"Mr. Leighton will go too," he said kindly. "I don’t think any of you realize how much your parents have suffered recently." "Oh, but when?" asked Elma in a most disappointed voice. "Not at once, I hope." "Almost at once," said Dr. Merryweather. "Before this first wedding at least." Elma’s face fell a trifle. "Oh, well, I suppose I must," she said. "But so much depends on my being just on the spot--up to Isobel’s wedding, you know." "I said, ’No more engagements,’" said Dr. Merryweather with his eye still on her flushed face. "This isn’t exactly an engagement," said Elma with a sigh. "I wish it were." There was no explaining to Dr. Merryweather of course. There was even not much chance of enlightening Miss Grace. One could only remain a kind of petted invalid and await developments. Now that Adelaide Maud was really one of them and Cuthbert in such a blissful state, it would seem as though nothing were required to make Elma perfectly happy. But there was this one trouble of Mabel’s which only she could share. For of course one couldn’t go about telling people that Mabel had set great store by the one man who had run away. "If only George Maclean would play up," sighed Elma. But almost every one played up except George Maclean. CHAPTER XXIX Mr. Symington Mabel and Jean were to be bridesmaids at Isobel’s wedding. Ridgetown had only one opinion for that proceeding. "It was just like the Leightons." Aunt Katharine was more explicit. "It’s hardly decent," she said. "Do you want the man to show how many wives he could have had." "To show one he couldn’t have, more likely," said Mrs. Leighton shortly. She herself could not reconcile it to her ideas of what should have been. Mr. Leighton was adamant on the question, however. Isobel had set her heart on this marriage and the marriage was to be carried out. She was their guest and their responsibility. It would be scandalous if they did not uphold her as they would have done had there been none of this former acquaintance with Robin. It would seem as though they had attached unnecessary importance to what now was termed "nothing more than a flirtation." It was a pity they could not all like Robin as they ought to, or have been extremely fond of Isobel; but under the circumstances, they at least must all "play the game." Isobel took the information tranquilly. It seemed to her that she might have been allowed to arrange her own bridesmaids, then she recognized where the wisdom of Mr. Leighton asserted itself on her side. There was much less chance of conjecture where she and Mabel showed up in friendly manner together with one another. She had one friend from London as her first bridesmaid, and after this the question of dresses obliterated everything.