ht, red
and golden patches of fallen foliage lay on either side of the rails; and
as the travellers passed, all these death-stricken bodies boiled up in
the whirlwind created by the velocity, and were sent flying right and
left of them in myriads, a clean-fanned track being left behind.

Picotee was called from the observation of these phenomena by a remark
from her sister: 'Picotee, the marriage is to be very early indeed. It
is to be the day after to-morrow--if it can. Nevertheless I don't
believe in the fact--I cannot.'

'Did you arrange it so? Nobody can make you marry so soon.'

'I agreed to the day,' murmured Ethelberta languidly.

'How can it be? The gay dresses and the preparations and the people--how
can they be collected in the time, Berta? And so much more of that will
be required for a lord of the land than for a common man. O, I can't
think it possible for a sister of mine to marry a lord!'

'And yet it has been possible any time this last month or two, strange as
it seems to you. . . . It is to be not only a plain and simple wedding,
without any lofty appliances, but a secret one--as secret as if I were
some under-age heiress to an Indian fortune, and he a young man of
nothing a year.'

'Has Lord Mountclere said it must be so private? I suppose it is on
account of his family.'

'No. I say so; and it is on account of my family. Father might object
to the wedding, I imagine, from what he once said, or he might be much
disturbed about it; so I think it better that he and the rest should know
nothing till all is over. You must dress again as my sister to-morrow,
dear. Lord Mountclere is going to pay us an early visit to conclude
necessary arrangements.'

'O, the life as a lady at Enckworth Court! The flowers, the woods, the
rooms, the pictures, the plate, and the jewels! Horses and carriages
rattling and prancing, seneschals and pages, footmen hopping up and
hopping down. It will be glory then!'

'We might hire our father as one of my retainers, to increase it,' said
Ethelberta drily.

Picotee's countenance fell. 'How shall we manage all about that? 'Tis
terrible, really!'

'The marriage granted, those things will right themselves by time and
weight of circumstances. You take a wrong view in thinking of glories of
that sort. My only hope is that my life will be quite private and
simple, as will best become my inferiority and Lord Mountclere's
staidness. Such a splendid library