“No, no, Dinsmore, you must be our guest,” said Travilla, coming out and shaking hands cordially with his old friend.  “We have it all arranged,—­a family gathering, and Elsie to gratify us by wearing her bridal robes.  Do you not agree with me that she would make as lovely a bride to-day as she did ten years ago?”

“Quite.  I relinquish my plan for yours; and don’t let me detain you and these eager children.”

“I thank you:  I will go then, as the invitations will be late enough with all the haste we can make.”

The carriage was at the door and in a trice grandpa and papa had helped the little ones in:  not even Baby Herbert was left behind, but seated on his mammy’s lap crowed and laughed as merrily as the rest.

“Ah, mamma, you come too!” pleaded the little voices, as their father took his place beside them.  “Can’t mammy and Aunt Dicey and the rest know what to do without you to tell them?”

“Not this time, dears; and you know I must make haste to try on the dress, to see if it fits.”

“Oh, yes, mamma!” and throwing a shower of kisses, they drove off.

“A carriage load of precious jewels,” Elsie said, looking after it as it rolled away:  “how the ten years have added to my wealth, papa.”

She stood by his side, her hand on his arm, and the soft sweet eyes lifted to his were full of a content and gladness beyond the power of words to express.

“I thank God every day for my darling’s happiness,” he said low and tenderly, and softly smoothing her shining hair.

“Ah, it is very great, and my father’s dear love forms no small part of it.  But come in, papa, I want to consult you about one or two little matters; Edward and I rely very much upon your taste and judgment.”

“To Roselands first,” was Mr. Travilla’s order to the coachman.

The old home of the Dinsmores, though shorn of the glory of its grand old trees, was again a beautiful place:  the new house was in every respect a finer one than its predecessor, of a higher style of architecture, more conveniently arranged, more tastefully and handsomely furnished; lawns, gardens and fields had become neat and trim as in the days before the war, and a double row of young, thrifty trees bordered the avenue.

Old Mr. Dinsmore now resided there and gave a home to his two widowed and impoverished daughters—­Mrs. Louise Conly, and Mrs. Enna Johnson—­and their families.

These two aunts loved Elsie no better than in earlier years:  it was gall and wormwood to them to know that they owed all these comforts to her generosity; nor could they forgive her that she was more wealthy, beautiful, lovely and beloved than themselves.  Enna was the more bitter and outspoken of the two, but even Louise seldom treated her niece to anything better than the most distant and frigid politeness.

In a truly Christian spirit Elsie returned them pity and compassion, because of their widowhood and straitened circumstances, invited them to her house, and when they came received them with kindness and cordiality.