f hope against the long black veil, which streamed behind her
like a background of cloud floating away into the past. The crowd,
eagerly watching, was silent with astonishment, and the young divinity
student, taken thus unaware, looked really pale under his excitement.
But he was a man of strong calibre and spirituality, with quickened
sympathies, and that insight into human nature which some people name
magnetism. He knew Lucy's story and Nate's. He felt this marriage was,
under all the circumstances, right and best. Baring his head reverently,
he stepped forward and raised his right hand. A solemn hush fell upon
all. After a short invocation, which steadied his own nerves, and
attuned all to the solemnity of the occasion, he put the momentous
questions in his most impressive manner, and Nate and Lucy made their
vows, the whole population of Littleton serving as witnesses. The
instant the blessing was pronounced upon the wedded pair, Nate spoke up
in a firm, loud voice--

"Now, friends, let's all go home and git our suppers. If you're so tired
as I be you'll need 'em. Come, Lucy, the babbies are fretting, and
there's Tilly tryin' to git to us. Come on!"

The crowd, laughing and crying, parted to let them through, Joyce and
George, still quite dazed, staring with the rest. Camille's voice
aroused them.

"Did you ever see anything so matter-of-fact! How he did take the wind
out of our sails! Well, let's go home, as he says. Dr. Browne has run
off with mother, but she wants you both--George and Joyce--to come home
with me to dinner."

"Wait!" cried Joyce, suddenly finding her tongue. She beckoned to
Dalton, spoke a hurried word or two, and in a trice Nate, Lucy, and the
Hapgood children, down to the little baby, were packed into the
carriage, and Gilbert bidden to drive them home for the wedding journey.

Then she waved them adieu, and turned to her friend and betrothed--

"Come, Camille; come, George, we three can walk!"

THE END.

* * * * *

A. L. Burt's Catalogue of Books for Young People by Popular Writers.
52-58 Duane Street, New York

BOOKS FOR GIRLS.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. By Lewis Carroll.

"From first to last, almost without exception, this story is
delightfully droll, humorous and illustrated in harmony with the
story."--New York Express.

Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There. By Lewis Carroll.

"A delight alike to