be gentleman-in-waiting to the groom until it is
time to escort him to the church, where he becomes chief of staff.

=AT THE HOUSE OF THE BRIDE=

Meanwhile, if the wedding is to be at noon, dawn will not have much more
than broken before the house--at least below stairs--becomes bustling.

Even if the wedding is to be at four o'clock, it will still be early in
the morning when the business of the day begins. But let us suppose it is
to be at noon; if the family is one that is used to assembling at an early
breakfast table, it is probable that the bride herself will come down for
this last meal alone with her family. They will, however, not be allowed
to linger long at the table. The caterer will already be clamoring for
possession of the dining-room--the florist will by that time already have
dumped heaps of wire and greens into the middle of the drawing-room, if
not beside the table where the family are still communing with their eggs.
The door-bell has long ago begun to ring. At first there are telegrams and
special delivery letters, then as soon as the shops open, come the
last-moment wedding presents, notes, messages and the insistent clamor of
the telephone.

Next, excited voices in the hall announce members of the family who come
from a distance. They all want to kiss the bride, they all want rooms to
dress in, they all want to talk. Also comes the hairdresser, to do the
bride's or her mother's or aunt's or grandmother's hair, or all of them;
the manicure, the masseuse--any one else that may have been thought
necessary to give final beautifying touches to any or all of the female
members of the household. The dozen and one articles from the caterer are
meantime being carried in at the basement door; made dishes, and dishes in
the making, raw materials of which others are to be made; folding chairs,
small tables, chinaware, glassware, napery, knives, forks and spoons--it
is a struggle to get in or out of the kitchen or area door.

The bride's mother consults the florist for the third and last time as to
whether the bridal couple had not better receive in the library because of
the bay window which lends itself easily to the decoration of a
background, and because the room, is, if anything, larger than the
drawing-room. And for the third time, the florist agrees about the
advantage of the window but points out that the library has only one
narrow door and that the drawing-room is much better, because it has two