Ivy Cottage."
"Bravo!" I exclaimed, as soon as a momentary bewilderment passed,
showing more than my wonted enthusiasm. "The best match since Hymen
linked our fates together, Constance."
"May it prove as happy a one!" my wife answered, with a glance of
tenderness.
"It will, Constance--it will. That is a marriage after my own heart;
one that I have, now and then, dimly foreshadowed in imagination,
but never thought to see."
"It is over five years since we saw Blanche," remarked Constance. "I
wonder how she looks! If life's sunshine and rain have produced a
rich harvest in her soul, or only abraded the surface, and marred
the sweet beauty that captivated us of old! I wonder how she has
borne the shadowing of earthly prospects--the change from luxurious
surroundings!"
"They have not dimmed the virgin gold; you may be sure of that,
Constance," was my reply to this.
"At home, Wednesday evening, June fifteenth."
And this was Tuesday. Only a single day intervened. And yet it
seemed like a week in anticipation, so eager did we grow for the
promised re-union with friends whose memory was in our hearts as the
sound of pleasant music.
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