tled her slender shoulders against the velvet.

Now the satin gown crossed the carpet, and its wearer let fall the
veiling which she had upborne on her outstretched arms. "Mrs. Milo," she
began.

"Oh!" Mrs. Milo straightened, but without turning, and the fear that the
other had heard her curt dismissal of the florist showed in the quick
shifting of her look. When she spoke again, her voice was all
gentleness. "Yes, my dear new daughter?" she inquired.

Hattie Balcome cocked her head to one side, extended a satin-clad foot,
threw out her hands with fingers extended, and struck a grotesque pose.
"Turn--and behold!" she bade sepulchrally.

Mrs. Milo turned. "A-a-a-ah!" Then having given the wedding-gown a
brief scrutiny, "Er--yes--hm! It's quite pretty."

"Quite pretty!" repeated Hattie. She revolved once, slowly. "What's the
matter with it?"

"We-e-e-ell," began Mrs. Milo, appraising the gown at more length; "isn't
it rather simple, my dear,--for a girl whose father is as wealthy as
yours? Somehow I expected at least a little real lace."

Hattie laughed. "What on earth could I do with real lace in the
mountains of Peru?"

"Peru!" Instantly Mrs. Milo's face grew long. "Then--then my son has
finally decided to accept the position in Peru." Now she took her
underlip in her teeth; and her lashes fluttered as if to keep back tears.

"But you won't miss him terribly, will you? As it is you don't have
him--you don't see such a lot of him."

"Of course, as you say, I don't have him--except for a couple of weeks in
the summer, when Sue has her vacation, and we all go to the Catskills.
Then at Christmastime he comes here for a week. Sue has never asked
permission to have Wallace live at the Rectory----"

"Except of Mr. Farvel."

"Mr. Farvel didn't have to be asked. He and Wallace are old friends.
They met years ago--once when Wallace went to Canada with a boy chum.
And Canada's the farthest he's ever been, so----"

"It was I who decided on Peru," said the girl, almost defiantly. "The
very day he proposed to me he told me about the big silver mine down
there that wants a young engineer. And I said Yes on one condition: that
Wallace would take me as far away from home as possible."

The elder woman rose, finger on lip. "Sh!" she cautioned, glancing
toward the door left open by the florist. "Oh, we don't want any gossip,
Hattie!"

Hattie lifted her eyebrows. "We don't want it," she agreed, "but