nd shook softly. "I
thought at first it might be a part of the show," whispered one, "but I
guess it wasn't planned."

Esther was conscious of every whisper and every glance; shame seemed to
engulf her, but she entered the church holding her head high. When they
emerged into the sunshine again, she would have been glad to run away,
but she was forced to pause while her mother made an announcement.

"The refreshments will be ready by ten," she said, "and as we calculate
to keep the tables runnin' all day, those that can't come one time can
come another."

After which there was a little rice-throwing, and the young couple
departed. The frolic partly revived Esther's spirits; but her mother,
toiling heavily along with a hard day's work before her, was inclined to
speak her mind. Her brother-in-law, however, restrained her.

"Seems to me I never seen anything quite so cute as that little feller
a-ringin' that bell for the weddin'. Who put him up to it, anyhow?"

"Why, Esther. She was so set on havin' a 'chime,' as she called it."

"Well, it was a real good idee! A _real_ good idee!" and he kept
repeating the phrase as though in a perfect ecstasy of appreciation.

When Esther reached home, she and Joe arranged the tables in the side
yard, but when the first guest turned in at the gate her mother sent her
to the house. "Now you go into the parlor and rest. You can just as well
sit under that dove as stand under it," she said.

The girl started listlessly to obey, but the next words revived her like
wine:

"I declare it's Mis' Lawrence, and she's bringing that water-set; she
hung on to it till the last minit."

Esther flew to her chamber and donned her veil, which she had laid
aside, then sped down-stairs; but when she passed through the parlor she
put her hands over her eyes: she wanted to look at the water-set first
with Joe. He was no longer helping her mother, and she fluttered about
looking for him. The rooms would soon be crowded, and then there would
be no opportunity to examine the wonderful gift.

She darted down a foot-path that crossed the yard diagonally. It led to
a gap in the stone-wall which opened on a lane. Esther and Joe had been
in the habit of walking here of an evening. It was scarcely more than a
grassy way overhung by leaning branches of old fruit trees, but it was a
short-cut to the cottage Joe had rented. Now Esther's feet, of their own
volition, carried her here. She slid through the openi