the white folks. There were seventeen in the
party, too many to sit comfortably on the two benches, so a chair was
brought for Miss Allison. After the grown people were seated, each of
the little girls managed to squeeze in at the end of the seats nearest
the aisle. Lloyd found herself seated between Mary Ware and Alex
Shelby. Leaning forward to look along the bench, she found that Bernice
came next in order to Alex, then Lieutenant Stanley and Allison, Doctor
Bradford and Betty.

She had merely said good evening to Alex Shelby when they met at The
Beeches, and, although positions in the procession through the woods had
shifted constantly, it had happened she had not been near enough to talk
with him. Now, with only Mary Ware to claim her attention, they
naturally fell into conversation. It was only in whispers, for the
audience was assembling rapidly, and the usher had opened the organ in
token that the service was about to begin.

There had been an attempt to decorate for the occasion. Friends of the
bride had resurrected both the Christmas and Easter mottoes, so that the
wall behind the pulpit bore in tall, white cotton letters, on a
background of cedar, the words, "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men."
Fresh cedar had been substituted for the yellowed branches left over
from the previous Christmas, and fresh diamond dust sprinkled over the
grimy cotton to give it its pristine sparkle of Yule-tide frost.

"An appropriate motto for a wedding," whispered Alex Shelby to Lloyd.
Only his eyes laughed. His face was as solemn as the usher's own as he
turned to gaze at the word "Welcome" over the door, and the fringe of
paper Easter lilies draping the top of each uncurtained window.

Bernice claimed his attention several moments, then he turned to Lloyd
again. "Do tell me, Miss Lloyd," he begged, "what is that wonderfully
and fearfully made thing in the front of the pulpit? Is it a doorway or
a giant picture-frame? And what part is it to play in the ceremony?"

Lloyd's face dimpled, and an amused smile flashed up at him from the
corner of her eye. Then she lowered her long lashes demurely, and seemed
to be engrossed with her bunch of roses as she answered him.

"The coquettish thing!" thought Bernice, seeing the glance but not
hearing the whisper which followed it.

"Sh! Don't make me laugh! Everybody is watching to see if the white
folks are making fun of things, and I'm actually afraid to look up again
for feah I'll g