothes at the wedding. I think there was hardlyan inhabitant of Hayslope specially mentioned in this history and stillresident in the parish on this November morning who was not either inchurch to see Adam and Dinah married, or near the church door to greetthem as they came forth. Mrs. Irwine and her daughters were waiting atthe churchyard gates in their carriage (for they had a carriage now) toshake hands with the bride and bridegroom and wish them well; and in theabsence of Miss Lydia Donnithorne at Bath, Mrs. Best, Mr. Mills, andMr. Craig had felt it incumbent on them to represent "the family" at theChase on the occasion. The churchyard walk was quite lined with familiarfaces, many of them faces that had first looked at Dinah when shepreached on the Green. And no wonder they showed this eager interest onher marriage morning, for nothing like Dinah and the history which hadbrought her and Adam Bede together had been known at Hayslope within thememory of man.

  Bessy Cranage, in her neatest cap and frock, was crying, though she didnot exactly know why; for, as her cousin Wiry Ben, who stood near her,judiciously suggested, Dinah was not going away, and if Bessy was in lowspirits, the best thing for her to do was to follow Dinah's example andmarry an honest fellow who was ready to have her. Next to Bessy, justwithin the church door, there were the Poyser children, peeping roundthe corner of the pews to get a sight of the mysterious ceremony;Totty's face wearing an unusual air of anxiety at the idea of seeingcousin Dinah come back looking rather old, for in Totty's experience nomarried people were young.

  I envy them all the sight they had when the marriage was fairly endedand Adam led Dinah out of church. She was not in black this morning,for her Aunt Poyser would by no means allow such a risk of incurring badluck, and had herself made a present of the wedding dress, made all ofgrey, though in the usual Quaker form, for on this point Dinah could notgive way. So the lily face looked out with sweet gravity from undera grey Quaker bonnet, neither smiling nor blushing, but with lipstrembling a little under the weight of solemn feelings. Adam, as hepressed her arm to his side, walked with his old erectness and his headthrown rather backward as if to face all the world better. But it wasnot because he was particularly proud this morning, as is the wont ofbridegrooms, for his happiness was of a kind that had little referenceto men's opinion of it. There was a tinge of sadness in his deep joy;Dinah knew it, and did not feel aggrieved.

  There were three other couples, following the bride and bridegroom:first, Martin Poyser, looking as cheery as a bright fire on this rimymorning, led quiet Mary Burge, the bridesmaid; then came Seth serenelyhappy, with Mrs. Poyser on his arm; and last of all Bartle Massey, withLisbeth--Lisbeth in a new gown and bonnet, too busy with her pride inher son and her delight in possessing the one daughter she had desiredto devise a single pretext for complaint.

  Bartle Massey had consented to attend the wedding at Adam's earnestrequest, under protest against marriage in general and the marriage of asensible man in particular. Nevertheless, Mr. Poyser had a joke againsthim after the wedding dinner, to the effect that in the vestry he hadgiven the bride one more kiss than was necessary.

  Behind this last couple came Mr. Irwine, glad at heart over this goodmorning's work of joining Adam and Dinah. For he had seen Adam in theworst moments of his sorrow; and what better harvest from that painfulseed-time could there be than this? The love that had brought hope andcomfort in the hour of despair, the love that had found its way to thedark prison cell and to poor Hetty's darker soul--this strong gentlelove was to be Adam's companion and helper till death.

  There was much shaking of hands mingled with "God bless you's" and othergood wishes to the four couples, at the churchyard gate, Mr. Poyseranswering for the rest with unwonted vivacity of tongue, for he hadall the appropriate wedding-day jokes at his command. And the women, heobserved, could never do anything but put finger in eye at a wedding.Even Mrs. Poyser could not trust herself to speak as the neighboursshook hands with her, and Lisbeth began to cry in the face of the veryfirst person who told her she was getting young again.

  Mr. Joshua Rann, having a slight touch of rheumatism, did not joinin the ringing of the bells this morning, and, looking on with somecontempt at these informal greetings which required no officialco-operation from the clerk, began to hum in his musical bass, "Oh whata joyful thing it is," by way of preluding a little to the effect heintended to produce in the wedding psalm next Sunday.

  "That's a bit of good news to cheer Arthur," said Mr. Irwine to hismother, as they drove off. "I shall write to him the first thing when weget home."