They just plodded along side by side, now and again exchanging a laconic word or two.

Tapster's half-formed hope had been that he would walk with Bubbles this afternoon; but, when it came to the point, he had made no real effort to secure her company.
The unfortunate man was feeling very nervous and uneasy--afraid lest he had been too precipitate in his wooing, for Bubbles frightened as well as fascinated him.

Even he half realized that, as her husband, he would be tolerated rather than welcomed in a world of which he was anxious to form part, though in his heart he at once despised and feared its denizens.
At times he was even tempted to wish that she had said "No" at once--and that although he knew that he would have been very surprised and disappointed had she done so.

On the whole he thought that after a period of maidenly hesitation she would say "Yes"; and, having inherited from an acquisitive father a positive, concrete kind of mind, as he trudged along he began ruminating over the question of Bubbles' marriage settlements.

On one thing he was determined.