Cousin Jennie was shrewd and witty. She knew how to act that she
might afford the least embarrassment to her guest.
For hours her guest was allowed to roam at his own desire, and felt
not the pressure of conventional restriction.
Mr. Lawson was gallant in the true sense of the word, but he was no
empty-headed fop, paying that amount of overdue attention to the
fair, which, at times, becomes a bore and a pest.
It had been arranged that a small pic-nic party should relieve the
quiet of the third day, and a jolly pic-nic it was. There was mirth
enough to last for a month. Jennie's companions had mustered _en
masse_. Groups of merry, rollicking youths and bright-eyed
maidens lent a charm to the scene, and reminded one of the revels
held in classic groves, when each sylvan deity, at a blast of her
silver horn, made the wood resound with the voices of her myriads of
subjects.
As the sayings and doings of all pic-nics are much in common it
would be wasting time to describe the one at "Gladswood."
"All went merry as a marriage bell."
The sun was sinking in the west in all its glory--a blaze of living
gold. The purple tops of the distant hills were enchanting and stood
as huge sentinels of the scene below.
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