g that this last had an emerald--"A
very large emerald, my dear, surrounded by diamonds, green and white
being the colours of his lordship's shield, what they call the nebuly
coat, you know."

A variety of wedding gifts found their way to Bellevue Lodge. "Great
events, such as marriages and deaths, certainly do call forth the
sympathy of our neighbours in a wonderful way," Miss Joliffe said, with
all the seriousness of an innocent belief in the general goodness of
mankind. "Till Anstice was engaged, I never knew, I am sure, how many
friends I had in Cullerne." She showed "the presents" to successive
callers, who examined them with the more interest because they had
already seen most of them in the shop-windows of Cullerne, and so were
able to appreciate the exact monetary outlay with which their
acquaintances thought it prudent to conciliate the Fording interest.
Every form of useless ugliness was amply represented among them--
vulgarity masqueraded as taste, niggardliness figured as generosity--and
if Miss Joliffe was proud of them as she forwarded them from Cullerne,
Anastasia was heartily ashamed of them when they reached her in London.

"We must let bygones be bygones," said Mrs Parkyn to her husband with
truly Christian forbearance, "and if this young man's choice has not
fallen exactly where we could have wished, we must remember, after all,
that he _is_ Lord Blandamer, and make the best of the lady for his sake.
We must give her a present; in your position as Rector you could not
afford to be left out. Everyone, I hear, is giving something."

"Well, don't let it be anything extravagant," he said, laying down his
paper, for his interest was aroused by any question of expense. "A too
costly gift would be quite out of place under the circumstances. It
should be rather an expression of goodwill to Lord Blandamer than
anything of much intrinsic value."

"Of course, of course. You may trust me not to do anything foolish. I
have my eye on just the thing. There is a beautiful set of four
salt-cellars with their spoons at Laverick's, in a case lined with
puffed satin. They only cost thirty-three shillings, and look worth at
least three pounds."

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

The wedding was quiet, and there being no newspapers at that time to
take such matters for their province, Cullerne curiosity had to be
contented with the bare announcement: "At Saint Agatha's-at-Bow, Horatio
Sebastian Fynes, Lord Blandamer,