little house.
It was no commonplace country home now, though the changes wrought had
been comparatively slight. It looked as if it might have stood for years
in just this fashion, yet it was as far removed from its primitive
characterless condition as may be an artist's drawing of a face upon which
he has altered but a line.

Mrs. Dingley and Mr. Horatio Marcy--a pair whose presence anywhere would
have been a voucher for the decorum of the most unconventional
proceedings--welcomed the party upon the wide, uncovered porch.

"We're going to be married very soon, to have it over," called Anthony.
"But you may explore the house first, so your minds shall be at rest
during the crisis. Just don't wander too far away in examining this
ancestral mansion. There are six rooms. I should advise your going in
line, otherwise complications may occur in the upper hall. Please don't
all try to get into the kitchen at once; it can't be done. It will hold
Juliet and me at the same time--all the rooms have been stretched to do
that--they had to be; but I'm not sure as to their capacity for more. Now
make yourselves absolutely at home. The place is yours--for a few hours.
After that it's mine--and Juliet's."

He glanced, laughing, at his bride, as he spoke from where he stood in the
doorway. She was on the little landing of the staircase, at the opposite
end of the living-room. She looked down and across at him, and nearly
everybody in the room--they were thronging through at the moment--caught
that glance. She was smiling back at him, and her eyes lingered only an
instant after they met his, but her friends all saw. There could be no
question that the Juliet Marcy who, since she had laid aside her
pinafores, had kept many men at bay, had at last surrendered. As for
Anthony----

"Why, he's always been in love with her," said the Bishop's son in the ear
of the best man, as in accordance with their host's permission they peeped
admiringly in at the little kitchen, "but any idiot can see that he's
fairly off his feet now. Ideal condition--eh? Say, this dining-room's
great--Jove, it is. I'm going to get asked out here to dinner as soon as
they are back. Let's go upstairs. The girls are just coming down--hear 'em
gurgling over what they saw?"

Upstairs the best man looked in at the blue-and-white room with eyes which
one with penetration might have said were envious. Indeed, he stared at
everything with much the same expression. He was the