Patty did not need her any longer, was tired of her, ashamed of her, and never took her out with her any more since that scornful Mrs. Putnam had become her chaperone. She had even hinted that Cousin Tabby had better go to Charleston and make Lydia a visit now. The legislature was in session now, and she could see all “the big men.” But Cousin Tabby had rebelled, declaring: “I seen the guv’nor an’ the other big men two years ago, an’ they wan’t no great shakes, none o’ them, sech as I expected. Why, some o’ them men in the legislatour looked as jakey as any other mountain hoosier I ever seen! There was ole Uncle Silas Higgins, they sent him to the legislatour from our county, an’ he never did know beans; an’ there was ‘Pop’ Longanacre, how did he ever git there, I wonder? Not by brains, I reckon; only some hocus-pocus polyticks! No, I seen enough o’ them polytickers to last me all my life. Not a bit different from other folkses, they wa’n’t! New York suits me better’n any place else. If I could only git inter sassiety an’ git acquainted with some o’ the pritty men I see at the opery, I’d ask no more.” So she knew better than to aggravate Patty now, when she saw her own fate hanging so clearly in the balance. But her rugged sense of justice, clear enough when nothing was to be gained by treachery, would not permit her to join in a useless persecution of Eva. She continued to advocate pacification if possible. Pondering deeply over the matter, she concluded that Patty’s aggravated ill temper was induced by the slight in not receiving cards to her cousin’s wedding. “She blames me fer not getting Eva reconciled to us. She thought at first I was clever enough to do it, an’ so did I till we got there. But I was completely flabbergasted by their high an’ mighty ways, an’ crept out like a whipped dog.” She sighed heavily to herself, and added: “There ain’t but one way on this yearth I kin git inter Patty’s good graces ag’in, an’ that’s by gittin’ her an invite to Eva’s wedding. Well, I’ll try to do it. I’ll go to that house to-morrow and git that invite if I have to beg for it on my very knees! I’ll ask Eva’s pappy, an’ he may let me have it. Men hain’t never so spiteful as wimen! Maybe I could ketch him, too! He’s a likely old widower.” CHAPTER XXXVI. A RUBY HEART. The church and the home were both decorated for the wedding; the banquet was ready, the bride and the maid of honor were spending their last evening together. Reggie was absent because his young friends were giving him a last bachelor supper in the grandest style. But one more day and Eva would be a bride! She and Ada had come upstairs early, leaving Mrs. Hamilton chatting with her brother in the cozy library. “Come in, and let us look at the wedding gifts together,” Eva said, drawing Ada into her own rooms. She could not bear to be left alone to the companionship of her own thoughts. They kept wandering back to the interrupted bridal of over two years ago.