Thus preaching to Alfred, when he confided to her the fluctuations

of rapture and despair that were his lot in his intercourse with the

sometimes radiant and inviting, sometimes forbidding sprite, whose

wings he would fain bind with his embrace, and thus reassuring

herself, when perplexed by a flash of Rosa's native perverseness,

Mrs. Sutton was sanguine that all would come right in the end. What

was to be would be, and despite the rapids in their wooing, Alfred

would find in Rosa a faithful, affectionate little wife, while she

could never hope to secure a better, more indulgent, and, in most

respects, more eligible, partner than the Ayletts' well-to-do,

well-looking neighbor.

But the couple who occupied the central foreground of our

match-maker's thoughts were her niece, Mabel Aylott, and her own

departed husband's namesake, Frederic Chilton. She dilated to

herself and to Mabel with especial gusto upon the "wonderful

leading," the inward whisper that had prompted her to propose a trip

to the Rockbridge Alum Springs early in July. Neither she nor Mabel

was ailing in the slightest degree, but she imagined they would be

the brighter for a glimpse of the mountains and the livelier scenes

of that pleasant Spa--and whom should they meet there but the son of

"dear Frederic's" old friend, Mr. Chilton, and of course they saw a

great deal of him--and the rest followed as Providence meant it

should.

"The rest" expressed laconically the essence of numberless walks by

moonlight and starlight; innumerable dances in the great ball-room,

and the sweeter, more interesting confabulations that made the young

people better acquainted in four weeks than would six years of

conventional calls and small-talk. They stayed the month out,

although "Aunt Rachel" had, upon their arrival, named a fortnight as

the extreme limit of their sojourn. Frederic Chilton was their

escort to Eastern Virginia, and remained a week at Ridgeley--perhaps

to recover from the fatigue of the journey. So soon as he returned

to Philadelphia, in which place he had lately opened a law-office,

he wrote to Mabel, declaring his affection for her, and suing for

reciprocation. She granted him a gracious reply, and sanctioned by

fond, sympathetic Aunt Rachel, in the absence of Mabel's brother and

guardian, the correspondence was kept up briskly until Frederic's

second visit in September. Ungenerous gossips, envious of her

talents and influence, had occasionally sneered at Mrs. Sutton's

appropriation of the credit of other alliances--but this one was her

handiwork beyond dispute--hers and Providence's. She never forgot

the partnership. She had carried her head more erect, and there was

a brighter sparkle in her blue orbs since the evening Mabel had come

blushingly to her room, Fred's proposal in her hand--to ask counsel

and congratulations. Everybody saw through the discreet veil with

which she flattered herself she concealed her exultation when others

than the affianced twain were by--and while nobody was so unkind as

to expose the thinness of the pretence, she was given to understand

in many and gratifying ways that her masterpiece was considered, in

the Aylett circle, a suitable crown to the achievements that had

preceded it. Mabel was popular and beloved, and her betrothed, in

appearance and manner, in breeding and intelligence, justified Mrs.

Sutton's pride in her niece's choice.




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