"He gave her away. He could not have performed the ceremony in the parish church."
"Do you mean that she was not married in her father's church?"
"She was married in the parish church, one of the most beautiful places of worship I was ever in—a grand old edifice."
"Do you mean that my son was married in an Episcopal church, at the very horns of an Episcopal altar?" asked Mrs. Campbell indignantly.
"It was the most beautiful marriage service I ever saw. And the sweet old bells chimed so joyously, I can never forget them."
"Was there a wedding breakfast?" asked Isabel.
"About twenty guests sat down to a very prettily decorated breakfast table, and after the meal, Robert and his bride began their journey through life together. I have brought you some bride cake," and he took from a box in his hand three smaller white boxes, tied with white ribbon, and presented them. Mrs. Campbell laid hers unopened on the table without a word of thanks or courtesy, and Isabel and Christina followed her example.
"There was a crowd at the railway station," continued Mr. St. Claire, "and the Blue Coat Boys met the bride singing a wedding-hymn. Robert gave them a noble check for their school."
"I'll warrant he did. The more fool he!"
"And the last thing they heard as they left Kendal must have been the church bells chiming joyfully—'Hail, Happy Morn'!"