He'll speak out when the time comes, depend upon it." "I believe he will speak out this very night," answered the mother.
"He told me he had a surprise in store for me, and begged that I would sit up till his return, and stand his friend with you, if you should be displeased at his choice.

One might have thought he was bringing his bride home with him, to hear him talk; but he would never get wedded without speaking first.

He is a good lad and a dutiful, and his parents have the right to be told." The farmer's curiosity was piqued by what he heard, and he resolved to share his wife's vigil.

Jack, their only son, was very dear to them, and they were proud of him in their own hearts, and thought such a son had never lived before.

Both were anxiously looking forward to the day when he should bring home a wife to brighten up the old home, since it had lost the sweet presence of the daughter Joan; and they neither of them believed that Jack's choice would fall upon anyone unworthy of him.
The farmer dozed in his chair by the glowing hearth.