The wedding day came at last , breaking softly and fairly over the great sea in a sheen of silver and pearl and rose , a September day , as mild and beautiful as June . The ceremony was to be performed at eight o'clock in the evening . At seven Rachel stood in her room , fully dressed and alone . She had no bridesmaid , and she had asked her cousins to leave her to herself in this last solemn hour of girlhood . She looked very fair and sweet in the sunset-light that showered through the birches . Her wedding gown was a fine , sheer organdie , simply and daintily made . In the loose waves of her bright hair she wore her bridegroom 's flowers , roses as white as a virgin 's dream . She was very happy ; but her happiness was faintly threaded with the sorrow inseparable from all change . Presently her mother came in , carrying a small basket . `` Here is something for you , Rachel . One of the boys from the harbor brought it up . He was bound to give it into your own hands -- said that was his orders . I just took it and sent him to the right-about -- told him I 'd give it to you at once , and that that was all that was necessary . '' She spoke coldly . She knew quite well who had sent the basket , and she resented it ; but her resentment was not quite strong enough to overcome her curiosity . She stood silently by while Rachel unpacked the basket . Rachel 's hands trembled as she took off the cover . Two huge pink-spotted shells came first . How well she remembered them ! Beneath them , carefully wrapped up in a square of foreign-looking , strangely scented silk , was the dragon teapot .
She held it XXXXX her hands and gazed at it with tears gathering thickly in her eyes .
At as for from in of over that to with