hich had lain in his
path were but a light price to have paid for the treasure he had won!

Upstairs at the window of the girls' bedroom Kitty Maitland peered
through her spectacles at the flutter of Maud's dress behind the bushes
in the garden, and knitted her brows, in her anxiety to account for the
presence of a dark stain around the waist! Presently the bushes parted
company for a few yards, and the stain was discovered to be neither more
nor less than a coat sleeve belonging to Mr Ned Talbot! Kitty cleared
her throat, and chanted in a high, clear tone--

"A marriage has been arranged, and will shortly take place, between Mr
Edward Mortimer Talbot and Maud, eldest daughter of--"

A stampede towards the window interrupted the conclusion of the
sentence, and the sisters stared at the unconscious couple with eager
scrutiny. They peered to right and left, craned their necks to one side
and then the other, rushed to a second window to obtain a better view,
and finally turned back and faced each other with expressions of awed
conviction.

"It is--for a ducat! Oh dear, what a nuisance!" cried Agatha pitifully.
"What shall we do without our Maud? First Nan, and then Maud--the
house will be lost without them!"

"Our loss is their gain. We must be resigned. It is what we must
expect. One bird after another will fly away, and leave the old nest
bare. It is the order of Nature," sighed Elsie sadly.

"Another wedding! Another bridesmaid's dress. How s-implay lovelay!"
cried Christabel rapturously; but Nan stood apart with clasped hands,
and dark eyes full of tears.

"The only thing," she sighed to herself--"the only thing I had left to
wish for. Oh, how thankful I am! What a dear world it is! How good
God is to us all!"

THE END.

End of Project Gutenberg's A Houseful of Girls, by Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

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