s and a best man. Admission to the church
was by card, and the ensuing reception at the home of the bride's
parents was scheduled to set a new pace for Clematis society. And
while Annabel, inwardly raging, struggled to put a bold face on her
defeat, Persis was busy with the gown she was resolved to make her
masterpiece. The children were not allowed to enter the room where the
work was progressing, though they sometimes took awe-stricken peeps
through the crack at the mysterious, sheet-draped object suspended from
hooks, and in the twilight taking on an aspect distinctly ghostly. It
was necessary, too, to carpet the floor of the workroom with sheets
when Diantha had a fitting, all of which added enormously to the
romance and mystic glamour inevitably connected with a wedding dress.
The children, with whom Diantha had always been a prime favorite,
instead of rushing tumultuously to meet her, now stood off when she
presented herself, and looked her over, as if like the dress in
Persis's workroom, she had become enveloped in mystery.

Mingled with the scraps of white satin which littered the floor were
scraps of black silk. After the wedding-day had been fixed upon, the
mother of the groom swept down upon Persis, wheedling and peremptory by
turns.

"Persis Dale, I don't care if you are worth enough to buy and sell me
twice over, you've got to make me a dress to wear to my boy's wedding.
It's no use for you to shake your head, Persis, I ain't had a
waist-line since you went out of business. And when I think how
Annabel Sinclair's going to be rigged out, I'm worried for fear Thad
will be ashamed of me. They say she's going up the city every week for
fittings, just as if she was going to be the bride 'stead of Diantha."

It was clearly reprehensible in Mrs. West after throwing herself on
Persis' sympathy and carrying her point, to be late to a fitting.
Persis, who planned to clear the cobwebs from her tired brain by an
exhilarating spin in her car at four o'clock, had appointed two for
Mrs. West to try on the black silk. By quarter past she was fidgety,
and as the clock struck the half hour, she waxed indignant.

"Now, Etta West needn't think I'm going to put myself out to make her
dress if she can't keep her appointments. Folks that ask favors ought
to be particular not to make any more trouble than they can help."

Another ten minutes of waiting quite exhausted Persis' store of
patience. She stepped into the