Booth's Farewell Speech (?)

[L Verge]

I don't remember ever seeing seeing such a grand farewell quoted as Booth's last words to Lucy, but some sources do repeat the fact that Booth dined with the lady and her mother that day. I remember having a conversation about this with Mr. Hall, and we both agreed that it could have been a dinner meeting, not a supper meeting.

Dinner in the mid-19th century was served at mid-day (what we term lunch); supper was a lighter meal served after the day's chores had been done. I don't have JWB Day by Day beside me, but we would likely be talking about a meal that ended about 2:30 or 3 pm.

As for those parting words, I have my doubts - unless Booth is foretelling his future as a teaser to Lucy. We have been told that the Hales were not especially taken with Booth and his ideologies and that the Senator's appointment to the embassy in Spain may have been an attempt to separate the two. I wonder what Mrs. Hale thought of the romance and if it would have been "polite" of Booth to say that as he left the table that afternoon?