d sat down side by
side to read the daily portion which was their habit. Then hand in hand
they stole downstairs, disturbing nobody, softly opened doors and windows,
carried bowls and jars out on the porch, and proceeded to arrange a great
basket full of roses which had been brought the night before, and set in
the dew-cool shade of the willows to keep fresh.

Before breakfast all the house had put on festal airs. Summer had come
early to Burnet that year; every garden was in bud and blossom, and every
one who had flowers had sent their best to grace Katy's wedding. The whole
world seemed full of delicious smells. Each table and chimney-piece bore a
fragrant load; a great bowl of Jacqueminots stood in the middle of the
breakfast-table, and two large jars of the same on the porch, where Clover
had arranged various seats and cushions that it might serve as a sort of
outdoor parlor.

Nobody who came to that early breakfast ever forgot its peace and
pleasantness and the sweet atmosphere of affection which seemed to pervade
everything about it. After breakfast came family prayers as usual, Dr.
Carr reading the chapter, and the dear old commodore joining with a hearty
nautical voice in,--

"Awake my soul! and with the sun,"

which was a favorite hymn with all of them. Ned shared Katy's book, and
his face and hers alone would have been breakfast enough for the company
if everything else had failed, as Rose remarked to Clover in a whisper,
though nobody found any fault with the more substantial fare which Debby
had sent in previously. Somehow this little mutual service of prayer and
praise seemed to fit in with the spirit of the day, and give it its
keynote.

"It's just the sweetest wedding," Mrs. Ashe told her brother. "And the
wonderful thing is that everything comes so naturally. Katy is precisely
her usual self,--only a little more so."

"I'm under great obligations to Amy for having that fever," was Ned's
somewhat indirect answer; but his sister understood what he meant.

Breakfast over, the guests discreetly removed themselves; and the whole
family joined in resetting the table for the luncheon, which was to be at
two, Katy and Ned departing in the boat at four. It was a simple but
abundant repast, with plenty of delicious home-cooked food,--oysters and
salads and cold chicken; fresh salmon from Lake Superior; a big Virginia
ham baked to perfection, red and translucent to its savory centre; hot
coffee, and qua