attendants to
serve it.

There was only one hitch in the entire programme. That was that when they
got to the church Tweedwell did not show up. Jack was distressed even
though Mrs. Rosscott laughed. Mitchell wanted to read the ceremony, but
Aunt Mary was afraid it wouldn't be legal, and Mr. Stebbins agreed with
her. In the end the regular clergyman married them; and just as they were
all filing out they met Tweedwell and Lucinda tearing along, he in his
surplice and she in the black silk dress which Aunt Mary had given her in
celebration of the occasion. They were both too exhausted to be able to
explain for several minutes; but it finally came out (of Lucinda) that
Burnett, whose place it was to have overseen officiating Tweedwell, had
forgotten all about him, and the poor fellow, exhausted by his long
journey, had never awakened until Lucinda, going in to clear up his room,
had let forth a piercing howl of surprise.

So far from dampening anyone's spirits this little _contretemps_ only
seemed to set things off at a livelier pace. They had a brisk ride home,
and the wedding feast and the wedding cake were all that could be desired.
What went with it was the finest that any of the guests ever tasted before
or since, and the champagne was all but served in beer steins.

When it came to the healths they drank to Aunt Mary along with the bride
and groom, and Mitchell made a speech, invoking Heaven's blessings on the
triple compact and covering himself with glory.

"Here's to Aunt Mary and her bride and her groom," he cried, when they
told him to rise and proclaim. "Here's to Aunt Mary and her bride and
groom, and here's to their health and their wealth and their happiness.
Here's to their brilliant past, their roseate present and their gorgeous
future. And here's to hoping that Fate, who is ready and willing to deal
any man a bride, may some time see fit to deal some one of us another such
as Jack's Aunt Mary. So I propose her health before all else. Aunt Mary,
long may she wave!"

Aunt Mary looked as if words and actions were poor things in which to
attempt to express her feelings, but no one who glanced at her could be in
two minds as to her state of approval as to everything that was going on.

The bridal pair drove away somewhere after five o'clock, and about seven
the main body of the guests returned to the city.

Mrs. Rosscott's mother and Mitchell and Burnett remained a day or two to
keep Aunt Mary from feeli