Part 36 (1/2)

The day was as gloriously fine as theof brides could have wished for, and by noon the co to asse boats were ahich was disappointing for the crews, although it is a little difficult to iine how one extra person could have been squeezed into the congregation which later on crowded the store

Jervis ca, and, with the help of Miles and Phil, got the store ready to serve as a church for the occasion Pails of lard with boards laid across served for seats in the centre of the floor; barrels of pork, of beans, and of flour h seat all round the walls, on which the boys and the younger ht be accommodated Rather a precarious kind of seat this was, as barrel heads were apt to give way, and then the luckless individual would be smothered with flour or bespattered with brine

Mary also came across early, to help to dress the bride, and her mood was so wildly hilarious that Mrs Burton felt it necessary to gently reprove her

”Of course it is right to be happy and cheerful at a wedding, but there is always a strain of sadness soet that Katherine is to go to England next week”

”But she will be glad to go, and glad to come back; no one wants to stay in one place all her life, in these gadabout days,” Mary answered Then she produced a box and bade Katherine adht it that it was shockingly unsuitable,” Mary said, laughing, as from the folds of soft white paper she lifted out a square of exquisite lace for a bridal veil, and flung it over Katherine's hair ”But plainly I have the eye of a seer, and I i up to beequally unsuitable, and it was not to be endured”

”How lovely!” sighed Mrs Burton, in an ecstasy of ad at all; her heart was too full for speech, and she was thinking of last suht that she should stand aside to let Mary have the happiness she wanted for herself Things had changed so much since then that it seemed scarcely possible that she could have had to bear so many heartaches

At this moment one of the twins burst into the room with the infor like one in a dream, went out from her chamber and crossed the homely kitchen to the store

A murmur went round the crowded place as she entered Heretofore she had been to theirl, with pleasantthe portage paths laden with heavy burdens; they had seen her struggling to row a boat up river against a strong current; they hadet, or covered with frost, like an Esquiirl with the beautiful face, clad in her white bridal robe, and with Mary's veil over her shi+ning hair, was a revelation to them, and it was Oily Dave who voiced the opinion of the assembly when he exclaimed in a very audible tone: ”My word, but ain't she a stunner!”

He was sitting in the very front row, as if he were the most intimate and faithful friend the family possessed He held his treasured ”top” hat carefully in front of hi, and he were about to take the offertory For the rest, his costu of a mixture: a football sweater with broad stripes, a Norfolk jacket, dungaree trousers, and a fisherure even in that company of mixed costumes He was as self-satisfied and complacent as if he had never planned evil deeds and tried to carry them out, while the benevolence hich he sht have led one to suppose they had no more tried or trusted friend than he

Katherine was conscious of the critical, appraising glances of the trientleuely unco between her and theaddress But she forgot Mr Clay and his searching looks after a time, and was sensible only of the love which wrapped her round when Miles, at a sign fro it in that of his father, whispered to hi erect, his fine figure head and shoulders taller than those around hiroo Katherine's ungloved hand, softly stroking and patting it, until Jervis reached forward to take it, when he relinquished it with a sister was signed in the kitchen, and it was there that the revelation took place which came as a thunderclap of surprise to everyone concerned, except Jervis and Mr Clay, the latter of whom, when the bishop's part of the ceremony was done, took the remainder upon himself, and proceeded to make his explanations in a voice which Mary declared made her think of musty parchments and red tape

He addressed hi so profoundly that it onderful he was able to return to a perpendicular position without catching hold of soratulate you on beco the Countess of Compton, and I am quite certain the title was never worn by one more worthy to adorn it”

Katherine shrank a step nearer to her husband, and there was a look of positive fear in her eyes, for privately she thought Mr Clay ently, and the silence in the kitchen was so profound, as they waited for Mr Clay's reply, that the buzz of talk which had broken out in the crowded store seemed tremendously loud by contrast

Mr Clay cleared his throat with a dry little cough, intended to emphasize the importance of the remarks which he had to ht that no word should be spoken concerning his accession to the title until after the ceremony of to-day; but now it must be known, and I have to inform you that your husband has been seventh Earl of Compton since the 18th of February last, only it seems he did not know of his cousin's death until yesterday, when I arrived with papers for hin”

Katherine became very pale, and turned with a quickdown upon her with a smile ”Even now I do not understand; please tell me,” she said, with a bewildered expression

”My cousin Sa his wife's hand and talking to her in the saht have used had they two been alone, instead of the centre figures of a crowded rooer son, with three lives between him and the title As I have told you, Samuel, old Lord Compton, was very cruel to my mother in her hood, and I hotly deter to do with hirandson died within a feeeks of each other, and Mr Clay, who is the fa o home and take up the duties of my new position That letter cao, and I would not accept an allowance for myself; but I asked for one for my mother, and education for my brothers I have not deceived you, my dearest I have only withheld from you facts which did not rew pale; she knew that all eyes were upon her, but there was one thing sheas she asked: ”Did you-did you know this, I mean that you were the next heir, when you asked me to marry you?”

”Yes, I knew,” he answered cheerfully, and now his voice had got back its old confident ring, for the shadow of constraint which Katherine had noticed in hie which he was holding back, and which had troubled hireat certainty of ain, and left another son to co man, and I looked to support ive reat lady of you, because, you see, I did not know until yesterday, though the scrap of paper you discovered at Ochre Lake warned reatly surprised when Mr Clay introduced himself to me yesterday”

”Mr Clay is evidently a lawyer by nature as well as by profession, since he was able to keep a secret of such h so many miles of travel,” interposed the bishop, anxious to break the strain for Katherine, whose colour was still cohtened look of a trapped wild creature