e."

"Bless your heart, Master Christopher!" exclaimed Mrs. Bateson, "men are
mostly like that. Why should they waste their time fretting after some
young woman as hasn't got a civil word for them, when there are scores
and scores as has?"

Christopher shook his head. "I can't pretend to say why; that is quite
beyond me. I only know that some of them do."

"But they are only the nice exceptions that prove the rule," said
Elisabeth, as she and Christopher caught each other's eye.

"No; it is she who is the nice exception," he replied. "It is only in
the case of exceptionally charming young women that such a thing ever
occurs; or rather, I should say, in the case of an exceptionally
charming young woman."

"My wedding dress will be sent home next week," said Elisabeth to the
two matrons; "would you like to come and see it?"

"Indeed, that we should!" they replied simultaneously. Then Mrs. Bateson
inquired: "And what is it made of, deary?"

"White satin."

Mrs. Hankey gazed critically at the bride-elect. "White satin is a bit
young, it seems to me; and trying, too, to them as haven't much colour."
Then cheering second thoughts inspired her. "Still, white's the proper
thing for a bride, I don't deny; and I always say 'Do what's right and
proper, and never mind looks.' The Lord doesn't look on the outward
appearance, as we all know; and it 'ud be a sight better for men if they
didn't, like Master Christopher there; there'd be fewer unhappy
marriages, mark my words. Of course, lavender isn't as trying to the
complexion as pure white; no one can say as it is; but to my mind
lavender always looks as if you've been married before; and it's no use
for folks to look greater fools than they are, as I can see."

"Certainly not," Christopher agreed. "If there is any pretence at all,
let it be in the opposite direction, and let us all try to appear wiser
than we are!"

"And that's easy enough for some of us, such as Hankey, for instance,"
added Hankey's better half. "And there ain't as much wisdom to look at
as you could put on the point of a knife even then."

So the women talked and the men listened--as is the way of men and women
all the world over--until tea was finished and it was time for the
guests to depart. They left amid a shower of heartfelt congratulations,
and loving wishes for the future opening out before them. Just as
Elisabeth passed through the doorway into the evening sunshine, which
was flooding the w