It was soon known in Hampstead, not who Robert Macpherson was, but that he was to marry Emma Schuyler, instead of the haughty Julia, to whom every one had given him. Julia was not a favorite in town, and when it was rumored that she was bitterly disappointed, and that the headache which had confined her to her room for several days was owing more to her disappointment than to cold taken in the river, I think the lower class rejoiced to know that even her proud heart could ache and her scornful eyes weep from humiliation. Of Alice’s grief nothing was known outside the house on the Hill, though many comments were made concerning Godfrey’s stay with Gertie when she was so sick, and his devotion to her was imputed to a feeling stronger than friendship for the beautiful girl so popular with everybody. But nobody dreamed of the broken engagement which the colonel tried to mend, bidding Alice wear the ring as if nothing had happened, and encouraging her to believe that all would yet be well between herself and Godfrey. The colonel had faith in Gertie and knew she would keep her word, and hoped and believed that what he had desired so long would ultimately come to pass. Emma’s wedding was to be a very quiet morning affair at the church, with a breakfast afterward at the house, and then the married pair were to go at once to New York and embark the following day for England. By mere accident Julia had heard something of Robert’s antecedents, and as she insisted upon knowing the whole, Emma had told her who Robert was, and the knowledge had gone far toward reconciling the proud girl to her loss. Emma was welcome to a nephew of the Lyles, she said, with a haughty toss of her head, and when Tom Barton, who was still keeping sober for Gertie’s sake, was suggested to her as groomsman she did not object, and received him graciously when he came round to talk the matter over. Alice was to be the other bridesmaid, and it was confidently expected that Godfrey would stand with her. But this he refused to do, saying in his letter to his father that he should not be present at the ceremony. His coming home could only bring pain to himself and others, and he chose to remain in New York, where he should see Emma before she sailed and make it right with her. When Alice heard this she took the ring from her finger a second time, and inclosing it in a blank sheet of paper sent it back to Godfrey, with the feeling that all was really over between them, and that he never would be hers even if he did not marry Gertie. How she hated her rival, and how glad she was to know that she would not be present at the wedding. “If she comes here I certainly shall leave, for the same roof cannot cover us both for a single hour,” she said.