It was only a few minutes’ walk to the Mayfair residence beside the lake.  Beth was familiar with the place and scarcely noticed the great old lawn, the trees almost concealing the house:  that pretty fountain yonder, the tennis ground to the south, and the great blue Erie stretching far away.

Edith Mayfair came down the walk to meet her, a light-haired, winsome creature, several years older than Beth.  But she looked even younger.  Hers was such a child-like face!  It was pretty to see the way she twined her arm about Beth.  They had loved each other ever since the Mayfairs had come to Briarsfield three years ago.  Mr. and Mrs. Mayfair were sitting on the veranda.  Beth had always loved Mrs. Mayfair; she was such a bright girlish woman, in spite of her dignity and soft grey hair.  Mr. Mayfair, too, had a calm, pleasing manner.  To Beth’s literary mind there was something about the Mayfair home that reminded her of a novel.  They were wealthy people, at least supposed to be so, who had settled in Briarsfield to live their lives in rural contentment.

It was a pretty room of Edith’s that she took Beth into—­a pleasing confusion of curtains, books, music, and flowers, with a guitar lying on the coach.  There was a photo on the little table that caught Beth’s attention.  It was Mr. Ashley, the classical master in Briarsfield High School, for Briarsfield could boast a High School.  He and Edith had become very friendly, and village gossip was already linking their names.  Beth looked up and saw Edith watching her with a smiling, blushing face.  The next minute she threw both arms about Beth.

“Can’t you guess what I was going to tell you, Beth, dear?”

“Why, Edith, are you and Mr. Ashley—­”

“Yes, dear.  I thought you would guess.”

Beth only hugged her by way of congratulation, and Edith laughed a little hysterically.  Beth was used to these emotional fits of Edith’s.  Then she began to question—­

“When is it to be?”

“September.  And you will be my bridesmaid, won’t you, dear?”

Beth promised.

“Oh, Beth, I think marriage is the grandest institution God ever made.”

Beth had a strange dream-like look in her eyes, and the tea-bell broke their reverie.

Mr. Ashley had dropped in for tea, and Clarence sat beside Beth, with Edith and her betrothed opposite.  It was so pleasant and home-like, with the pink cluster of roses smiling in at the window.

After tea, Edith and Mr. Ashley seemed prepared for a tete-a-tete, in which Mrs. Mayfair was also interested; and Clarence took Beth around to the conservatory to see a night-blooming cirius.  It was not out yet, and so they went for a promenade through the long grounds toward the lake.  Beth never forgot that walk in all her life to come.  Somehow she did not seem herself.  All her ambition and struggle seemed at rest.  She was a child, a careless child, and the flowers bloomed around her, and Clarence was at her side.  The lake was very calm when they reached it; the stars were shining faintly, and they could see Long Point Island like a long dark line in the distant water.