Harry, she knew, would be away at his school.

Though she had asked him whether he meant to come to her wedding, she had been better pleased that he should be absent.

She had not many regrets herself but it pleased her to think that he should have them.

So Mary and Fanny Clavering were asked to attend her at the altar.

Mary and Fanny would both have preferred to decline, but their mother had told them that they could not do so.