Page:Leah Reed--Brenda's summer at Rockley.djvu/316

298 she was fully dressed, called to Julia, who was in a room across the hall.

“Oh, Julia, what shall we do if it rains; there are only one or two closed carriages, and—”

“Don’t worry,” and there was a laugh in Julia’s voice. “You always look on the dark side. It is n’t going to rain.”

“But it looks so kind of hazy.”

“Ah, if you were more in the habit of rising early, you’d know that it is the regular thing on a September  morning for the sun to have a downcast look. By the time you have finished your breakfast, it may be scorching.”

“I don’t know,” said Brenda. “I wonder if any one else is up.”

“Well, we ought to be down as soon as possible; there will be ever so many little things for us to do.”

“Oh, I’m dressing as fast as I can; I want to see if more presents have come. There ’s an early train; and some things may have come on that.”

Brenda’s early rising on this wedding morning was rewarded by the finding of several handsome presents  which had come by the late express the night before. Moreover, she was able to give directions (which, however, were not strictly followed) to the men who were decorating the house with flowers.

The long sitting-room, with its windows opening upon the piazza, was trimmed almost entirely with white chrysanthemums, which the florists had been able to get by  some process known only to themselves, some time ahead