noon
`` I hope , '' said Sally , `` you 'll give the bride away ; it would be just fine of you , Mr. Comly . '' `` I was hoping you 'd ask me , '' he flung back . `` I want to be as prominent in the wedding party as possible . '' The last time he had figured in a wedding he had been best man for a college friend who had been married at high noon in Grace Church , before an audience notably distinguished in New York society . Sally 's nuptials were blest in a little parsonage , with the minister 's wife and daughter and Archie as the sole witnesses . The minister had only lately come to town and therefore confined his inquiries to the strict requirements of ecclesiastical and Vermont law . When he lifted his head to ask who giveth this woman Archie bestowed Sally upon Abijah with just the touch of grace and dignity he had long noted as the accepted manner of giving a woman in marriage in the most exacting circles .