ther of her old Herefordshire friends who received
the tidings of her marriage without quarrelling with her. She herself
had written to her old lover.

MY DEAR ARTHUR,

There has been so much true friendship and affection
between us that I do not like that you should hear
from any one but myself the news that I am going to be
married to Mr. Lopez. We are to be married on the 28th of
November,--this day month.

Yours affectionately,

EMILY WHARTON.

To this she received a very short reply;--

DEAR EMILY,

I am as I always have been.

Yours,

A. F.

He sent her no present, nor did he say a word to her beyond this;
but in her anger against the Herefordshire people she never included
Arthur Fletcher. She pored over the little note a score of times, and
wept over it, and treasured it up among her inmost treasures, and
told herself that it was a thousand pities. She could talk, and did
talk, to Ferdinand about the Whartons, and about old Mrs. Fletcher,
and described to him the arrogance and the stiffness and the
ignorance of the Herefordshire squirearchy generally; but she never
spoke to him of Arthur Fletcher,--except in that one narrative of her
past life, in which, girl-like, she told her lover of the one other
lover who had loved her.

But these things of course gave a certain melancholy to the occasion
which perhaps was increased by the season of the year,--by the
November fogs, and by the emptiness and general sadness of the town.
And added to this was the melancholy of old Mr. Wharton himself.
After he had given his consent to the marriage he admitted a certain
amount of intimacy with his son-in-law, asking him to dinner, and
discussing with him matters of general interest,--but never, in
truth, opening his heart to him. Indeed, how can any man open his
heart to one whom he dislikes? At best he can only pretend to open
his heart, and even this Mr. Wharton would not do. And very soon
after the engagement Lopez left London and went to the Duke's place
in the country. His objects in doing this and his aspirations in
regard to a seat in Parliament were all made known to his future
wife,--but he said not a word on the subject to her father; and she,
acting under his instructions, was equally reticent. "He will get to
know me in time," he said to her, "and his manner will be softened
towards me. But till that time shall come, I can hardly expect him to
take a real