In answer to
the question, "Is Mr. Herndon's description true?" she writes:
"I am impatient to tell you that all that he says about this
wedding--the time for which was 'fixed for the first day of
January'--is a fabrication. He has drawn largely upon his imagination
in describing something which never took place.
"I know the engagement between Mr. Lincoln and Miss Todd was
interrupted for a time, and it was rumored among her young friends
that Mr. Edwards had rather opposed it. But I am sure there had been
no 'time fixed' for any wedding; that is, no preparations had ever
been made until the day that Mr. Lincoln met Mr. Edwards on the street
and told him that he and Mary were going to be married that evening.
Upon inquiry, Mr. Lincoln said they would be married in the Episcopal
church, to which Mr. Edwards replied: 'No; Mary is my ward, and she
must be married at my house.'
"If I remember rightly, the wedding guests were few, not more than
thirty; and it seems to me all are gone now but Mrs. Wallace,
Mrs. Levering, and myself, for it was not much more than a family
gathering; only two or three of Mary Todd's young friends were
present. The 'entertainment' was simple, but in beautiful taste; but
the bride had neither veil nor flowers in her hair, with which to 'toy
nervously.
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