inery.

The marriage was as sweet and solemn as a kind-hearted bishop could
make it, and all the ladies looked particularly well. The veil from
London,--with the orange wreath, also metropolitan,--was perfect, and
as for the dress, I doubt whether any woman would have known it to be
provincial. Everett looked the rising baronet, every inch of him, and
the old barrister smiled and seemed, at least, to be well pleased.
Then came the breakfast, and the speech-making, in which Arthur
Fletcher shone triumphantly. It was a very nice wedding, and Mary
Wharton,--as she had been and still was,--felt herself for a moment
to be a heroine. But, through it all, there was present to the hearts
of most of them a feeling that much more was to be effected, if
possible, than this simple and cosy marriage, and that the fate of
Mary Wharton was hardly so important to them as that of Emily Lopez.

When the carriage and four was gone there came upon the household the
difficulty usual on such occasions of getting through the rest of the
day. The bridesmaids retired and repacked their splendours so that
they might come out fresh for other second-rate needs, and with the
bridesmaids went the widow. Arthur Fletcher remained at Wharton with
all the other Fletchers for the night, and was prepared to renew his
suit on that very day, if an opportunity were given him; but Emily
did not again show herself till a few minutes before dinner, and
then she came down with all the appurtenances of mourning which she
usually wore. The grey silk had been put on for the marriage ceremony
and for that only. "You should have kept your dress at any rate for
the day," said Mrs. Fletcher. She replied that she had changed it for
Everett, and that as Everett was gone there was no further need for
her to wear clothes unfitted to her position. Arthur would have cared
very little for the clothes could he have had his way with the woman
who wore them,--could he have had his way even so far as to have
found himself alone with her for half-an-hour. But no such chance was
his. She retreated from the party early, and did not show herself on
the following morning till after he had started for Longbarns.

All the Fletchers went back,--not, however, with any intention on the
part of Arthur to abandon his immediate attempt. The distance between
the houses was not so great but that he could drive himself over at
any time. "I shall go now," he said to Mr. Wharton, "because I have