y
Girl, "except--ex-cept--"

"Except who?" asked Felix.

"Never mind," said the Story Girl mysteriously.

CHAPTER XVII. AUNT OLIVIA'S WEDDING

What a delightful, old-fashioned, wholesome excitement there was about
Aunt Olivia's wedding! The Monday and Tuesday preceding it we did not go
to school at all, but were all kept home to do chores and run errands.
The cooking and decorating and arranging that went on those two days
was amazing, and Felicity was so happy over it all that she did not even
quarrel with Dan--though she narrowly escaped it when he told her that
the Governor's wife was coming to the wedding.

"Mind you have some of her favourite rusks for her," he said.

"I guess," said Felicity with dignity, "that Aunt Olivia's wedding
supper will be good enough for even a Governor's wife."

"I s'pose none of us except the Story Girl will get to the first table,"
said Felix, rather gloomily.

"Never mind," comforted Felicity. "There's a whole turkey to be kept for
us, and a freezerful of ice cream. Cecily and I are going to wait on the
tables, and we'll put away a little of everything that's extra nice for
our suppers."

"I do so want to have my supper with you," sighed Sara Ray, "but I
s'pose ma will drag me with her wherever she goes. She won't trust me
out of her sight a minute the whole evening--I know she won't."

"I'll get Aunt Olivia to ask her to let you have your supper with us,"
said Cecily. "She can't refuse the bride's request."

"You don't know all ma can do," returned Sara darkly. "No, I feel that
I'll have to eat my supper with her. But I suppose I ought to be very
thankful I'm to get to the wedding at all, and that ma did get me a
new white dress for it. Even yet I'm so scared something will happen to
prevent me from getting to it."

Monday evening shrouded itself in clouds, and all night long the voice
of the wind answered to the voice of the rain. Tuesday the downpour
continued. We were quite frantic about it. Suppose it kept on raining
over Wednesday! Aunt Olivia couldn't be married in the orchard then.
That would be too bad, especially when the late apple tree had most
obligingly kept its store of blossom until after all the other trees had
faded and then burst lavishly into bloom for Aunt Olivia's wedding. That
apple tree was always very late in blooming, and this year it was a week
later than usual. It was a sight to see--a great tree-pyramid with high,
far-spreading bough