"
"Done with it! They will be back from Patagonia before you can turn
yourself, and then of course we must have them here."
"Drummond tells me that Mr. Green is one of the most useful men
they have at the Foreign Office;--just the man that one ought to
give a lift to." Of course the Duke had his way. The Duchess could
not bring herself to write the letter, but the Duke wrote to his
dear niece saying that "they" would be very glad to see her, and
that if she would name the day proposed for the wedding, one should
be fixed for her visit to Mistletoe.
"You had better tell your mother and your father," Mounser said to
her.
"What's the use? The Duchess hates my mother, and my father never
goes near the place."
"Nevertheless tell them. People care a great deal for appearances."
She did as she was bid, and the result was that Lord Augustus and
his wife, on the occasion of their daughter's marriage, met each
other at Mistletoe,--for the first time for the last dozen years.
Before the day came round Arabella was quite astonished to find how
popular and fashionable her wedding was likely to be, and how the
world at large approved of what she was doing. The newspapers had
paragraphs about alliances and noble families, and all the
relatives sent tribute. There was a gold candlestick from the Duke,
a gilt dish from the Duchess,--which came however without a word of
personal congratulation,--and a gorgeous set of scent-bottles from
cousin Mistletoe.
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