istmas at Wantley.

[Illustration]

Now are all the people long awake and out of their beds. Wantley Manor
is stirring busily in each quarter of the house and court, and the
whole county likewise is agog. By seven o'clock this morning it was
noised in every thatched cottage and in every gabled hall that the
great Dragon had been captured. Some said by Saint George in person,
who appeared riding upon a miraculous white horse and speaking a
tongue that nobody could understand, wherefore it was held to be the
language common in Paradise. Some declared Saint George had nothing to
do with it, and that this was the pious achievement of Father Anselm.
Others were sure Miss Elaine had fulfilled the legend and conquered
the monster entirely by herself. One or two, hearing the event had
taken place in Sir Godfrey's wine-cellar, said they thought the Baron
had done it,--and were immediately set down as persons of unsound
mind. But nobody mentioned Geoffrey at all, until the Baron's
invitations, requesting the honour of various people's presence at the
marriage of his daughter Elaine to that young man, were received; and
that was about ten o'clock, the ceremony being named for twelve that
day in the family chapel. Sir Godfrey intended the burning of the
Dragon to take place not one minute later than half-past eleven.
Accordingly, besides the invitation to the chapel, all friends and
neighbours whose position in the county or whose intimacy with the
family entitled them to a recognition less formal and more personal,
received a second card which ran as follows: "Sir Godfrey Disseisin at
home Wednesday morning, December the twenty-fifth, from half after
eleven until the following day. Dancing; also a Dragon will be
roasted. R. S. V. P." The Disseisin crest with its spirited motto,
"Saute qui peult," originated by the venerable Primer Disseisin,
followed by his son Tortious Disseisin, and borne with so much renown
in and out of a hundred battles by a thousand subsequent Disseisins,
ornamented the top left-hand corner.

"I think we shall have but few refusals," said the Rev. Hucbald to Sir
Godfrey. "Not many will be prevented by previous engagements, I
opine." And the Chaplain smiled benignly, rubbing his hands. He had
published the banns of matrimony three times in a lump before
breakfast. "Which is rather unusual," he said; "but under the
circumstances we shall easily obtain a dispensation."

"In providing such an entertainmen