“They called while you were out, my dear, but they didn’t stay long. And they left an invitation for you and me to go and spend the day with them to-morrow.”
Lilith looked at the cards, which bore the names of Mrs. John Ponsonby and of Mrs. Theobald E. B. Saxony.
“I think I’ll go with you, my dear; I have not had a day out so long. I know Mary Farquier will look after the house for me one day.”
And so Aunt Sophie and her protégée accepted this invitation; and the next morning, at a most unfashionably early hour, they presented themselves at the Saxony mansion, where they were very kindly re-received and hospitably entertained by the mother and daughter.
They met none of Mrs. Saxony’s fashionable friends. It was not that lady’s receiving day; so she was “not at home” to all casual callers, and she devoted herself to her mother’s simple friends.
Aunt Sophie and Lilith returned in the evening, well pleased with their visit.
The next day the old lady invited Lilith to accompany her to the parsonage, where she and all her “family” were going, with many of the church people, to receive the young minister and his bride.
Lilith went, for she had resolved to give herself up to please Aunt Sophie for the short remainder of her stay with the affectionate woman.
They found the parsonage a very attractive home for the newly married pair. The house, which stood beside the church, had been newly papered and painted, and refurnished from top to bottom, and prettily decorated for the occasion. The church people had vied with each other in the choice of their wedding presents, which were tastefully displayed on the drawing-room tables.
The refreshments were laid out on the extension table in the dining-room at the rear.