A WEDDING.
MR. DEAN was to marry Miss Isabel, after all! The tidings came
to the children as a blow at first, and they, especially Margery, felt
that it was almost taking advantage of their confidence, since that was
not at all the end they had in view in seeking to have Mr. Dean stay at
the Evergreens. But in time they grew reconciled to the arrangement,
and even came to see that it was the best one possible, for now they
could visit both Miss Isabel and Mr. Dean at once, instead of dividing
their time between them. It helped them to see that this wedding was a
desirable plan, that the day appointed for it was Margery's eleventh
birthday, October fourteenth, and that all the little girls were to be
bridesmaids, and Jack best man, in spite of his being but twelve years
old, for Miss Isabel declared that this must be a club wedding, since
without the H. T. C. it might never have come about.
Four pairs of little bare feet sprang to the floor early in the morning
of October fourteenth, moved by the thought that Margery was eleven
years old and it was Miss Isabel's wedding-day, and they sped to the
window to see what sort of weather it was. Nor was one likely to sleep
late when a dress of softest pink mull, with a big picture hat to
match, lay like a kind of rosy dawn on a chair ready for the bridesmaid
to put on. And Jack had gone to bed with his first long trousers laid
where his eyes could rest on them the moment they opened, and with his
patent-leather shoes in shining glory on the hearth, and he arose in a
flurry that was still dignified, feeling that much of the success of
the wedding lay on his shoulders. The weather was all that it should
be; a soft haze rested over all the earth, the leaves were blazing in
the glory of their October colors, and there was that wonderful hush
upon nature that comes when the harvest is over, the work done, and
summer pauses lingeringly, as if dreading to say good-by.
There was only happiness in each little heart that lovely morning; all
doubt had been removed from the children's minds, and they had learned
to see what a delightful thing it was that their Miss Isabel would no
longer be lonely in the old house. "For," as Amy sagely remarked, "when
we were there we couldn't tell how lonely she was, because we _were_
there, and she wasn't lonely, but when we were gone she must have been
sad, and now we shall know that when we aren't there Mr. Dean will talk
to her till we come back."
At half-past ten three pink skirts fluttered out of a carriage at
Miss Isabel's door. The Mass was to be at eleven. It would have
been dreadful to have been late, and they had all insisted on their
privilege of seeing Miss Isabel first in her bridal dress. Very sweet
and lovely she looked with the white veil crowning her bright hair, and
such a peaceful look on her face that Amy cried out as she kissed her,
"You look so good, Miss Isabel, as well as pretty."
Miss Isabel had three little boxes all ready containing her gifts to
her bridesmaids, and when they opened them, behold there lay before
their delighted eyes a dear little dove in pearls, so that the only
regret that they felt in wearing their pretty pink dresses, that the
blue badge with the dove was forbidden them, was more than taken away.
Miss Isabel fastened the pins in the soft ruffles around each little
yoke, and whispered to her bridesmaids that these were badges of her
love, as well as reminders of the club and the happiness that had come
from it. And she satisfied Trix's solicitude for Jack by assuring her
that he had a pin precisely like theirs for a scarf-pin.
Then she kissed each face under its big mull hat, gathered up her
gloves, and they all went down to get into the carriages to drive to
the church, whence Miss Isabel should return Miss Isabel no longer.
The little church was filled, for Miss Isabel had many friends, and
everybody was deeply interested in this wedding because they knew it
was the happy ending of an old story. And everybody knew, too, that
it had come about through the children's club, and the old women in
the side aisles nudged each other as the Lohengrin wedding march
pealed through the church, and whispered, "There they are; there are
the children," as the three little maids in pink came slowly down the
aisle, preceding Miss Isabel on the arm of her uncle, who had come all
the way from Chicago that on this great day she might have the arm of
one of her kindred on which to lean.
And Mr. Dean met her at the sanctuary gate, looking very proud and
happy, with Jack beside him suffering torture from his stiff collar,
but enjoying himself immensely none the less. Then Miss Isabel and Mr.
Dean entered the sanctuary, and Mass began.
It did not seem long to the excited children before the organ once
more pealed forth, this time in the jubilant strains of Mendelssohn's
wedding march, and they were proceeding down the aisle in twos,
Trix and Amy, Margery and Jack, and behind them Mr. and Mrs. Dean,
while audible exclamations of "God bless her!" came from the humbler
friends to whom Miss Isabel had given help and happiness, and tearful
smiles and loving looks followed her from those to whom she had given
happiness also, though they had not needed alms.
The old house looked beautiful on their return. All the rooms were
filled with palms and white and golden chrysanthemums, and the sun lit
up the place into splendor.
"I believe they built these old houses just for weddings and balls; I
never knew it could look so fine," said Jack to Margery, pausing on
the threshold, and feeling without understanding why that the dignified
old rooms were made for grandeur.
At the wedding breakfast Margery, as first bridesmaid, sat at Mrs.
Dean's right hand, and Jack at Mr. Dean's left, Trix next to him, and
Amy next Margery. They found that for once in their life they had
enough ice-cream and dainties, and Jack leaned over and whispered to
Trix, "I've taken my watch out, and I can't get it back," which remark
caused Trix to choke in the most embarrassing manner over her last
spoonful of ice.
