ever kept company!")

("And do you s'pose she knew Justin was expected back when she scrubbed
his pew a-Friday?")

("And this explains the empty pulpit vases!")

("And I always said that Nancy would make a real handsome couple if she
ever got anybody to couple with!")

During the unexpected and solemn procession of the two up the aisle the
soprano of the village choir stopped short in the middle of the Doxology,
and the three other voices carried it to the end without any treble.
Also, among those present there were some who could not remember
afterward the precise petitions wafted upward in the opening prayer.

And could it be explained otherwise than by cheerfully acknowledging the
bounty of an overruling Providence that Nancy Wentworth should have had a
new winter dress for the first time in five years--a winter dress of dark
brown cloth to match her beaver muff and victorine? The existence of
this toilette had been known and discussed in Edgewood for a month past,
and it was thought to be nothing more than a proper token of respect from
a member of the carpet committee to the general magnificence of the
church on the occasion of its reopening after repairs. Indeed, you could
have identified every member of the Dorcas Society that Sunday morning by
the freshness of her apparel. The brown dress, then, was generally
expected; but why the white cashmere waist with collar and cuffs of point
lace, devised only and suitable only for the minister's wedding, where it
first saw the light?