"Hurrah, Sylvan! Hurrah, old boy! Back again! Why didn't you write or telegraph? How do you do, Cora! Ah! when will you get your roses back, my dear? And how is his Majesty? Why is he not with you? Where did you leave him?" demanded Mr. Clarence in a gale of high spirits at greeting his nephew and niece again. "He is among the Thousand Islands somewhere with his bride," answered Cora. "His--what?" inquired Mr. Clarence, with a puzzled air. "His wife," said Cora. "His wife? What on earth are you talking about, Cora? You could not have understood my question. I asked you where my father was!" said the bewildered Mr. Clarence. "And I told you that he is on his wedding trip with his bride, among the Thousand Islands," replied Cora. Mr. Clarence turned in a helpless manner. "Sylvan," he said, "tell me what she means, will you?" "Why, just what she says. Our grandfather and grandmother are on the St. Lawrence, but will be home on the first of July," Sylvan explained. But Mr. Clarence looked from the brother to the sister and back again in the utmost perplexity. "What sort of a stupid joke are you two trying to get off?" he inquired. They had by this time reached the public parlor of the hotel and found seats. "Is it possible, Uncle Clarence, that you do not know Mr. Rockharrt was married on the thirty-first of last month, in New York, to Mrs. Stillwater?" inquired Cora. "What! My father!" "Why should you be amazed or incredulous, Uncle Clarence? The incomprehensible feature, to my mind, is that you should not have heard of the affair directly from grandfather himself. Has he really not written and told you of his marriage?" "He has never told me a word of his marriage, though he has written a dozen or more letters to me within the last few weeks." "That is very extraordinary. And did you not hear any rumor of it? Did no one chance to see the notice of it in the papers?" "No one that I know of. No; I heard no hint of my father's marriage from any quarter, nor had I, nor any one else at Rockhold or at North End, the slightest suspicion of such a thing." "That is very strange. It must have been in the papers," said Sylvan. "If it was I did not see it, but, then, I never think of looking at the marriage list." "I am inclined to think that it never got into the papers. The marriage was private, though not secret. And you, Sylvan, should have seen that the marriage was inserted in all the daily papers. It was your special duty as groomsman. But you must have forgotten it, and I never remembered to remind you of it," said Cora. "Not I. I never forgot it, because I never once thought of it. Didn't know it was my duty to attend to it. Besides, I had so many duties. Such awful duties! Think of my having to be my own grandmother's church papa and give her away at the altar! That duty reduced me to a state of imbecility from which I have not yet recovered."