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"You could not do better; only settle it on the lady, so that if either he or you make ducks and drakes of your money, that little property will be inalienable." Little did Dr. James then anticipate the value of his advice, little did he guess how needful was this precaution!

And so it was settled. Dr. James fulfilled his mission; and, though in spite of all his care, he made his patient much worse for a few hours, he found that the medicine he had administered proved infinitely more successful than the rarest of his own potions. From that day Ernest mended so rapidly, and apparently so thoroughly, as to dispel all the apprehensions of his sister and aunt. Strength returned; appetite, such as he had not known for many months, wondrously revived. He slept well, could take a moderate walk without fatigue, and, finally, he declared himself quite strong enough to go to town and take his bride from her brother-in-law's house, as the laws of propriety dictated. But this new-born health was too precious to be risked. Dr. James would not hear of it, and Mr. Hamilton, after conferring with Hester and her husband, forbade his son to stir from Valeside.

There was a house two miles on the other side of Cranbourn, the abode of a widow lady who was gone to visit her son then residing in Germany. She wished to let her house furnished as it was, but Cranbourn being an out-of-the-way place, no one appeared likely to fulfil her desires. The farmer, whom she had appointed her agent, had quite relinquished

CARNFORD GRANGE.

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all idea of letting this "desirable tenement;" when Sir Herbert Leslie, who had been talking all the morning to Grace (for he went down to arrange preliminaries), demanded the keys, went over the place, and took it at the farmer's own terms before dinner-time. So he and Hester brought Margaret there, and from Carnford Grange she was to be married. Thanks to Dr. James, the settlements were droned through in half the usual time. Valeside, with all its appurtenances, was inalienably settled on Margaret and her children for ever.

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"Look at her heart! what thoughts are passing there, That cast a pensive shadow o'er her brow!

Thoughts in which love's bright dream can claim no share, (Yet thoughts which Love himself must still allow,) Rush o'er her soul and leave that trace of care

Which throws its shade awhile o'er features heavenly fair."

It was a glorious morning in June. The dew was still on the grassy lawns round Carnford Grange; the flowers were yet drooping their heads under the weight of their own sweet moistened petals, and the birds that "sang from tree to tree were warbling their early snatches of song beneath the blue unclouded sky from which the coloured mists had rolled off to the distant horizon. It was Margaret's bridal day, the house was still silent, for no servant had yet descended; and she sat at her bedroom window, musing pensively on the new life she was that day to begin. Her white robes lay in the next room, the few possessions which had not already been conveyed to Valeside, were standing together ready for removal; the loose mourning gown, which had been put on for little Mabel, she was to throw aside; she was wearing it for the last time. She looked down on her black wrapper, and for a moment, a feeling of

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superstition drove the faint rose from her cheeks; she almost wished she had not put it on. A large white shawl of Hester's hung in an adjoining closet; she could not help chiding herself for not having chosen it for her temporary array. But as the sun rose higher and higher, and the lark, quivering his wings far away in the pure cloudless æther, poured forth his loudest lay, the transient weakness was forgotten. But as she gazed upwards in the direction of the "etherial minstrel" her thoughts wandered far away; she saw not the rich hue of the summer sky, nor the vivid green of the wild-wood that skirted the garden, nor the glowing flowers in the cultured plots below. Her thoughts had flown far away into the coming future. That day she was to be a wife; that day she and Ernest were to be united in the holy bond that death only can divide. How long would their wedded life endure? Like Grace, Margaret had relied confidently on the wonderful restoration which joy and peace of mind had produced; she too believed that the danger was past, that with care, such as hers, that would know no diminution, no weariness, he might grow stronger and stronger, and at last become a hale hearty man, with sunburnt cheeks and athletic form. She had a waking dream only the evening before. She had been sitting in the same place watching the silvery lines of moonlight that played on the smooth turf beneath the shadowy trees; and she had fancied herself no longer young and radiant with health, but bowed with age, her sunny hair thinned and turned to hoary white

310

THE BRIDAL TOILET.

ness, and her whole frame feeble and waiting for the final summons home. And by her side sat her aged husband, the youthful bridegroom of to-day, with silver locks and failing sight, calmly rejoicing in the peace and blessings of his declining days; and still, hand-in-hand with herself, cheering her weaker woman's heart, and guiding her tottering steps along the gradual descent to the valley where sounds the swelling murmur of Jordan's waves. And children and grandchildren were gathered round them; they were going down to the grave full of years, and leaving behind them a-seed to serve the Lord. The day was well-nigh spent, and they were enjoying sweet communion in the pleasant cool of life's calm eventide!

Now, she saw herself as before, perhaps not an old woman, but middle-aged with grave brow, and settled staid demeanour; and she was alone! No husband was by her side, no gallant young son watched over her declining years, no gentle daughter ministered to her widowed mother; she was alone on earth, longing for the day when she should lay aside her mortal garments and be restored once more to the husband of her youth. "Oh! would it be so ?" It might; but God alone knew how long they were to walk together on their journey to eternity.

She knelt down and prayed long and earnestly; and when she rose at length, calmed and trusting, content to leave the shadowy future in wiser hands than her own, she heard Hester calling at her door.

"I am come to dress you, Margaret," she said;

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