k he is too shy to enjoy
it, dear?"

"I should never have known from his manners at my party that he had
not been in fine company all his life. He is not like the other young
men in Upham," protested Lucina, with a quick rise of spirit.

"Well, I used to hear your grandfather say that there are those who
can suit their steps to any gait," her aunt said. "I understand that
he is a very good young man. We will have him and--"

"I think his sister," said Lucina; "she is such a pretty girl--the
prettiest girl in the village, and it will please her so to be
asked."

"The Edwards boy and his sister, and who else?"

"No one else, I think, Aunt Camilla, except Lawrence Prescott. There
will not be room for more in the arbor."

Lucina did not blush when she said Lawrence Prescott, but her aunt
did. She had often romanced about the two. "Well, dear," she said,
"when shall we have the tea-party?"

"Day after to-morrow, please, Aunt Camilla."

"That will give 'Liza time to make cake," said Camilla. "I will send
the invitations to-morrow, dear."

"'Liza will be too busy cake-making to run on errands," said Lucina,
though her heart smote her, for this was where the true gist of her
duplicity came in; "write them now, Aunt Camilla, and give them to
me. I will see that they are delivered."

The afternoon of the next day Lucina, being out riding, passed Doctor
Prescott's house, and called to Jake Noyes in the yard to take Miss
Camilla's little gilt-edged, lavender-scented note of invitation.
"Please give this to Mr. Lawrence," said she, prettily, and rode on.
The other notes were in her pocket, but she had not delivered them
when she returned home at sunset.

"I am going to run over to Elmira Edwards and carry them," she told
her mother after supper, and pleaded that she would like the air when
Mrs. Merritt suggested that Hannah be sent.

Thus it happened that Jerome Edwards, coming home about nine o'clock
that night, noticed, the moment he opened the outer door, the breath
of roses and lavender, and a subtle thrill of excitement and almost
fear passed over him. "Who is it?" he thought. He listened, and heard
voices in the parlor. He wanted to pass the door, but he could not.
He opened it and peered in, white-faced and wide-eyes, and there was
Lucina with his mother and sister.

Mrs. Edwards and Elmira looked nervously flushed and elated; there
were bright spots on their cheeks, their eyes shone. On the table
were Miss