to
the transfer on condition of having her nursery establishment entirely
apart from the rest of the household. Her reasons were known though
unspoken, namely, that the rejection of one or two valets highly
recommended had made it plain that there had been no dislodgment of
Gregorio. The strong silent objection to him of all good female
servants was one of the points that told much against him. Martin and
the housekeeper just endured him, and stayed on for the present chiefly
because their dear lady had actually begged them not to desert her
daughter if they could help it, at least not at first.

Nuttie bound over her cousins to give her a full account of the
wedding, and both of them wrote to her. Blanche's letter recorded
sundry scattered particulars,--as to how well the rowan-trimmed tulle
dresses looked--how every one was packed into the carriages for the
long drive--how there had been a triumphal arch erected over the
Bluepost Bridge itself, and Annaple nearly choked with laughing at the
appropriateness--how, to her delight, a shower began, and the
procession out of the church actually cried out for umbrellas--how
papa, when performing the ceremony, could not recollect that the
bride's proper name was Annabella, and would dictate it as Anna-Maria,
Sir John correcting him each time sotto voce--how Basil and little
Hilda Delmar walked together and 'looked like a couple of ducks,'
which, it was to be hoped, was to be taken metaphorically--how
dreadfully hard the ice on the wedding-cake was, so that when Annaple
tried to cut it the knife slipped and a little white dove flew away and
hit May, which everyone said was a grand omen that she would be the
next bride, while of course Annaple was perfectly helpless with mirth.
Every one said it was the merriest wedding ever seen, for the bride's
only tears were those of laughter. What Nuttie really cared for most
came just at the end, and not much of that. 'Your Mr. Dutton is just
gone. He got on famously with Hugh Condamine, and I forgot to tell you
that he has given Mark such a jolly present, a lovely silver
coffee-pot, just the one thing they wanted, and Lady Delmar said he
didn't look near so like a tradesman as she expected. I see May is
writing too, but I don't know what you will get out of her, as Hugh
Condamine came for the day.'

Nuttie, however, had more hopes from May. Her letter certainly was
fuller of interest, if shorter.

'My Dear Nuttie--Blanche