or said.

In the dining-room Dr. Clay cut up wedding-cake and packed it in
boxes for mailing, while Pearl quickly cleared away the dishes. She
was quite a pretty little girl in her white silk dress. She was tall
and slight, and lithe and graceful in her movements, with pansy-brown
eyes and a smooth, olive skin that neither sun nor wind could
roughen. But the beauty of her face was in the serene expression
which comes only to people whose hearts are brave and sweet and
honest.

The doctor watched her with a great admiration in his face. "Pearl,
how old are you?" he asked suddenly.

"I am fifteen," she answered.

He took one of her shapely little sunburnt hands and held it gently
in his; then with his other hand he took a pearl ring from his pocket
and was about to slip it on her finger, but, suddenly changing his
mind, he laid it in her hand instead.

Pearl gave an exclamation of delight.

"It's yours, Pearl," he said. "Put it on."

She put it on her finger, her eyes sparkling with pleasure.

"Oh, Doctor Clay!" she said, breathlessly.

He, smiling, watched her as she held her hand up to look at it. "It
is just a remembrance, dear," he said, "of some one who thinks that
there is no little girl in the world like you."

When Pearl went home, she gave an account of the wedding to her
family.

"Gettin' married ain't so much when you get right up to it," she
said. "They had a terrible busy time getting ready for it that
morning. Mrs. Francis was a long way more excited than Camilla, and
broke quite a few dishes, but they were all her own; she didn't get
into any of Camilla's. She set fire to her hair when she was curling
it, but after that she did fine. Camilla looked after everything and
wrote down in a notebook all the things Mrs. Francis is to cook while
she is away. Camilla's a little bit afraid that she'll burn the house
down, but the neighbours are all going to try to see after things for
her. Camilla had her hair done the loveliest I ever saw, all wavy,
but not frizzy. We went to the church and got that done before we
came back to the house to eat. Camilla had a big bunch of roses that
Jim gave her, tied with white satin ribbon, and mind you, they didn't
cut off the ends, that's how free they were with the ribbon. I held
them along with mine while Jim put on the ring--that's mostly an
account of the what I was for--and Jim kissed her right before every
one, and so did Mrs. Francis, and so did I, and that