irl and
her poor mother for years. Yes, neighbor, I cast a veil over what I
might say."

This was the sort of gossip spread by Mrs. Bell, who further praised up
Miss Hart, saying much about her beauty and her charms, and giving such
a ravishing account of Bertram's love for her, and her adoration for
him, that the neighbors who were on this side of the civil war crowned
Josephine Hart as their chosen queen on the spot.

Mrs. Butler, who led the van of the "Beatricites," was less voluble than
Mrs. Bell, but her words were weighted with a very deadly shaft of
poison. After Mrs. Butler had extolled Beatrice as a perfect model of
all womanly graces and virtue, she proceeded, with keen relish, to take
Josephine Hart to pieces. When she began to dissect Miss Hart she
invariably sent her innocent sister, Maria, out of the room. It is
unnecessary to repeat what passed behind the doors which were so cruelly
closed on eager and curious Miss Peters, but it is not too much to say
that poor Josephine had not a rag of character left to her when the good
woman's tongue ceased to wag.

Thus the town of Northbury was in a distressing state of uproar during
the three or four days which preceded Captain Bertram's wedding. And
perhaps the cruellest thing about this fierce civil war was that none of
the combatants, not even the leaders, knew what was really about to take
place, nor who was to be married to whom on Tuesday, nor whether there
was to be any wedding at all. The bridal dresses came home, and some of
the ladies wept when they looked at them. Beatrice still received
wedding presents, and the bridal robe of ivory-white silk trimmed with
quantities of Honiton lace was absolutely sent down from London, all
complete and ready for Beatrice to wear. Half the ladies in Northbury
rushed up to the station when the news was brought to them that the box
had arrived, and the porter, Payne by name, who carried the box to Mrs.
Meadowsweet's, was followed by quite a little mob.

Thus time went on apace, and Rumor did his work, each lady saying when
she met another:

"Well, what's the news? What's the latest? What did you hear last?"

Each Hartite bowed coldly to each Beatricite, or else cut each other
dead, and, in short, the usual symptoms which accompany civil war made
themselves felt.

It is a fact frequently noted that when Rumor, with his double-edged
tongue is abroad, the persons most concerned often know nothing of the
storm whic