Strange old hills! Standing there unchanged, unshaken, from time immemorial, they made the troth that had been plighted under their shield seem pitifully frail.

And yet....

The vows which Polly and he had found so new, so wonderful; were not these, in truth, as ancient as the hills themselves, and as undying?
Countless generations of human lovers had uttered them.

The lovers passed, but the pledges remained: had put on immortality.
In the course of their talk it leaked out that Polly would not feel comfortable till her choice was ratified by brother John.
"I'm sure you will like John; he is so clever." "I shall like everyone belonging to you, my Polly!" As she lost her shyness Mahony made the discovery that she laughed easily, and was fond of a jest.

Thus, when he admitted to her that he found it difficult to distinguish one fair, plump, sister Beamish from the other; that they seemed to him as much alike as two firm, pink-ribbed mushrooms, the little woman was hugely tickled by his his masculine want of perception.