Jack had hardly succeeded in the difficult task of restoring his watch
to the tight vest, and was sitting back at peace with all mankind, when
he heard Mr. Dean saying something so dreadful that he could not credit
his own ears. He looked up; Mr. Dean's eyes had a twinkle in them that
Jack had learned meant mischief, and he certainly was saying:
"Mr. John Hildreth, my best man, will make a few remarks on this happy
occasion."
Jack sank back farther, looking painfully red and frightened, but Trix
poked him energetically.
"Get up, Jack; he wants you to make a speech," she whispered. "You've
got to do it. Pooh! what do you care; you know most of the people here."
Jack arose; his very ears were crimson, and his voice trembled.
"Ladies and gentlemen," poor Jack began.
"Hear! hear!" cried one of the guests, in what was meant for
encouragement, but had the opposite effect.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Jack said again, "I didn't know best men had to
make speeches. I never made a speech."
Here the poor child stuck fast, and Mrs. Dean whispered to her husband
to be merciful and tease him no more, while Trix in a stage whisper
said, "Go on, say something about the weather, the breakfast, and Miss
Isabel, or Mr. Dean, or anything."
"I think we have very nice weather for a wedding," Jack went on, acting
on this hint; "and once I heard a saying, 'Happy the bride that the
sun shines on.' And we've had a fine breakfast, and enjoyed ourselves
very much, and I couldn't eat another bit. And we all love Miss Isabel
so much, that at first we didn't want Mr. Dean to marry her, but after
we got acquainted with him we didn't mind, because he's most as nice
as she is. So we were willing--I mean Margery, and Trix, and Amy, and
me--and I--to have her marry him, and we're all perfectly satisfied,
and we think they've had a nice wedding, and we hope they'll have a
great many more."
A great deal of laughter and cheering greeted this happy ending, under
cover of which Trix whispered:
"O Jack! you goose; why did you go and spoil it? The rest was splendid.
They can't have a great many more weddings; people don't keep getting
married."
"Some people do," retorted Jack. "Isn't there a tombstone in the
cemetery that says, 'Here lies Amos Barnes, and Amelia, and Frances,
and Rosa, and Harriet, wife of the above'?" However, Jack got upon his
feet again, quite emboldened by his success. "I didn't mean we hoped
they'd have a great many more; I meant we wish them many happy returns
of the same."
And not even Trix could see why the guests laughed again, but they
applauded heartily, and Mr. and Mrs. Dean told Jack that his speech was
very nice, and they thanked him very much. So Jack felt rather puffed
up, and tried hard not to look as if the eyes of the world were on
him; and under cover of the applause for Jack, Mr. and Mrs. Dean arose
and slipped away up-stairs, and presently they reappeared, Mr. Dean
carrying an umbrella and a travelling shawl, and Mrs. Dean dressed all
in soft dove-gray with chinchilla collar, and the children saw that
she had pinned on her breast the blue badge of the H. T. C. And that
one little act explained why they had so loved Miss Isabel, for even
in that exciting moment she remembered to give them pleasure. From the
foot of the stairs, all down the long hall, and out the door, even
while Mrs. Dean paused to kiss her small bridesmaids, swarming eagerly
around her, she was pelted with a shower of rice, and it rattled on the
top of the carriage as the door shut, and Jack hit the back with an old
slipper provided for that purpose, and then the wheels rattled down the
gravel of the driveway, and Miss Isabel was gone.
A feeling of desolation crept over the children; the girls' eyes were
full of tears, and Jack felt a lump in his throat, for though they knew
that Miss Isabel would be back in two weeks, it seemed horribly like
giving her up. But the situation was saved from becoming melancholy by
Amy's small brother, who, standing quietly in his white dress and blue
kid shoes, had been watching the departure from under his waving mop of
golden hair. He now trotted off to the parlor, and returned with the
hearth-broom.
"Well, if nobody else is goin' to get married, I dess I'd better thweep
up dis rice," he remarked, and everybody laughed, and the solemnity of
the moment was broken up.
Fifteen minutes passed, and most of the guests had gone, when children
began arriving, and more and more, till Amy, Trix, Margery, and Jack
were completely puzzled to see all their schoolmates enter. But Mrs.
Gresham explained the mystery by telling them that it was a plan of
Miss Isabel's to surprise Margery, as it was her birthday, as well as
Miss Isabel's wedding-day. So she had asked Mrs. Gresham to help her,
and the orchestra was to remain, and the children were to have a party
for the rest of the afternoon. This exciting information drove all
thoughts of loneliness out of the children's heads, and soon the big
rooms were filled with gay little figures, dancing to the liveliest
music under the stately palms and bright golden chrysanthemums. And
so while the cars were whirling their dear Miss Isabel away to begin
her new life, her loving thought gave Margery a happy ending of her
birthday, and made the children feel that she was still too near them
to be lonely, and that the time would be all too short for them to plan
the welcome home that they meant to give her.