“You get the idea, my son,” smiled his grandfather.  “We’ll sell these coins separately for Miss Gertrude and get a special price on each one.  Here’s one, for instance, that ought to be worth a good bonus; it is dated 1663.  It was over a hundred years old when your respected great-great-grandfather brought it over here, and if I remember my English history correctly it was in 1663 that guineas were first minted.  This is a ‘first edition,’ so to speak.”

Gertrude leaned back in her chair, smiling happily.

CHAPTER XV

GERTRUDE CHANGES HER NAME

The Club had been prominent figures at Mrs. Schuler’s wedding, but that was a very small affair at home, and Miss Gertrude’s was to be in the church with a reception afterwards at Dorothy’s house.  The Club felt that they wanted to do every bit of the work that they could, not only because they loved Miss Gertrude but because she was going to marry the brother of two of the Club members.  She had said that she would like to have the church decorated with wild flowers so that she might take away with her the remembrance of the blossoms that she had seen and loved in the Rosemont fields.

The Club held a special meeting to talk over their plans for the wedding.  It was at Rose House, for they had become accustomed to meeting there during the summer, when every moment could be utilized for work on something connected with the furnishing of the house while at the same time they could talk as they hammered and measured and screwed and sewed.  They were gathered under the tree where the squirrel lived.  As they established themselves, he was sitting on a branch above them, twitching his tail and making ready for a descent to search for cookies in their pockets.

Helen called the meeting to order and told them what Miss Gertrude had said about the decorations.

“Has any one any suggestions?” she asked.

“Shall we have all the different kinds of flowers we can find or select one kind?” asked Ethel Brown.

“We can get goldenrod and asters now.”

“And cardinals and cat-tails.”

“And ’old-maids’.”

“And hollyhocks.”

“Nobody has said ‘Queen Anne’s Lace.’  I think that’s the prettiest of all,” urged Ethel Blue.  “Wouldn’t it be delicate and fairy-like if we trimmed the whole church with it!”

“O, Ethel, I see it in a flash!” cried Delia.  “Not banked heavily anywhere, but always in feathery masses.”

“On the altar and winding the chancel rail.”

“A cluster on the end of each pew.”

“Long garlands instead of ribbons to close the ends of the pews.”

“An arch about half way up the aisle.”

The whole scene grew on them as they talked and they waxed enthusiastic over the details.  They had learned that flowers to be used for decoration should be picked the day beforehand and placed in water over night so that the moisture should have time to force itself into the stalks and to drive away the first wilting.  They decided to gather all the Queen Anne’s Lace that they could find in all Rosemont, accepting the help of all the children who had asked if they might help.