ive. It
was perfection itself, arranged by whose hand he had no notion, but he
understood well enough by whose order had been created all the simple
elegance which so well suited the house and the people. And as he looked
at Georgiana he said to himself:

"She fits into this as if she had been born to it. She _was_ born to it,
for it's just the kind of thing she'd have made for herself if she'd had
the means. No show, no fuss, just niceness! And it's the sort of thing
my wife shall have, somehow, even in the country, before long. We'll
_bring_ this there; she'll know how. There's no patent on it. Bless
her--how George deserves this! If only Jean could have been here. But
I'll tell her; I'll get it over to her. And she'll understand!"

At the end of the hour the car was at the door, and Georgiana was coming
down the stairs in her traveling clothes, her bridal bouquet on her arm.
How those splendid roses had lighted up the little dark-blue frock!

"I've no bridesmaid to throw it to," she said, extending it toward
Stuart. "Will you take it to Jeannette?"

"I should say I will. I'll be with her this evening; she made me
promise." And Stuart received the offering with a glad hand.

A long, silent clinging to her father was the only parting embrace for
this girl. If James Stuart longed for one of his own, after these years
of friendship, he was obliged to be content with the lustrous look he
had from eyes lifted for a moment to his as Georgiana took her place in
the car, and with the lingering pressure her hand gave his, which spoke
of love and loyalty.

Then she was gone, with Jefferson Craig sending back at Stuart a special
brilliant smile of gratitude for the office he had performed, that of
taking the place of the whole group of young people usually present on
such occasions, saying good-bye with bared head and face of ardent
devotion, with the first light snowflakes of winter falling on his fair
hair.

"I can't believe I'm quite awake," said Georgiana, by and by. She sat in
one of the drawing-rooms of a fast train, the door closed, the curtains
drawn between herself and the rest of the carful of passengers, and only
the flying landscape beyond the window to tell of the world outside.

Craig sat watching her; he seemed able to do nothing else. In his face
was the most joyous content; there seemed almost a light behind it.
"Not awake?" was his amused comment. "I wonder why. Now I feel
tremendously awake--after a l