I then announced my intention of returning to Brattleboro to settle
up my business in that place, and she declared she would go with me;
I was sure to be lonesome; she might help me about my bills, and so
on. Strange as it may seem, her parents made no objection to her
going, though I was to be absent a fortnight, and was not to be
married till I came back. So we went together, and I and my "cousin"
put up at the hotel we had lately left. For two weeks I was busy in
making my final visits to my patients acquaintances, she generally
going with me every day.
At the end of that time we went back to Keene, and in three weeks we
were married in her father's house, the old folks making a great
wedding for us, which was attended by all the neighbors and friends
of the family. We stayed at home two weeks, and meanwhile arranged
our plans for the future. We proposed to go out to Ohio, where she
had some relatives, and settle down. She had seven hundred dollars
in bank in Keene which she drew, and we started on our journey. We
went to Troy, where we stayed a few days, and during that time we
both concluded that we would not go West, but return to Keene and
live in the town instead of on the farm, so that I could open an
office and practice there.
So we went back to her home again, but before I completed my plans
for settling down in Keene, Mary and I had several quarrels which
were worse than mere ordinary matrimonial squabbles. Two or three
young men in Keene, with whom I had become acquainted, twitted me
with marrying Mary, and told me enough about her to convince me that
her former life had not been altogether what it should have been.
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