CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XXXI.
The evening before Helen Jeffrey's wedding day, the whole household atthe rectory came out into the garden.
"The fact is," said Dr. Howe, smiling good-naturedly at his niece, "theimportance of this occasion has made everybody so full of suppressedexcitement one can't breathe in the house."
And indeed a wedding in Ashurst had all the charm of novelty. "Why, blessmy soul," said the rector, "let me see: it must be ten—no, twelve yearssince Mary Drayton was married, and that was our last wedding. Well, wecouldn't stand such dissipation oftener; it would wake us up."
But Ashurst rather prided itself upon being half asleep. The rush andlife of newer places had a certain vulgarity; haste was undignified, itwas almost ill bred, and the most striking thing about the village,resting at the feet of its low green hill