This turned out to be the bridegroom; and after a few more flourishes,
and not a little pulling and hauling among the bridesmaids, the bride
and the bridegroom stood up together, and looked silly and sheepish, as
if butter wouldn't melt in their mouths; and after listening awhile to
an old droning-beetle, without hearing a word he said, they bowed and
courtesied, and made some sort of a reply, nobody could guess what; and
then forth stepped the master of ceremonies, a priggish-looking
grasshopper, with straw-colored tights, and a fashionable coat,
single-breasted, and so quakerish it set poor little Rosebud a-laughing,
in spite of all she could do, every time she looked at his legs; and
_then!_ out ran the ten thousand trumpeting bumble-bees, and the katydid
grew noisier than ever, and the cricket chirruped for joy, and the
bridegroom touched the bride's cheek, and pointed slyly toward a little
heap of newly gathered roses and violets, piled up afar off, in a
shadowy part of the cave, just underneath a trailing canopy of
changeable moss; the bride blushed, and the fairies tittered, and little
Rosebud turned away, and wished herself at home, and instantly the bride
and the bridegroom vanished! and the ships and the fairies! and the
lights and the music! and Rosebud found herself standing face to face
with the little withered old woman, who was looking mournfully at the
drooping forget-me-not.
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