CHAPTER XXIV.
The wedding day dawned clear and bright and the weather was all that could be desired, and in the midst of a profusion of flowers the ceremony took place. The costumes were beautiful and two fairer brides were never led to the altar. The picture remained in the minds of all who saw them for many years. The wedding was in the morning so they could leave on the mid-day train for their honeymoon.
A special car belonging to the society had been placed at their service and was fitted up with drawing room, state room and dining room accommodations.
The guests had departed and Mrs. Vivian went alone to the apartments of the newly married daughters. They were so bright and had every convenience for comfort and rest.
The pictures on the walls and the statuary were works of art, all showing the taste of the occupants as well as their own industry. All displayed the fact that their friends who had presented them with so many of these things were artists as well as people of wealth.
“Well, I intend to enjoy these rooms while they are away,” Mrs. Vivian thought. “What a pleasure it is to know these apartments are secured for them during their lives. No mortgages can ever be placed on them to torment them in the years to come. What a comfort! It is certainly a great comparison between their newly married life and my own and yet my marriage was considered a good one in that day, and it was, both from a financial standpoint and in our affection for each other. Stillall the wealth my husband left me did not give me an income the last few years. If these girls had not secured my shares I am afraid the outlook would not have been so bright and comforting as it is now. I suppose Geron did the best he could, but, oh, men risk so much! He did so differently from what the girls have done. Oh, girls,” she soliloquized, “you will never know how happy you have made me by your self-denial.”
She turned and looked at a picture of her husband which Scoris had painted. “Yes, my dear,” she says sadly, “I wish things could have been different and we could have gone through life longer together. As I look at your dear face it is so lifelike that my heart yearns for you. Dear me! dear me! I do hope no one will come in until I have washed away the trace of these tears. Will I never get accustomed to seeing that picture? She painted it as she remembers him and it is not like any other that we have. What a wonderful talent she has! Paul Arling, you are a lucky man to have won her.
“I am going to sit right down here so I can see them all. Why, how sleepy I am! I will rest just a moment. My!” she exclaimed opening her eyes, “it only seems a moment since I sat down and here I have slept an hour! These rooms are so restful and have such a soothing effect. Everything speaks of harmony. Well, I wish every mother I know could feel as contented as I do over the choice that their daughters have made. They have married men who are worthy of them and that is admitting a great deal. I really feel that I have gained two more children. Time will tell, but until then I am going to look upon them as such.”
Next day, Paul Arling’s mother called upon Mrs. Vivian to invite her to go for a drive. Paul had purchased a small pony for her just before he was married and sheknew that her old friend would enjoy it as much as she would. Their sympathies were very near and now that a relationship had been established between them it was closer than ever. Both loved to drive out into the open country, over the hills and along the lake shore, letting the pony jog along as he liked. It was so pleasant to breathe the balmy air as they talked over the wedding of their beloved children. Mrs. Arling remarked:
“Paul is without doubt the best son I have ever known, for although he has loved Scoris all these years, yet he has stuck to me.”
Mrs. Vivian replied: “Yes, but there were two in that bargain, you must admit. Possibly if Scoris had not had me to think of after Geron had lost my income, you would have had another daughter long before now.”
“Well, she would have been just as welcome as she is now, bless her dear heart. I am as proud of her as you are.”
“Did you not think Helen looked very pretty in her bridal robe?”
“Oh, yes, indeed, but to tell you the truth, I hardly saw any one but Paul and Scoris,” Mrs. Arling answered. “They both looked so happy. I think Scoris the handsomest bride I ever saw.”
“Isn’t that funny,” replied Lady Vivian, “Mrs. Carry, Prince Charley’s sister, made the same remark about Helen.”
“Certainly, ‘every crow thinks his own the blackest.’”
“Well, now, what do you think yourself, Mrs. Vivian?
“Oh, I don’t know. They are so different,” continued their mother, “for to me they have always been beautiful, each in her own way, and their characters equally so. Did you know, Mrs. Arling, those girls turned alltheir own permanent shares over to my account before Tom knew that Geron had lost either his own or my income? Besides this, they gave up a portion of their salary for me each week. The other members of the family have made it up to them in the last year and I appreciate it, but after all, it was their self-denial that proved their affection for me.”
Just then a scream of laughter from childish voices was heard, and the sound of several automobiles that were coming up on the road behind them.
“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Lady Vivian, “I hope they will not frighten the pony.”
Mrs. Arling turned off to one side to let them pass, and as they came nearer they slowed up so as not to frighten the horse. “It is hard to realize,” she said, “that there are fully one hundred children in those three cars. Doesn’t it do your heart good to see Mira with all three children around her at last?”
The two brides who are on their wedding trip are not happier than Princess Lovechild, who is the life of theparty. To give happiness to those who would have been deprived of it without her assistance was to her full recompense and she was truly the happiest among them after all.
“Well it is a wonder to me how the Princess and Mira can stand the racket those youngsters are making. It may be their way of expressing their joy, but I must confess that I like to be beyond their voices.”