to-night,"
said madam. "This must be the veil, I think," she concluded, lifting a
large box from the case, and passing it to her companion.

Edith removed the cover, and uttered an involuntary cry of delight,
for before her there lay a great mass of finest tulle, made up into a
bridal veil, and surmounted by a coronet of white waxen
orange-blossoms.

An examination of two other boxes disclosed a pair of white satin
boots, embroidered with pearls, and a pair of long white kid gloves.

"Everything is exquisite, and so complete," murmured Edith, as she
laid them all out beside the dress, and then stood gazing in wrapt
admiration upon the outfit.

"Yes, of course, the bride will be the most conspicuous figure--the
cynosure of all eyes, in fact--so she would need to be as complete and
perfect as possible," Mrs. Goddard explained, but watching the girl,
warily, out of the corners of her eyes.

"Who is going to wear it?" Edith inquired, as she caressingly
straightened out a spray of orange blossoms that had caught in a mesh
of the lace.

Madam's eyes gleamed strangely at the question.

"Miss Kerby takes the part of the heroine of the play," she answered,
"whom, by the way, I called Edith, because I like the name so much. I
did not think you would mind."

"Oh, no," said the girl, absently. Then, with a little start, she
exclaimed, as she lifted something from the box from which the gloves
had been taken: "But what is this?"

It was a small half-circle of fine white gauze, edged with a fringe of
frosted silver, while a tiny chain of the same material was attached
to each end.

"Oh! that is the mask," said Mrs. Goddard.

"The mask?" repeated Edith, surprised.

"Yes; I don't wonder you look astonished, to find such a thing among
the outfit of a bride," said madam, with a peculiar little laugh; "but
although it is a profound secret to everybody outside the actors, I
will explain it to you, as the time is so near. You understand this is
a play that I have myself written."

"Yes."

"Well, I have entitled it 'The Masked Bridal,' and it is a very
cunningly devised plot, on the part of a pair of lovers whose obdurate
parents refuse to allow them to marry," Madam explained. "Edith
Lancaster is an American girl, and Henri Bernard is a Frenchman. They
have a couple of friends whose wedding is set for a certain date, and
who plan to help them outwit the parents of Edith and Henri. The scene
is, of course, laid in Paris,