Page:Maud Howe - Atlanta in the South.djvu/337

 Ruysdale he had won was the sweet maid Margaret. The Ruysdales were a powerful clan, and a proud one. They had some right to be so. They had furnished a governor to the Colony in the old days, and ever since that time members of the family had held offices of trust in the State and had stood high in public esteem. All this Robert was made to appreciate fully by the afore-mentioned relatives, "who rubbed it in extra hard," Mrs. Harden observed to her husband, "because they did n't know when they should catch a real live Creole fresh from Louisiana again."

The Hardens had come to share in Margaret's happiness, and Colonel Lagrange with Bouton de Rose, who was to stand by Robert in the hour of need as best man, was hourly expected. The wedding-day had been set, and the mail and express-carriers were bringing boxes and packages every day, whose contents were of the most profound interest to all the female cousins, as well as to Sara Harden and Margaret herself. One afternoon, about a fortnight before the happy day, Margaret and Robert, returning from one of their long rambles through the crispy autumn woods, encountered Mrs. Harden strolling leisurely along, leaning on the arm of a young and good-looking Ruysdale of the other sex.