Sometimes he drove with her through the lovely country, but oftener sat by her under the maple tree watching the kindling light in her eyes and the dimples coming and going with her blushes, as he told his love over and over again, dating its beginning at the time he saw her at the opera, and its rapid growth when he waltzed with her on the piazza and nearly bumped his head against hers as they bent over the salad plate, and its completion when she turned to him for help against Mrs. Groves’ insinuations. Alex. was very happy, and it was with regret that he at last left Maplehurst to accompany Katy and Sherry to Buford, where Mrs. Sherman received him as her future son-in-law, and the people came flocking in, ostensibly to see Sherry after her illness, but really to see Alex. He had in mind a trip to Europe for the winter, and as he had a dread of the sea he insisted that their marriage should take place before the autumnal storms came on. “No need for finery. We can get that in Paris,” he said, and with his push and breeziness he carried his point, and invitations were issued for the last of September. It was a large wedding, for all Buford was invited, with many of Alex.’s acquaintances from New York. Among the guests were Nos. 2, 3 and 4,—“treated just as good as anybody,” Polly said, when discussing the affair with her friends. “Say,” she whispered to Sherry, when presented to her by an usher, “say, be you going to Maplehurst next summer?” “Perhaps,” Sherry answered, and Polly continued, “Well, remember _me_, will you, and let me wait on your table; but for pity’s sake don’t have that old cat Groves there! If you do, excuse me!” She curtesied and passed on to make room for others. Mrs. Groves had not been included in the list of guests, and she gnashed her teeth when she heard of the grand wedding and who were there. “Evidently my connection with the Marshes is ended,” she said, “and I working like a slave to please them! I call that the basest ingratitude, and all on account of that girl who made me so mad with her chin in the air and her way of looking at me.” The next day Mrs. Groves advertised for a position as housekeeper in some hotel, or as a chaperone to a party of young ladies during the next summer.