"But about Easter, Lucretia," he pursued persistently. "You're tormenting the turtle now. Aren't you going to tell me, dear?"
The smile vanished on Lucretia's face. She turned away.
"I'll never get used to it—never!" she whispered. "I mean your—the little words you finish with." Then turning to him she offered him both her hands. "I've told them all in the letters that it will be Easter!"
Lucretia was waiting in the sewing-room when Beatrice came up at eleven o'clock. She had gone up-stairs before Henry and Beatrice had entered the house. It had been Thomas Hornby who greeted the home-comers, and who had then broken to them his surprising news.
"But, Lu, I can't believe it!" exclaimed Beatrice. "You, and in that funny old dress of mine. Thomas Hornby, of all men! Why, Lu dear! But tell me, he said something about Easter. You know you can't get married Easter. Henry and I are going to Bermuda, and we can't leave the children Easter unless you're here. I told Thomas Hornby so."
"Easter! Preposterous!" wrote Molly, Ray's wife. "Why, Lu, you hardly know the man yet. We're planning to go to California in April. You simply have got to wait till June. How can
