“If so, father, they must run their risks as we do; that is if there are any risks for them to run, which I doubt.” “I dare say you are quite right, dear; indeed, I feel almost sure that you are right, only I thought it my duty to mention the matter, which I hope you will forgive me for having done. And now I may tell you I have a letter from Anthony, saying that he is ever so much better, and asking if the fifteenth of November will suit us for the wedding.” On the fifteenth of November, accordingly, Anthony and Barbara were made man and wife by the bride’s father with the assistance of the clergyman of the next parish. Owing to the recent death of the bridegroom’s brother and the condition of Mr. Arnott’s health the wedding was extremely quiet. Still, in its own way it was as charming as it was happy. All her five sisters acted as Barbara’s bridesmaids, and many gathered in that church said they were the most beautiful bevy of maidens that ever had been seen. But if so, Barbara outshone them all, perhaps because of her jewels and fine clothes and the radiance on her lovely face. Anthony, who seemed to be quite well again, also looked extremely handsome, while Aunt Thompson, who by now had put off her mourning, shone in that dim church as the sun shines through a morning mist. In short, all went as merrily as it should, save that the bride’s mother seemed depressed and wept a little. This, said her sister to someone in a loud voice, was in her opinion nothing short of wicked. What business, she asked, has a woman with six portionless daughters to cry because one of them is making a good marriage; “though it is true,” she added, dropping her voice to a confidential whisper, “that had Barbara chosen she might have made a better one. Yes, I don’t mind telling you that she might have been a peeress, instead of the wife of a mere country squire.” In truth, Mrs. Walrond was ill at ease about this marriage, why she did not know. Something in her heart seemed to tell her that her dear daughter’s happiness would not be of long continuance. Bearing in mind his family history, she feared for Anthony’s health; indeed, she feared a hundred things that she was quite unable to define. However, at the little breakfast which followed she seemed quite to recover her spirits and laughed as merrily as anyone at the speech which Lady Thompson insisted upon making, in which she described Barbara as “her darling, beautiful and most accomplished niece, who indeed was almost her daughter.” CHAPTER VI PARTED