and that pity, not artfulness, was to blame for the undesirable
match. He was too honourable a man not to see that it could not be
given up, and he held that the best must now be made of it, and that
it would be more proper, since it was to be, for him to assume the
part of father, and let the marriage take place from his house at
Kenminster. This was a proposal for which it was hard to be as
grateful as it deserved; since it had been planned to walk quietly
into the parish church, be married "without any fuss," and then to
take the fortnight's holiday, which was all that the doctor allowed
himself.

But as Robert was allowed to be judge of the proprieties, and as the
kindness on his part was great, it was accepted; and Caroline was
carried off for three weeks to keep her residence, and make the house
feel what a blank her little figure had left.

Certainly, when the pair met again on the eve of the wedding, there
never was a more willing bride.

She said she had been very happy. The Colonel and Ellen, as she had
been told to call her future sister, had been very kind indeed; they
had taken her for long drives, shown her everything, introduced her
to quantities of people; but, oh dear! was it absolutely only three
weeks since she had been away? It seemed just like three years, and
she understood now why the girls who had homes made calendars, and
checked off the days. No school term had ever seemed so long; but at
Kenminster she had had nothing to do, and besides, now she knew what
home was!

So it was the most cheerful and joyous of weddings, though the bride