"The wedding dowry" , the narrator tells us, is the dowry of the bride and groom. It's the money that the bride gave the groom for his marriage. The narrator asks the bride why she wanted to meet him, and the bride says that she didn't know what to do with herself after the fight. She says that if she'd been more careful, she would have stayed away from the fight, but she's not sure why. She apologizes for her behavior, and says that the fight was "careless and impolite" on her part. She tells the narrator that she doesn't want him to hit her again, but that she hopes he won't do it again. She asks the narrator to teach her how to read, so that she can go to the Castle and teach the bride how to write