And besides these , there was the absorbing little drama of human life which was being enacted all around us , and in which each of us played a satisfying part -- the gay preparations for Aunt Olivia 's mid-June wedding , the excitement of practising for the concert with which our school-teacher , Mr. Perkins , had elected to close the school year , and Cecily 's troubles with Cyrus Brisk , which furnished unholy mirth for the rest of us , though Cecily could not see the funny side of it at all .