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Show could of the spread of tho pbgue ; and her parents kept it from themselves. 'l'hey were very happy; ancl they did not like to think of any di~lurbance. Charles Osborn, her lover, had scarcely any fear. He and his beloved were as healthful as people could well be ; aml everylJody thought they carried long life in their faces. Unless by some accident from an over-adventurous spiritt they seemed as secure as youth, strength, energy, and gay hearts could make them. The wedding-day anivci.l. 'l'bero was a great dinner at two o'clock. All tho relations who were in Loudon were present; and the clergyman, and the family physician, and some intimate friends besides. Henrietta was, that day, a sight to make the most melancholy person cheerful. Her round, rosy face and dimpled chin gave her the air of being younger than she was; and she looked too childlike to bo a bride. She was rallied and toasted rather too much as a child, Charles thought, by some of her father's friends ; but they bad dandled her aa a babe, and had forgotten the lapse of years. Just before her mother and the olher ladi~s left the table, Charles obscnred thn~ Henrietta loolwd uncomfortable for a moment, and shi\'Crcd slightly, as if from cold. lie ordered the door which led down to the garden to be closed; and observed that a draught of air was more to be avoided on hot days when it was plcasantest, than on occasions when nobody liked it. Henrictt..1. thanked him with a smile, and presently withdrew, followed by rnother and aunts, all eager to dress her for the ceremony of the evening. It was her mother who put the finishing hand to her dress by fastening the embroidered jacket, and arranging tho lace ruff within it. 'While doing this, the mother became sudJenly silent, -turned the girl round to face the light, -unfastened a jewelled button or two, -and then, in a constrained voice, nskcd her daughter how she thought she should go through the ceremony,- whether she felt strong and at ease. 1• |