Natalie warmly thanked the donor, as soon as she could get a chance to speak.
Dr. Ingle and Miss Meeke were married on the twentieth of January.
The sky had cleared, the ground had dried, the roads were good.
The wedding was a quiet one, no one being invited but the oldest and most intimate friends of the parties--that is to say, the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Peters, of All Faith Rectory; the Grandieres, of Oldfield; the Elks, of Grove Hill; Miss Bayard, of Forest Rest, and Mr. Roland Bayard, of nowhere in particular.
The ceremony was performed in the drawing room of Mondreer, by the Rev. Dr. Peters. The bride was given away by Mr. Force. She wore the elegant wedding dress which had been prepared for Odalite; the two little bridesmaids wore the same dresses in which they had appeared at the attempted wedding of the month previous. Roland Bayard was the groomsman.
Immediately after the ceremony the bride's cake was cut and served. Roland Bayard received the hidden ring, which promised him a bride in the course of the year, and he immediately crossed the room and put it on the finger of little Rosemary Hedge, amid the good-humored congratulations and laughter of the little company, and to the great confusion of the quaint, little girl who had been favored.
Soon after this the negro fiddlers came in and tuned up their instruments.
The young men took their partners and the dancing began.
Roland Bayard, as groomsman, opened the ball with the bride. Dr. Ingle, with the first bridesmaid, was their _vis-à-vis_. The dancing continued until ten o'clock, when an elegant little supper was served in the dining room.
After this the bride changed her dress, and the just-wedded pair took leave of their friends, and entered the carriage engaged for the occasion, and amid a shower of slippers departed for the young doctor's new home.
The subsequent developments of Anglesea's machinations will be related in the sequel to this volume, entitled "Love's Bitterest Cup." This is published in uniform style and price with this volume.
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RICHELIEU. A tale of France in the reign of King Louis XIII. By G. P. R. James. Cloth, 12mo. with four illustrations by J. Watson Davis. Price, $1.00.