. The mother determined with as
much strength of purpose as she could summon, to rely upon Gabrielle to
find the way out in this emergency, as the daughter had in all others.

CHAPTER XIX

The day Mr. Tescheron was to receive notification of the wedding in his
immediate family came so quickly the announcement could not be made in
the morning. Gabrielle needed the day to prepare, for while she was
brave, the meeting with her father must bring tears of disappointment.
Perhaps the glowering skies made postponement easy. Better the night for
sorrow, thought she, and then hurried down-town, her hands full of small
packages containing bits of finery not available to enter into the
ornamentation of the dressmaker's conceptions in silk and lace. These
must be exchanged for other shades, and the light of a cloudy day was
not suitable for matching colors; her feminine mind turned to the more
important details of preparation.

As she entered the office her thoughts were wholly away from the law of
her country and its business operations. The gowns that were to be
fitted and the untrimmed hats loomed larger than the intricate questions
in various states of litigation that came under her supervision. In a
week she was to pass from this realm of worldly detail, and would assume
the larger role of wife, better equipped by freedom and the good uses
she had made of its opportunities. Still the hats and gowns must not be
ignored by any high-flown philosophy. She was about to hitch her wagon
to a star, to be a whole woman, the head of a home and all that; but
what would we think even of the president of Sorosis if she appeared in
last year's sleeves?

Among her letters that morning, Gabrielle found one from Hygeia, and
regretted that she must place it with her packages as soon as she
glanced at the name, for there was no time to read it then; perhaps in a
car she would find the time. Letters written at leisure in the country
and read in the crowded city cars lose their native sweetness. Such as I
have ever received from there must be opened tenderly and read slowly
far from the throng.

By one o'clock the mills of Justice ceased to claim the attention of
Gabrielle. Two hours were spent in the stores, every minute consumed in
the closest study of fabrics, miles of floor-walking and volumes of
questioning--all composing the art and science of shopping, the one
sphere in which woman can carry the weight of a fur cloak and do a