w what you call it--at one and ninepence a
yard; but now, lord land, what's two hundred dollar gownd to me! Ann
Eliza can have forty on 'em, if she wants to. There she is; there's the
kerridge! By gosh, though, ain't she a neat little filly!' and the
father's face glowed with pride as he watched his daughter alighting
from the carriage, to which Tom had hastened in order to assist her, for
she was still a little lame and limped as she walked.

He saw the two hundred dollar gown, for Peterkin would have it
displayed, and admired it, of course, and wished thut he had half the
sum it cost in his own right, and wondered if he could stand it, as he
walked slowly home, where he heard from his mother that they were still
to remain at Tracy Park for a while, and that his father was to have one
hundred thousand dollars settled upon him.

'I guess now I'll wait a spell, and let old Peterkin go to thunder,' he
decided, and for two weeks and more Ann Eliza watched in vain for his
coming, while Peterkin remarked to his wife that if Tom Tracy was goin'
to play fast and loose with his gal, he'd find himself brought up
standin' mighty lively.

The news that Harold and Jerrie were soon to be married, and go with
Arthur to Germany, created some surprise, and some talk, too, in town,
where many of the people had believed that there had been an
understanding, if not an engagement, between Harold and Maude. But Tom
put that right with a few decided words. There had never been an
engagement, he said. Maude had liked Harold very much, and he had liked
her, but had always preferred Jerrie; in short, matters had been as good
as settled between them, long ago.

This last was a little fiction of Tom's brain, but the people accepted
it as true, and began to look eagerly forward to the approaching
marriage, wondering, as people will, who would be invited, and who would
not. It took place the 10th of October, in Mrs. Crawford's little
parlor, with only a few intimate friends present--Grace Atherton, the
St. Claires, Ann Eliza Peterkin, and the Tracys, with the exception of
Dolly, who could not do so great violence to her feeling, as to attend a
wedding. Billy was not there, but he sent a magnificent emerald ring to
Jerrie, with the following note:

DEAR JERRIE,--I can't see you married, although I am glad for you,
and glad for Hal. God bless you both. I shall never forget you as
long as I live; and when you come back, maybe I can be