She could understand . But Sara can not . Walter and I have decided to keep our engagement a secret for a month -- just our own beautiful secret unshared by anyone . Then before he goes back to college he is going to tell Sara and ask her consent . I do n't think Sara will refuse it exactly . She really likes Walter very well . But I know she will be horrid and I just dread it . She will say I am too young and that a boy like Walter has no business to get engaged until he is through college and that we have n't known each other long enough to know anything about each other and that we are only a pair of romantic children . And after she has said all this and given a disapproving consent she will begin to train me up in the way a good housekeeper should go , and talk to me about table linen and the best way to manage a range and how to tell if a chicken is really a chicken or only an old hen . Oh , I know Sara ! She will set the teeth of my spirit on edge a dozen times a day and rub all the bloom off my dear , only , little romance with her horrible practicalities . I know one must learn about those things of course and I do want to make Walter 's home the best and dearest and most comfortable spot on earth for him and be the very best little wife and housekeeper I can be when the time comes . But I want to dream my dreams first and Sara will wake me up so early to realities . This is why we determined to keep one month sacred to ourselves . Walter will graduate next spring -- he is to be a doctor -- and then he intends to settle down in Atwater and work up a practice . I am sure he will succeed for everyone likes him so much . But we are to be married as soon as he is through college because he has a little money of his own -- enough to set up housekeeping in a modest way with care and economy . I know Sara will talk about risk and waiting and all that just as she did in Ted Martin 's case . But then Sara does not understand . Oh , I am so happy !
It almost frightens me -- I do n't see how XXXXX so wonderful can last .
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