The Pilgrim by Hugh Nissenson

written, “In His love and in His mercy, He redeemed them”(Isaiah 63:9)?
    You love Sarah not? As the saying is, “Marry first, and love after by leisure.” That she is likewise disfigured by the smallpox seems to me all to the good. As the saying is, “Matching with marriage must be with equality.”
    I reckon that Sarah’s dowry will come to one hundred and fifty pounds—perhaps more. A third saying that comes to my mind is, “Love is potent, but money is omnipotent.”
    Therefore I say unto you, “Marry your Sarah and find happiness.”
    I asked my master’s permission to court his daughter.
    He said, “I am well disposed to a match. Sarah is my heart’s blood, the only child left to me, and above all else, I want her to be happy. You shall find me very careful for her good. Do you love her, Charles?”
    â€œI find her sweet and gentle and kind—she hath a very kind heart. I cherish her and will strive to make her happy.”
    â€œSpoken honestly! I could not ask for more. I did not love my good wife when I married her. I liked her, true, but loved her not. Love came to me in time, as it will come to you. Have you asked Sarah how she feels about you?”
    â€œNot yet, but I believe she’s fond of me and will have me for her husband.”
    Said he, “I believe so, too. You are big and tall, and you are both disfigured. Who else would marry her? Moreover, you have, like her, a kind heart, though it seems to me that you both have an inordinate concern for the poor. She, in particular. Why, you would not believe how charitable she is! She gives alms to half the beggars of Westminster. Well, she can afford to. She hath a rich father.
    â€œBut you—you have no resources, apart from what you earn from me and your two meager investments. Money, I warrant, is very important to you. Good! You will come into a goodly amount by marrying Sarah—we shall discuss it anon—and I trust a man who knows the value of a farthing. I trust you to give me an ample return for what I shall settle on you. And what return is that? Why, to make my daughter happy! She hath not had much happiness in her young life. Two beloved sisters dead, a ruined face. With tears in mine eyes, I oft think of her as she was before eleven years of age, with smooth, rosy cheeks and a cheerful disposition. She spake with the prettiest lisp imaginable.
    â€œYes, I give you my permission to court Sarah. Be good to her, Charles. Make her happy.
    â€œAnd give me a grandson. Thus I beseech you. But I have learned from life that beseeching you to make my Sarah happy is as good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse. Still, I have hope that I’m buying me a suitable son-in-law.”
    I said, “You may be sure of it, sir. As I love God!”
    â€œGod hath many lovers in this world. My daughter hath but you.”
    â€¢ • •
    I said to Mistress Sarah, “Women are creatures without which there is no comfortable living for man. They are a necessary good. It is not meet that man should be without a woman. Therefore, Mistress Sarah, I ask you to become my wife, that we may live together and fulfill all the duties of the covenant of marriage as appointed by God.
    â€œI shall cherish you all the days of my life and, in so far as it is within my power, make you happy, rectifying the unhappiness you have hitherto endured. Marry me, Mistress, I entreat thee. Complete me as I shall complete you, for as you have said, we are opposite reflections of each other. Let us join together and become one. What say you?”
    â€œYou once called me ‘sweet,’” she said. “Why not again?”
    â€œMarry me, my sweet, I implore you.”
    â€œSay ‘my sweet’ again. Call me ‘my sweet Sarah.’”
    â€œMy sweet Sarah, marry me.”
    â€œSay ‘I love you.’”
    â€œI love you.”
    â€œYou do