Such nonsense , '' sniffed Felicity . `` It 's only some girl 's secret , anyway , '' said Dan , loftily . `` I do n't feel much interest in it . '' But he was on hand with the rest of us that evening , interest or no interest , in Uncle Stephen 's Walk , where the ripening apples were beginning to glow like jewels among the boughs . `` Now , are you going to tell us your news ? '' asked Felicity impatiently . `` Miss Reade IS going to be married , '' said the Story Girl . `` She told me so last night . She is going to be married in a fortnight 's time . '' `` Who to ? '' exclaimed the girls . `` To '' -- the Story Girl threw a defiant glance at me as if to say , `` You ca n't spoil the surprise of THIS , anyway , '' -- `` to -- the Awkward Man . '' For a few moments amazement literally held us dumb . `` You 're not in earnest , Sara Stanley ? '' gasped Felicity at last . `` Indeed I am . I thought you 'd be astonished . But I was n't . I 've suspected it all summer , from little things I 've noticed . Do n't you remember that evening last spring when I went a piece with Miss Reade and told you when I came back that a story was growing ?
I guessed it from the way the Awkward Man looked XXXXX her when I stopped to speak to him over his garden fence . ''
For Reade Stanley To at from in so that with