She--beautiful and penniless, ambitious, and a devotee of
pleasure--yet dependent for food and clothing upon her mother's
life-interest in an estate, not one penny of which would revert to
her children at her decease; without kindred and without society in
the elegant suburb they had inhabited for four or five years, might
have been elated at a less brilliant match than that she had made.
The "best people" of the aforesaid suburb were exclusive; slow to
form intimacies with their unaccredited neighbors, and very hasty in
breaking them at the faintest whiff of a doubtful or tainted
reputation. And of the second best the Dorrances had kept themselves
clear. Having met and captivated her wealthy lover on a rarely
fortunate summer jaunt, made in company with her eldest brother, his
wife, and two relatives of the last-named, Clara did not repel him
or disgust the best people of Roxbury by indiscreet raptures over,
or exhibition of, her prize.

"I feel with you an invincible repugnance to throwing open our
hearts to the inspection of the unsympathizing world, at the most
sacred moment of our lives," she said, in stating her preference for
a quiet morning-wedding, a family breakfast, and instant departure
upon their bridal-trip. "If I begin to invite my friends and
neighbors, our cottage--lawn and garden included--would not contain
them, and after all were asked whom I could rememher, as many more
would be mortally offended at being forgotten."

The bridegroom gladly acquiescing, with a compliment to her womanly
delicacy, the ceremony was performed in the presence of the bride's
nearest relatives; an elegant repast was served, at which the
Dorrance plate made an imposing show, and Clara turned her back upon