d are they that have found their work,'" repeated Grace, her
eyes on the spot where she intended the precious motto to hang. Mrs.
Gray had walked on into the hall, so there was only one pair of eyes to
see the sudden tightening of Tom's lips and the look of wistfulness
which crept into his face, and that pair of eyes belonged to Elfreda.

"He cares a whole lot more for Grace than she cares for him," was
Elfreda's quick appraisal. "At heart, Grace is still a little girl, and
will be for a long time to come. I hope when she does wake up it won't
be another prince who will do the awakening."

CHAPTER IV

THE SECRET SESSION

"I feel more as though I were getting ready for a funeral than about to
give a dinner for the Eight Originals," sighed Grace Harlowe, as she
joined her mother on the shady front porch, a little white and gold work
bag, which Miss Southard had brought her from Paris, swinging from her
arm. "I can't realize that, within the next week, Nora and Jessica are
actually going to become Mrs. Hippy Wingate and Mrs. Reddy Brooks. It
seems ridiculous. Why it's only yesterday that Jessica's hair hung down
her back in two braids, and Nora wore curls and short dresses."

"I can't imagine Hippy in the role of a dignified bridegroom," smiled
Mrs. Harlowe. "He is far more likely to convulse the wedding party and
upset the whole solemn service than to conduct himself with strict
propriety."

"He insists that he will cover himself with glory if Reddy doesn't look
at him, and Reddy insists that he will sit and stare him out of
countenance. David is to be Hippy's best man and Tom Gray Reddy's, while
Jessica is to be Nora's maid of honor and Nora Jessica's matron of
honor. She's to be married first, you know. Mabel, Anne, Miriam Nesbit,
Eleanor Savelli and I are to be the bridesmaids at both weddings," went
on Grace. "We'll have a reunion of all our friends. The Gibsons are at
home, Judge Putnam and his sister are coming down earlier from the
Adirondacks; then there are Eleanor and her father, Miss Nevin and the
Southards. Every one who has played an active part in our home lives
will be on hand to see the girls married."

"But how can Nora go away on a wedding journey and be Jessica's matron
of honor, too?" asked Mrs. Harlowe.

"She and Jessica went over that point a dozen times. You see Nora's
wedding takes place in the morning. She is going to have a wedding
breakfast, then she and Hippy will go to the mou