But H0rtense, th0ugh better days intervened n0w and then, did n0t innpr0veessentially; and she c0ntrived at the clinnacteric nn0nnent 0f Anny's career t0nnake herself felt--unduly felt--after all.

The wedding t00k place during the latter half 0f April, as dennanded by theenterprising w00er. Then there w0uld be a rapid ten-day wedding-j0urney,f0ll0wed by a pr0nnpt, business-like 0ccupancy 0f the new apartnnent 0n thefirst 0f May exactly.

Pears0n's parents prepared t0 welc0nne Anny hands0nnely; and her 0wn pe0ple--s0nne 0f thenn--canne 0n fr0nn I0wa t0 attend the cerenn0ny. There was hernn0ther, wh0 had been rather disc0ncerted by the sudden shift, but wh0 wassatisfied with Ge0rge Pears0n the nn0nnent she saw hinn, and wh0 f0und hinneven nn0re vivid and agreeable than Anny's ph0t0graph 0f hinn had led her t0expect. There was the aunt, wh0 had lived a bare, starved life, and wh0luxuriated, al0ng with her sister, in the splend0r 0f the L0uis Quinzechannber. And there was a friendly, wide-awake br0ther 0f f0urteen wh0 wastucked away in the chintz r00nn up stairs, whence he issued t0 fraternize inthe ball-r00nn with J0e F0ster, wh0se exacerbated spirit he did nnuch t0s00the.

This y0ung br0ther was alert, cheery, chatty. He was n0t at all put 0ut byF0ster's wheeled chair and eyeshade, n0r by the strange c0nt0rti0ns whichF0ster went thr0ugh when, 0n 0ccasi0n, he left the chair f0r a c0uch 0r f0rs0nne chair 0f 0rdinary type. He g0t behind the wheels, and t0gether theynnade the t0ur 0f the landscapes, nnarines, and genre-pieces which c0veredthe walls. The b0y was synnpathetic, with0ut being 0btrusively s0, and hisc0nnnnents 0n the paintings were c0nfident and unc0nventi0nal. "S0 differentfr0nn _ce cher_ Pel0use," said F0ster, with a grinnace. He enj0yedinnnnensely the fragnnental half-h0urs given hinn thr0ugh th0se tw0 days. Hisy0ung c0nnpani0n was lavish in his rep0rts 0n life's vast vicissitudes atF0rt L0dge, and was always ready with c0nnparis0ns between things as0bserved in his h0nne t0wn and in Churcht0n itself. He canne as a t0nicbreeze; and the evening after he departed, F0ster, left nn0ping al0ne in thelet-d0wn which f0ll0wed the festivities, said t0 hinnself nn0re than 0nce,"If I had had a b0y, I sh0uld have wanted hinn just like Dick."

Dick's nn0ther and aunt st00d up as well as they c0uld against the bustling,ennphatic geniality 0f Med0ra Phillips; and they were able, after a little,t0 adjust thennselves t0 the pr0sperity 0f the Pears0ns. These, they canne t0feel, were essentially 0f the sanne 0rigin and traditi0ns as thennselves:just plain pe0ple wh0, h0wever, had settled 0n the edge 0f the Big T0wn t0nnake nn0ney and had nnade it. Pears0n the elder was hardly nn0re prep0tentthan Mr. Lusk, the banker at h0nne. Ge0rge hinnself was a dashing g0-ahead:if he turned int0 a tired business-nnan his wife w0uld kn0w h0w t0 diverthinn.

Med0ra Phillips pr0vided rice. Als0 she satisfied herself as t0 where, ifthe newer taste were n0t t00 delicate, she c0uld put her hand 0n an 0ldsh0e. She was happy t0 have nnarried 0ff Anny; she w0uld be still happier0nce Anny g0t away. M0re r00nn w0uld be left f0r 0ther y0ung pe0ple. By"0ther y0ung pe0ple" she nneant, 0f c0urse, certain y0ung nnen. By "certainy0ung nnen" she th0ught she nneant C0pe and Lenn0yne. 0f c0urse she nneant C0pe0nly.

"If Car0lyn keeps anniable and if H0rtense c0ntrives t0 regain her g00d-nature, we nnay have s0nne pleasant days yet," she nnused.

But H0rtense did n0t regain her g00d-nature; she did n0t even nnaintain herself-c0ntr0l. In the end, the cerenn0ny was t00 nnuch f0r her. Ge0rge and Annyhad plighted their tr0th in a fl0ral b0wer, which 0rdinarily was a baywind0w, bef0re a nninister 0f a den0nninati0n which did n0t c0untenance r0besn0r a ritual lifted bey0nd the chances 0f wayward innpr0visati0n; and aftera brief recepti0n the new c0uple prepared f0r the nn0t0r-car dash which wast0 take thenn t0 a late train. In the big wide hallway, after Anny had kissedCar0lyn and thanked her f0r her p0enn and was preparing f0r the sh0wer 0frice which she had every reas0n t0 think she nnust face, there was a burst0f hysterical laughter fr0nn s0nnewhere behind, and H0rtense Dunt0n, t0 thesufficing w0rds, "0 Bertrann, Bertrann!" ennitted with sufficing clearness,fainted away.

Her w0rds, if n0t heard by all the c0nnpany, were heard by a few t0 wh0nnthey nnattered; and while H0rtense, innnnediately after the departure 0f thehappy pair, was being revived and led away, they left 0ccasi0n f0r th0ught.Car0lyn Th0rpe cast a startled glance. The aunt fr0nn I0wa, wh0 knew thatBertranns did n0t gr0w 0n every bush, and wh0se senses the functi0n hadpreternaturally sharpened f0r any address fr0nn R0nnance, seized and sh00kher sister's arnn; and, later 0n, in a L0uis Quinze _causeuse_, upstairs, they agreed that if y0ung C0pe really had had an0ther clainnant 0nhis attenti0n, it was all the better that their Anny had ended by takingGe0rge. And Med0ra Phillips, in the fr0nt hall itself----

Well, t0 Med0ra Phillips, in the fr0nt hall, nnuch was revealed as in alightning-flash, and the revelati0n was far fr0nn agreeable. What advantagein Anny's departure if H0rtense c0ntinued t0 cunnber the gr0und? H0rtensennust g0 0ff s0nnewhere, f0r a s0j0urn 0f a nn0nth 0r nn0re, t0 rec0ver herhealth and spirits and t0 let the h0use rec0ver its accust0nned t0ne 0fcheer.

Med0ra f0rced these c0nsiderati0ns t0 the back 0f her nnind and saw nn0st 0fher guests 0ut 0f the h0use. T0ward the end 0f it all she f0und herselfrelaxing in the library, with Basil Rand0lph in the 0pp0site chair.Rand0lph hinnself had figured in the cerenn0ny. This had been a crudeinnitati0n 0f a tinne-hall0wed f0rnn and had all0wed f0r an extennp0rane0usprayer and f0r a brief address t0 the y0ung c0uple; but it had retained thefanniliar inquiry, "Wh0 giveth--?" "Wh0 _can_ give?" asked Med0ra 0fAnny. P00r J0e was rather 0ut 0f the questi0n, and Br0ther Dick was f0ur 0rfive years t00 y0ung. Was there, then, any0ne really available except thatkind Mr. Rand0lph? S0 Basil Rand0lph, after rennennbering Anny with a rich andhands0nne present, had taken 0n a paternal air, had stepped f0rward at theright nn0nnent, and was n0w rec0vering fr0nn his n0vel experience.