Thinking it over, Mary was really much the most suitable. There was something slow-moving and deep-rooted about her; she, was practical but not trivial; she did not spend herself on details but she never ignored them, and she could take a long view of things. She was free from petty spites and envies, and she and Roger would do very well. As Sarah Greene reached this conclusion the door opened to admit Mary with the tea-tray and a letter, addressed in Mrs. Rodney Greene's unmistakable writing. "Oh, Mary, I knew that letter was coming, but I'd forgotten all about it." "Is it something tiresome?" "No, not exactly. It's an invitation to dinner next week at the Rodneys but I don't feel like meeting people just at present." Sarah Greene drew the letter rather reluctantly from its envelope and read it. 207, Sussex Square. 9th Nov. My dear Aunt Sarah, Many thanks for your kind letter after the wedding. I am so glad you thought it all went off nicely and that you weren't too tired. I expect you have heard that Hugh and Jessica get back on Tuesday after a delightful honeymoon apparently. We have had several very happy post-cards from them, though I must say I should have liked a letter. I have planned a little dinner-party for them for Friday the 18th, to-morrow week, at 7.45, which I do hope will suit you. It is only a family affair, but I am anxious that all six Mrs. Greenes should meet and enjoy each other, so I very much hope you will be able to come. With love from Rodney and myself, Yours affectionately, EDITH GREENE. "Mrs. Rodney is having her party next Friday," said Mrs. Greene slowly. "I hadn't meant to stay in town quite so long." "Oh, do stay, Aunt Sarah," urged Mary. "We love having you and if you don't want to go to Mrs. Rodney's we can easily think of something. Why not invent an engagement for that evening?" Mrs. Greene shook her head. "No," she said decisively. "You know I almost think I shall enjoy it, and I think it will be salutary too." "How do you mean, salutary?" "Well, you know, my dear, one begins to think oneself and one's own affairs too important; and then being plunged into a family dinner party like that, one finds how relatively unimportant one is. The young people are taken up with their own lives, and Mrs. Rodney is busy about her arrangements, and poor Mrs. Edwin is always very pre-occupied and so I shall forget about my own troubles." "I shouldn't have thought you had any troubles or worries," was Mary's naïve comment, to which Mrs. Greene responded briskly and quite genuinely, "Well, no, Mary, I haven't many. One thing on my mind is my second gardener. He isn't turning out as well as I expected. He has bad hands for planting." There was a pause as Mary poured out a cup of tea and handed it to her Aunt who thanked her and added: