ng_, Mr. Nisbet, the fact that my elder
daughter is to marry Mr. Barclay"--

Dorothy's eyebrows went up resignedly as she bent with affected
solicitude over the alcohol lamp, than which none ever burned more
blamelessly. There was no stopping Mrs. Rathbawne now!

"One has to keep his position in mind," she was saying. "It isn't like
the _usual_ marriage, which interests only the families and friends of
the persons concerned, you know. It isn't even as if only Kenton City
were looking on. _All_ Alleghenia will be on the _qui vive_, Mr. Nisbet,
_all_ the state of Alleghenia. I shouldn't wonder if _some_ notice were
taken of the event, even at Washington. Marrying a statesman, you
see,--a Lieutenant-Governor! Oh, it's _quite_ different--_quite_! _Do_
sit up straight, Dorothy, my dear!"

She continued to prattle of the momentous marriage impending, until her
complacent chatter was interrupted by the entrance of her half-sister,
Mrs. Wynyard, and the elder Miss Rathbawne.

The two newcomers were both beautiful, in widely dissimilar ways. Helen
Wynyard, Mrs. Rathbawne's junior by nearly a score of years, retained at
thirty the transparent brilliancy of complexion which, at eighteen, had
made her the most admired _debutante_ of her season in San Francisco.
Her marriage with Ellery Wynyard had caused a great to-do among the
gossips, and, later, had defrauded them pitilessly of their
self-promised "I told you so's," by reason of the death of the handsome
young rake, before the rose-color of the honeymoon had begun to fade.
Beauty, wit, and infallible tact she inherited from her mother, shrewd
business ability and a keen insight into men and things from her father,
and wealth and a certain attractive audacity of speech from her
husband; and five years of widowhood only served to develop and
emphasize the promise of her first season. There were numerous feet
which aspired to be shod with Ellery Wynyard's discarded shoes, but no
one pair, said the world, so much as an inch in advance of the rest.

Mrs. Wynyard was spending the winter with her half-sister, and the
Rathbawnes, whom the circumstance of widely distant residence had always
kept from coming into close touch with her, were equally at a loss when
they wondered how they had formerly contrived to exist without her, and
in what manner they should resign themselves to giving her up. She was a
woman who came amazingly near to being indispensable.

For the moment, Natalie