o behold, as they swept down the stairs and through
the long drawing-room to the bay-window where, amid a wilderness of
roses, and azalias, and lilies, they were to stand. This was the part
the most distasteful to Lord Hardy, who would greatly have preferred
being married in church according to the English form--and, in fact,
Augusta would have liked that, too; but Mrs. Browne was a stanch
Baptist, and opposed any deviation from the good old rule, and so Lord
Hardy was compelled to submit, though his face wore the look of anything
but a happy man as he went through the ordeal which made him Augusta's
husband, and then received the congratulations of the guests, most of
whom addressed the bride as Lady Hardy.

When Augusta heard of Bessie's engagement with Grey she went at once to
congratulate her, and insisted upon her being one of her bridemaids. But
Bessie declined; she was too much a stranger to take so conspicuous a
place, she said, and would rather be a quiet looker-on.

But she was there with Grey, to whose arm she clung as she looked
wonderingly on at the gorgeous display, unlike anything which was ever
seen in Allington before, or ever would be again.

Altogether it was a most brilliant and successful affair, and the
reporters, who had been hired to be present, did it ample justice in the
next day's papers. "Festivities in High Life" headed the column, in
which the beauty and accomplishments of the bride were dwelt upon at
large, while free scope was given to the imagination and the pen when it
came to the elegant manners of the hostess, the air of refinement and
cultivation perceptible among the guests, and the signs of wealth and
perfect taste everywhere visible. The great popularity of the family was
also dwelt upon as proven by the immense crowd thronging the streets,
and Lord Hardy was congratulated upon his rare good luck, and hints were
thrown out that England and Ireland ought to feel complimented that so
many of America's fair daughters were willing to wear a foreign title
and grace a foreign home.

"What fools those reporters are, to be sure, and the Brownes are bigger
fools to allow such stuff to be printed," was Miss McPherson's comment
upon the articles which appeared in the _Spy_ and the _Gazette_, and the
Springfield _Republican_, and her opinion was pretty generally shared by
the citizens of Allington, who immediately raked up the ashes of the
Brownes' past history, and recalled with great zes