Of course she said, Yes.
As my time drew nearer, and there got to be talk of my having a new coat for the ceremony, my mind began to misgive me.

I have compared notes with other men as to what they felt while they were in my interesting situation; and they have all acknowledged that, about a week before it happened, they privately wished themselves out of it.

I went a trifle further than that myself; I actually rose up, as it were, and tried to get out of it.

Not for nothing! I was too just a man to expect she would let me off for nothing.

Compensation to the woman when the man gets out of it, is one of the laws of England.