or I shall just lock the case up again and leave you without
anything. Oh, you'd like _The Old Curiosity Shop_! Then why couldn't you
say so at first?"

Though Dorothy had settled on a Dickens for the sake of making some
choice, she had no intention of reading just at present, and she
sauntered into the gymnasium to see what the others were doing. It was
not the day for a dramatic rehearsal, and nothing particular was going
on. Some of the girls were playing rounders, but most were standing
about chatting, and waiting for the dinner bell. Hope Lawson and Blanche
Hall were talking together, and as Dorothy passed she caught a fragment
of their conversation.

"We shall have to fly, the second dinner is over," said Hope; "but I
believe we shall just be able to do it."

"If we only get a peep at the dresses as they go in, it will be worth
it," replied Blanche. "I hear there are to be twelve bridesmaids and two
pages. We'll do a bolt!"

"What are Hope and Blanche talking about?" said Dorothy to Addie Parker,
who was standing close by.

"Why, there's a grand wedding at St. Peter's at two o'clock. Miss
Russell is to be married, and I suppose it will be ever such a swell
affair. They were laying down red carpets when I passed this morning. I
peeped into the church, and some men were just bringing pots of the
loveliest flowers."

"Are Hope and Blanche going to see it, then?"

"Yes, no doubt. Bertha Warren and I mean to go, and so do Annie Gray and
Joyce Hickson. I wouldn't miss it for the world. You'd better come."

"I'll think about it," returned Dorothy.

The more she considered the idea the more she liked it, in spite of the
fact that it was a rather doubtful adventure. There was no exact rule
that the girls should not leave the College during the dinner hour, but
it was well understood, all the same, that they remained on the
premises.

"Miss Tempest has never said so," thought Dorothy, "nor have any of the
mistresses. When a thing hasn't been forbidden, I suppose it's allowed.
St. Peter's is just round the corner, so I declare I'll go. I've never
seen a smart wedding."

As soon as dinner was over she fled to the dressing-room to put on her
outdoor clothes, then, as Blanche described it, she "did a bolt". She
much preferred going by herself to joining Addie Parker and Bertha
Warren, so she scurried along, hoping they would not overtake her. At
the lich-gate of the church she came upon Hope Lawson and Blanche Hal