nely life.

After her marriage, Geraldine did not often honor Allington with her
presence. It was far too quiet there to suit her, and Lucy lived too
much the life of a recluse. No little breakfasts, no lunches, no evening
parties at which she could display her elegant Paris costumes; nothing
except now and then a stupid dinner party, to which the rector and his
wife were invited, and that detestable Miss McPherson, who said such
rude things, and told her her complexion was not what it used to be, and
that she looked older than her sister Lucy. Miss McPherson was an
abomination, and going to the country was a bore, but still Geraldine
felt obliged to visit Allington occasionally, and especially on
Thanksgiving day, when it is expected that the sons and daughters of New
England will return to the old home, and grow young again under the
roof which sheltered their childhood.

And so, on the morning when our story properly opens, Mr. and Mrs.
Burton Jerrold and their son Grey, a well grown lad of fourteen, left
their home on Beacon street, and with crowds of other city people took
the train for the country, to keep the festal day.

CHAPTER IV.

THANKSGIVING DAY AT GREY'S PARK.

The season had been unusually warm and pleasant for New England, and
until the morning of Thanksgiving Day the grass upon the lawn at Grey's
Park had been almost as fresh and green as in the May days of spring,
for only the autumnal rains had fallen upon it, and the November wind
had blown as softly as if it had just kissed the wave of some southern
sea, where it is summer always. But with the dawning of Thanksgiving
Day, there was a change, and the carriage which was sent from Grey's
Park to the station to meet the guests from Boston was covered with
snow, and Mrs. Geraldine shivered, and drew her fur-lined cloak more
closely around her as she stepped from the train, and looking ruefully
down at her little French boots, said petulantly:

"Why do they never clear the snow from the platform, I wonder, and how
am I to walk to the carriage? It is positively ankle deep, and I with
silk stockings on!"

Mrs. Geraldine was not in an enviable frame of mind. She had declined an
invitation to a grand dinner party, for the sake of going to Allington,
where it was always snowing or raining or doing something disagreeable,
and her face was anything but pleasant as she stood there in the snow.

A very slave to her opinions and wishes, her husband