fearing that he might be late. And it seemed to
her divinely right and beautiful that, while he should have a hundred
other absorbing interests in his life, her whole existence should
perpetually circle around this single centre of thought. One by one, she
lived in anticipation all the exquisite details of their life together,
and in imagining them, she overlooked all possible changes that the
years might bring, as entirely as she ignored the subtle variations of
temperament which produce in each individual that fluid quantity we call
character. She thought of Oliver, as she thought of herself, as though
the fact of marriage would crystallize him into a shape from which he
would never alter or dissolve in the future. And with a reticence
peculiar to her type, she never once permitted her mind to stray to her
crowning beatitude--the hope of a child; for, with that sacred
inconsistency possible only to fixed beliefs, though motherhood was
supposed to comprise every desire, adventure, and activity in the life
of woman, it was considered indelicate for her to dwell upon the thought
of it until the condition had become too obvious for refinement to deny.

The shadow of the church tower lengthened on the grass, and at the end
of the cross street she saw Susan appear and stop for a minute to speak
to Miss Priscilla, who was driving by in a small wagonette. Then the
girl and the teacher parted, and ten minutes later there came Susan's
imperative knock at Virginia's door.

"Miss Willy told mother that your wedding dress was finished, Jinny, and
I am dying to see it!"

Going to the closet, which was built into one corner of the wall,
Virginia unpinned a long white sheet scented with rose-leaves, and
brought out a filmy mass of satin and lace. Her face as she looked down
upon it was the face of girlhood incarnate. All her virginal dreams
clustered there like doves quivering for flight. Its beauty was the
beauty of fleeting things--of the wind in the apple blossoms at dawn, of
the music of bees on an August afternoon.

"Mother wouldn't let me be married in anything but satin," she said,
with a catch in her voice. "I believe it is the first time in her life
she was ever extravagant, but she felt so strongly about it that I had
to give in and not have white muslin as I wanted to do."

"And it's so lovely," said Susan. "I had no idea Miss Willy could do it.
She's as proud, too, as if it were her own."

"She took a pleasure in ev