So all attention was concentrated upon the meeting of the two impossibilities.

The old lady took her new relative's hand with a gracious, queenly smile--a smile that had the effect both of making him grateful and of keeping him "in his place." Said she, "I have been writing out the announcement." "Thank you," was Joshua's eager, respectful reply.
She gave him the sheet of notepaper she was carrying in her left hand.
It was her own private paper, heavy, quiet, rich, engraved with aristocratic simplicity, most elegant; and most elegant was the handwriting.

"This," said she, "is to be given out in addition to the formal notice which Grant will send to the newspapers." Craig read: "Mrs.Bowker announces the marriage of her granddaughter, Margaret Severence, and Joshua Craig, of Wayne, Minnesota, and Washington, by the Reverend Doctor Scones, at the Waldorf, this morning.

Only a few relatives and Mr.Craig's friend, Mr.Grant Arkwright, were present.

The marriage occurred sooner than was expected, out of consideration for Mrs.Bowker, as she is very old, and wished it to take place before she left for her summer abroad." Craig lifted to the old lady the admiring glance of a satisfied expert in public opinion.