se--"there is _one_ thing. We ought to try and
look at the bright side. It is not as if we had not been asked. We have
not been overlooked."

"No," said Ruth, promptly; and in her own mind she registered a vow that
in her future home she would never give the pain that being overlooked
by the larger house can cause to the smaller house.

"And I will stay with you, Aunt Fanny," she went on, cheerfully. "Uncle
John can go by himself, and we will do just what we like while he is
away, won't we?"

But at this Mrs. Alwynn demurred. She was determined that if she played
the role of a martyr she would do it well. She insisted that Ruth should
accompany Mr. Alwynn. She secretly looked forward to telling Mabel that
Ruth was going. She did not mind being left alone, she said. She
desired, with a sigh of self-sacrifice, that Mr. Alwynn should accept
for himself and his niece. She had not been brought up to consider
herself, thank God! She had her faults she knew. No one was more fully
aware of them than herself; but she was not going to prevent others
enjoying themselves because she herself was laid aside.

"And now, my dear," she said, with a sudden return to mundane interests
that succeeded rather unexpectedly to the celestial spirit of her
previous remarks, "you must be thinking about your gowns. If I had been
going, I should have had my ruby satin done up--so beautiful by
candle-light. What have you to wear? That white lace tea-gown with the
silver-gray train is very nice; but you ought not to be in half mourning
now. I like to see young people in colors. And then there is that
gold-and-white brocade, Ruth, that you wore at the drawing-room last
year. It is a beautiful dress, but rather too quiet. Could not you
brighten it up with a few cherry-colored bows about it, or a sash? I
always think a sash is so becoming. If you were to bring it down, I dare
say I could suggest something. And you must be well dressed, for though
he only says 'friends,' you never can tell whom you may not meet at a
place like that."

CHAPTER XVII.

The last week of September found Charles back at Stoke Moreton to
receive the "friends" of whom Mrs. Alwynn spoke. People whose partridges
he had helped to kill were now to be gathered from the east and from the
west to help to kill his. From the north also guests were coming, were
leaving their mountains to--But the remainder of the line is invidious.
The Hope-Actons had written to offer a vis