“So you never had that mail?  Oh, you poor things, what a long time you have been without any news of the outside world!” cried Mary.

“But we have survived it, you see,” Katherine answered with a laugh.  Then she asked Mary if she would not like to be rowed to the store first, before going to inspect the new house.

“Yes, please; I want to see your father and Mrs. Burton, to say nothing of the twins and Miles,” Mary answered eagerly.  Then she said, with a wistful note in her voice:  “You will let me be bridesmaid tomorrow?”

“To-morrow?” repeated Katherine in surprise.  Then, blushing vividly, she answered:  “But I am not sure that it will be to-morrow.”

“I am,” replied Mary calmly, “for the simple reason that the bishop starts the day after for Marble Island, which he hopes to reach before the whalers are all broken out of the ice.  Father is going to send him up the bay in the best available boat.  You will let me be bridesmaid, won’t you?”

“If you wish, certainly,” said Katherine; then the boat bumped against the mooring post and was made fast, after which the two girls walked up to the store together.

’Duke Radford was sitting in the sunshine, looking dreamily out over the river, which at this time of the year was at its widest and highest.  He rose with a pleased exclamation when Mary came into view, and took off his hat with a courtly air.

“I remember you quite well, and your coming always used to make me happy, but I have forgotten your name,” he said, apologetically.

“Call me Mary; it is easy to remember,” she answered in a gentle tone.  Then she stayed in the sunshine talking to him, until Mrs. Burton and the twins rushed out to carry her off by force.

It was Miles who rowed Mary over the river, for a fit of shyness came upon Katherine, and she was not visible to many people except her own family for the remainder of that day.  Jervis came over in the evening, and there was a troubled look on his face which Katherine noticed at once.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, a chill of fear creeping into her heart lest even at this eleventh hour something was coming to stand between her and her happiness.

“I have only had a few more cares and responsibilities dumped upon me than I had bargained for,” he answered.  “Do you feel equal to helping me to bear them?”

“Of course,” she answered brightly.

“Did they tell you about Mr. Clay’s arrival?” he asked, holding her hands, and looking down into her face with an expression she could by no means fathom.

“Yes; Mary told me about him.  She said he was a horrid little man.  Is it true?” Katherine asked, smiling at the remembrance of Mary’s energetic utterances.

“I think he means to be very kind,” Jervis answered; “but the journey has got on his nerves rather.  However, I helped him to a hot bath, and now he has gone to bed in a happier frame of mind; and he wants to be best man to-morrow, so I have squared matters with Miles.  Do you mind?”