nowhere that she cannot go.' But now all this was altered. Mrs. Gresham would certainly be received in any house in the county. And thus, Mr. Thorne of Ullathorne, an amiable, popular old bachelor, came to the wedding; and so did his maiden sister, Miss Monica Thorne, than whose no kinder heart glowed through all Barsetshire.
'My dear,' said she to Mary, kissing her, and offering her some little tribute, 'I am very glad to make your acquaintance; very. It was not her fault,' she added, speaking to herself. 'And now that she will be a Gresham, that need not be any longer thought of.' Nevertheless, could Miss Thorne have spoken her inward thoughts out loud, she would have declared, that Frank would have done better to have borne his poverty than marry wealth without blood. But then, there are but few so stanch as Miss Thorne; perhaps none in that county—always excepting Lady Amelia.
And the Oriels were there, of course: the rector and his young wife, and Patience again enacting bridesmaid. It was pretty to see how Beatrice came out as a matron, and gave all manner of matured counsel to her still maiden friend. A month or two of married life does make such a difference!
And Miss Dunstable, also, was a bridesmaid. 'Oh, no,' said she, when asked; 'you should have them young and pretty.' But she gave way when she found that Mary did not flatter her by telling her that she was either the one or the other. 'The truth is,' said Miss Dunstable, 'I have always been a little in love with your Frank, and so I shall do it for his sake.' There were but four: the other two were the Gresham twins. Lady Arabella exerted herself greatly in framing hints to induce Mary to ask some of the De Courcy ladies to do her so much honour; but Mary on this head would please herself. 'Rank,' said she to Beatrice, with a curl on her lip, 'has its drawbacks—and must put up with them.'
And now I find that I have not one page—not half a page—for the wedding-dress. But what matters? Will it not be all found written in the columns of the Morning Post?
And thus Frank married money, and became a great man. Let us hope that he will be a happy man. As the time of the story has been brought down so near to the present era, it is not practicable for the novelist to tell much of his future career. When I last heard from Barsetshire, it seemed to be quite settled that he is to take the place of one of the old members at the next general election; and they say, also, that there is no chance of any opposition. I have heard, too, that there have been many very private consultations between him and various gentlemen of
