She had never been seen in Upham, and was commonly believed to have died at some Western post during the first years of their marriage.

Probably the beautiful necklace of carved corals, which the Colonel had brought that night for a present to Lucina, had belonged to that long-dead young wife; but not even the Squire knew.
As for John Jennings, he had never had a wife, and the trinkets he had bestowed upon sweethearts remained still in their keeping; but he brought a pair of little pearly ear-rings for Lucina, and never wore his diamond shirt-button again.

Lawyer Eliphalet Means brought for his offering a sandal-wood fan, a veritable lacework of wood, spreading it himself in his lean brown hand, which matched in hue, and eying it with a sort of dryly humorous satisfaction before he gave it into Lucina's keeping.
Squire Eben, despite his gratification for his daughter's sake, burst into a great laugh.

"By the Lord Harry!" cried he; "you didn't go into a shop yourself and ask for that folderol ?" "Got it through a sea-captain, from India, years ago," replied the lawyer, laconically.
"Wouldn't she take it ?" inquired Colonel Lamson, with sly meaning, his round, protruding eyes staring hard at his friend and the fan.
"Never gave her the chance," said Means, with a shrewd twinkle.

Then he turned to Lucina, with a stiff but courtly bow, and presented the sandal-wood fan, and not one of them knew then, nor ever after, its true history.
Lucina had joyfully heard the clang of the knocker when Jerome arrived, thinking that they were the last guests, and her father could have his pleasure.