The marriage of Silverbridge had been august.  There had been a manifest intention that it should be so.  Nobody knew with whom this originated.  Mrs Boncassen had probably been told that it ought to be so, and Mr Boncassen was willing to pay the bill.  External forces had perhaps operated.  The Duke had simply been passive and obedient.  There had however been a general feeling that the bride of the heir of the house of Omnium should be produced to the world amidst a blaze of trumpets and a glare of torches.  So it had been.  But both the Duke and Mary were determined that this wedding should be different.  It was to take place at Matching, and none would be present but they who were staying in the house, or lived around,—­such as tenants and dependants.  Four clergymen united their forces to tie Isabel to her husband, one of them was a bishop, one a canon, and the two others royal chaplains; but there was only to be the Vicar of the parish at Matching.  And indeed there were no guests in the house except the two bridesmaids and Mr and Mrs Finn.  As to Mrs Finn Mary had made a request, and then the Duke had suggested that the husband should be asked to accompany his wife.

It was very pretty.  The church itself is pretty, standing in the park, close to the old Priory, not above three hundred yards from the house.  And they all walked, taking the broad path through the ruins, going under the figure of Sir Guy which Silverbridge had pointed out to Isabel when they had been whispering together.  The Duke led the way with his girl upon his arm.  The two bridesmaids followed.  Then Silverbridge and his wife, with Phineas and his wife. and Gerald and the bridegroom accompanied them, belonging as it were to the same party!  It was very rustic;—­almost improper!  ‘This is altogether wrong, you know,’ said Gerald.  ’You should appear coming from some other part of the world, as if you were almost unexpected.  You ought not to have been in the house at all, and certainly should have gone under disguise.’

There had been rich presents too on this occasion, but they were shown to none except to Mrs Finn and the bridesmaids,—­and perhaps to the favoured servants of the house.  At any rate there was nothing said of them in the newspapers.  One present there was,—­ given not to the bride but to the bridegroom,—­which he showed to no one except to her.  This came to him only on the morning of his marriage, and the envelope containing it bore the postmark of Sedburgh.  He knew the handwriting well before he opened the parcel.  It contained a small signet-ring with his crest, and with it there were but a few words written on a scrap of paper.  ’I pray that you may be happy.  This was to have been given to you long ago, but I kept it back because of that decision.’  He showed the ring to Lady Mary and told her that it had come from Lady Mabel;—­ but the scrap of paper no one saw but himself.