th Nora and Jessica. You know there were only four of us in
the beginning." It had also been decided that in spite of the fact that
Jessica and Nora were really eligible to the position of matrons of
honor, that phase of wedding etiquette should, for once, be disregarded,
and the three friends who had welcomed Anne as a fourth to their little
fold should serve as bridesmaids and be dressed precisely alike. "It
was," declared Anne, who heartily despised form, "as though they were
still three girls together, with husbands in the dim and distant
future."

It was to be a yellow and white wedding, therefore the gowns they had
chosen were of white silk net over pale yellow satin, and very youthful
in effect. Miriam's gown was a wonderful gold tissue, which made her
appear like the princess in some old fairy tale, while Anne, contrary to
tradition, had not chosen white satin. Her wedding dress was of soft,
exquisite white silk, clouded with white chiffon, and was much better
suited to her quiet type of loveliness than satin could possibly have
been.

Mrs. Gray, who was to give the bride away, wore a gown of her favorite
lavender satin, and bustled cheerfully about the Piersons' living room,
in which the feminine half of the bridal party had gathered until time
to drive to the church, where Anne was to play the leading part in a new
and infinitely wonderful drama. Anne's mother had insisted that it
should be Mrs. Gray, rather than herself, who gave Anne into David
Nesbit's keeping. Always a shy, retiring woman, she had shrunk from the
idea of appearing prominently before a church full of persons, many of
whom were strangers to her. Dearly as she loved her talented daughter,
she preferred to sit quietly beside Mary, her older daughter, in the
place of honor reserved for the members of the families of the bridal
party. She and Mrs. Gray had discussed the matter at length, and she had
been so insistent that the former, as Anne's friend and benefactor,
should give away the bride that Mrs. Gray, secretly delighted, had
consented to her request.

"Anne makes a darling bride, doesn't she?" praised Nora, lifting a fold
of the veil of exquisite lace, Mrs. Gray's wedding veil, by the way, and
peering lovingly into her friend's faintly flushed face.

Anne smiled and reached out a slim little hand to Nora. She was
occupying the center of the living room while her four friends, Mrs.
Gray, her mother, Miss Southard and Mary Pierson hover