Toexplainthemiller’ssuddenproposalitisonlynecessarytogobacktothatmomentwhenAnne，Festus，andMrs。Garlandweretalkingtogetheronthedown。JohnLovedayhadfallenbehindsoasnottointerferewithameetinginwhichhewasdecidedlysuperfluous；andhisfather，whoguessedthetrumpet-major’ssecret，watchedhisfaceashestood。John’sfacewassad，andhiseyesfollowedMrs。
Garland’sencouragingmannertoFestusinawaywhichplainlysaidthateverypartingofherlipswastribulationtohim。Themillerlovedhissonasmuchasanymillerorprivategentlemancoulddo，andhewaspainedtoseeJohn’sgloomatsuchatrivialcircumstance。SowhatdidheresolvebuttohelpJohnthereandthenbyprecipitatingamatterwhich，hadhehimselfbeentheonlypersonconcerned，hewouldhavedelayedforanothersixmonths。
Hehadlonglikedthesocietyofhisimpulsive，tractableneighbour，Mrs。Garland；hadmentallytakenherupandponderedherinconnexionwiththequestionwhetheritwouldnotbeforthehappinessofbothifsheweretosharehishome，eventhoughshewasalittlehissuperiorinantecedentsandknowledge。Infacthelovedher；nottragically，buttoaverycreditableextentforhisyears；thatis，nexttohissons，BobandJohn，thoughheknewverywellofthatploughed-groundappearancenearthecornersofheroncehandsomeeyes，andthatthelittledepressioninherrightcheekwasnotthelingeringdimpleitwaspoeticallyassumedtobe，butaresultoftheabstractionofsomeworn-outnethermillstoneswithinthecheekbyRootle，theBudmouthman，wholivedbysuchpracticesontheheadsoftheelderly。Butwhatofthat，whenhehadlosttwotoeachoneofhers，andexceededherinagebysomeeightyears！
TodoJohnaservice，then，hequickenedhisdesigns，andputthequestiontoherwhiletheywerestandingundertheeyesoftheyoungerpair。
Mrs。Garland，thoughshehadbeeninterestedinthemillerforalongtime，andhadforamomentnowandthenthoughtonthisquestionasfaras，’Supposeheshould，’Ifhewereto，’andsoon，hadneverthoughtmuchfurther；andshewasreallytakenbysurprisewhenthequestioncame。Sheansweredwithoutaffectationthatshewouldthinkovertheproposal；andthustheyparted。