The dowager was an inveterate gossip, and kept up a correspondence with a dozen or two other dowagers, who took a benign interest in all the births, marriages, and deaths that came to pass within their circle. Perhaps if Mrs. MacClaverhouse had not been soured by the bitter disappointment and mortification which had befallen the pleasant castle she had built in Hyde Park Gardens at her nephew's expense, she might have been a little more merciful to poor Cecil's wounded heart. But it must be remembered that she did not know how deeply the girl's heart was wounded. Cecil read Mrs. Lochiel's letter. Is it necessary to say that she read every word of that gossiping epistle more than once, though the reading of it gave her exquisite pain? There are poisoned arrows for which some women bare their breast--there are tortures which some women will suffer unbidden. There never was a woman yet, in Lady Cecil's position, who was not eager to be told what finery her rival wore, and how she looked in the wedding splendour. Mrs. Lochiel was very discursive on the subject of millinery. "Dear Mary Chesham looked very _sweet_," she wrote. "She is not pretty, but remarkably _interesting_, fair, with soft blue eyes, and a very _winning_ expression. I know you will be pleased with her when Captain Gordon brings her to England, and they _do_ say that his regiment will be ordered home next year. I am sure you ought to be proud of such a nephew, for he is one of the most popular young men in Calcutta, and one meets him at all the best houses. Every one says that Mary Chesham has made a wonderful match, and of course there are _some_ people who _insinuate_ that her brother manœuvred very cleverly to bring about the marriage. But I have met Mr. Chesham, who seems a very superior young man, and not at all the sort of person to manœuvre. "The wedding was one of the gayest affairs we have had in Calcutta this season. Mary had six bridesmaids, some of the nicest girls in the city; and of course the military and civil service mustered in full force. The bride wore white glacé, made with a high body and short sleeves, and trimmed with bouillonnées of _tulle illusion_, and a large _tulle_ veil, which covered her like a cloud. The dress was very simple, and certainly _inexpensive_, but _quite Parisian_ in style. Mary has a very lovely arm,--those pale, insipid girls, with fair hair, generally have lovely arms,--and she wore a _very superb_ pearl bracelet, given her by her uncle, Colonel Cudderley, who is, I believe, expected to _leave her money_. So you see your nephew has not done so _very badly_ after all, though people here say he might have made a _much better match_. However, I am told that he is quite devoted to Mary, and I'm sure his manner when I have seen them together, has been _most attentive_."