t been willing that it should be so,
thinking that his own more modest house might suffice for the
marriage of his own daughter. But grander counsels had been allowed
to prevail. With whom the idea first arose Lord Persiflage never
knew. It might probably have been with some of the bevy, who had felt
that an ordinary drawing-room would hardly suffice for so magnificent
an array of toilets. Perhaps the thought had first occurred to
Messrs. Bijou and Carcanet, who had foreseen the glory of spreading
out all that wealth in the magnificent saloon intended for the
welcoming of ambassadors. But it travelled from Lady Amaldina to her
mother, and was passed on from Lady Persiflage to her husband. "Of
course the Ambassadors will all be there," the Countess had said,
"and, therefore, it will be a public occasion." "I wish we could be
married at Llanfihangel," Lord Llwddythlw said to his bride. Now
Llanfihangel church was a very small edifice, with a thatched roof,
among the mountains in North Wales, with which Lady Amaldina had been
made acquainted when visiting the Duchess, her future mother-in-law.
But Llwddythlw was not to have his way in everything, and the
preparations at the Foreign Office were continued.

The beautifully embossed invitations were sent about among a large
circle of noble and aristocratic friends. All the Ambassadors and all
the Ministers, with all their wives and daughters, were, of course,
asked. As the breakfast was to be given in the great Banqueting Hall
at the Foreign Office it was necessary that the guests should be
many. It is sometimes well in a matter of festivals to be saved from
extravagance by the modest size of one's rooms. Lord Persiflage told
his wife that his daughter's marriage would ruin him. In answer to
this she reminded him that Llwddythlw had asked for no fortune. Lord
Llwddythlw was one of those men who prefer giving to taking. He had
a feeling that a husband should supply all that was wanted, and that
a wife should owe everything to the man she marries. The feeling is
uncommon just at present,--except with the millions who neither have
nor expect other money than what they earn. If you are told that
the daughter of an old man who has earned his own bread is about to
marry a young man in the same condition of life, it is spoken of as a
misfortune. But Lord Llwddythlw was old-fashioned, and had the means
of acting in accordance with his prejudices. Let the marriage be ever
so gorgeous