May you never wish you'd lived your lane like your auld auntie." "As if single blessedness could ever be real blessedness!" sneered Enna, coming up just in time to catch the last words.
"Our feelings change as we grow older," returned Miss Stanhope, in her gentle, refined tones, "and we come to look upon quiet and freedom from care as very desirable things." "And I venture to say that old age is not likely to find Mrs.Percival so happy and contented as is my dear old maiden aunt," remarked Mr.Dinsmore.
"Yet we will hope it may, papa," said Elsie, receiving Enna's salutation with kindly warmth.
But the list of relatives, near connections, and intimate friends, is too long for particular mention of each.

All the Dinsmores were there, both married and single; also most of the Allisons.

Harold had not come with the others, nor had he either accepted or rejected the invitation.
On first raising her eyes upon the conclusion of the ceremony, had Elsie really seen, far back in the shadow of the doorway, a face white, rigid, hopeless with misery as his when last they met and parted?
She could not tell; for if really there, it vanished instantly.
"Did Harold come ?" she asked of Richard when he came to salute the bride and groom.
"I think not; I haven't seen him, I can't think what's come over the lad to be so neglectful of his privileges." Harry Duncan was there, too, hanging upon the smiles of merry, saucy, blue-eyed May Allison; while her brother Richard seemed equally enamored with the brunette beauty and sprightliness of Lottie King.
Stiffness and constraint found no place among the guests, after the event of the evening was over.
In the great dining-room a sumptuous banquet was laid; and thither, after a time, guests and entertainers repaired.
The table sparkled with cut-glass, rare and costly china, and solid silver and gold plate.

Every delicacy from far and near was to be found upon it; nothing wanting that the most fastidious could desire, or the most lavish expenditure furnish.

Lovely, fragrant flowers were there also in the utmost profusion, decorating the board, festooning the windows and doorways, in bouquets upon the mantels and antique stands, scattered here and there through the apartment, filling the air with their perfume; while a distant and unseen band discoursed sweetest music in soft, delicious strains.
The weather was warmer far than at that season in our northern clime, the outside air balmy and delightful, and through the wide-open doors and windows glimpses might be caught of the beautiful grounds, lighted here and there by a star-like lamp shining out among the foliage.