d be. She wondered how she would feel if the time ever
came for her to stand in Eugenia's place, and plight her faith to some
man in that way--"_for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in
sickness and in health, until death us do part_."

Eliot was crying softly in her corner now. Yes, getting married was a
terribly solemn thing. It didn't end with the ceremony and the pretty
clothes and the shower of congratulations. That was only the beginning.
"_For better, for worse_,"--that might mean all sorts of trouble and
heartache. "_Sickness and death_,"--it meant to be bound all one's life
to one person, morning, noon, and night. How very, very careful one
would have to be in choosing,--and then suppose one made a mistake and
thought the man she was marrying was good and honest and true, and he
_wasn't_! It would be all the same, for "_for better, for worse_," ran
the vow, "_until death us do part_."

Then and there, holding fast to the gate of roses, Mary made up her mind
that she could never, never screw her courage up to the point of taking
the vows Eugenia was taking, as she stood with her hand clasped in
Stuart's, and the late sunshine of the sweet June day streaming down on
her like a benediction.

"It's lots safer to be an old maid," thought Mary. "I'll take my chances
getting the diamond leaf some other way than marrying. Anyhow, if I ever
should make a choice, I'll ask somebody else's opinion, like I do when I
go shopping, so I'll be sure I'm getting a real prince, and not an
imitation one."

It was all over in another moment. Harp and violins burst into the
joyful notes of Mendelssohn's march, and Stuart and Eugenia turned from
the altar to pass through the rose gate together. Lloyd and Phil
followed, then the other attendants in the order of their entrance. On
the wide porch, screened and canopied with smilax and roses, a cool
green out-of-doors reception-room had been made. Here they stood to
receive their guests.

Mary, in all the glory of her pink chiffon dress and satin slippers,
stood at the end of the receiving line, feeling that this one experience
was well worth the long journey from Arizona. So thoroughly did she
delight in her part of the affair, and so heartily did she enter into
her duties, that more than one guest passed on, smiling at her evident
enjoyment.

"I wish this wedding could last a week," she confided to Lieutenant
Logan, when he paused beside her. "Don't you know, they did in