“Yes, she is a very sweet woman, and I should think you could live very happily with her,” said Maria, twisting her hair carefully.  Maria had a beautiful neck showing above the lace of her underwaist.  Lily looked at it.  Her tears had ceased, and left not a trace on her smooth cheeks.  The lace which Maria’s upward-turned hair displayed had set her flexible mind into a new channel.

“Say, Maria,” she said, “it is to be a very short engagement.  It will have to be, on account of mother.  A double wedding would be too ridiculous, and I want to get away before all those Ellridges come into our house.  Dr. Ellridge can’t let his house before spring, and so I think in a month, if I can get ready.”  Lily blushed until her face was like the heart of a rose.

“Well, you have a number of very pretty dresses now,” said Maria.  “I should think you could get ready.”

“I shall have to get a wedding-dress made, and a tea-gown, and one besides for receiving calls,” said Lily.  “Then I must have some underwear.  Will you go shopping with me in Westbridge some Saturday, Maria?”

“I should be very glad to do so, dear,” replied Maria.

“That is a very pretty lace on your waist,” Lily said, meditatively.  “I think I shall get ready-made things.  It takes so much time to make them one’s self, and besides I think they are just as pretty.  Don’t you?”

“I think one can buy very pretty ready-made things,” Maria said.  She slipped on her blouse and fastened her collar.

“I shall be so much obliged to you if you will go,” said Lily.  “I won’t ask mother.  To tell you the truth, Maria, I think it is dreadful that she is going to marry again—­a widower with three grown-up daughters, too.”

“I don’t see why,” Maria said, dropping her black skirt over her head.

“You don’t see why?”

“No, not if it makes her happy.  People have a right to all the happiness they can get, at all ages.  I used to think myself that older people were silly to want things like young people, but now I have changed my mind.  Dr. Ellridge is a good man, and I dare say your mother will be happier, especially if you are going away.”

“Oh, if she had not been going to get married herself, I should rather have lived at home, after I was married,” said Lily.  She looked reflectively at Maria as she fastened her belt.  “It’s queer,” she said, “but I do believe my feeling so terribly about mother’s marrying made George ask me sooner.  Of course, he must have meant to ask me some time, or he would not have asked me at all.”

“Of course,” said Maria, getting her hat from the closet-shelf.

“But he walked home with me from the concert last night, and I couldn’t help crying, I felt so dreadfully.  Then he asked me what the matter was, and I told him, and then he asked me right away.  I think maybe he had thought of waiting a little, but that hastened him.  Oh, Maria, I am so happy!”