It was a gown of rich silk that had once been white , but now , like the linen , it was yellow with age . It was simply made and trimmed with cobwebby old lace . Wrapped around it was a long white bridal veil , redolent with some strange , old-time perfume that had kept its sweetness all through the years . `` Well , Amy , this is all , '' said Aunt Winnifred with a quiver in her voice . `` And now for the story . Where shall I begin ? '' `` At the very beginning , Aunty . You see I know nothing at all except her name . Tell me who she was and why she put her wedding dress away here . '' `` Poor Eliza ! '' said Aunt dreamily . `` It is a sorrowful story , Amy , and it seems so long ago now . I must be an old woman . Forty years ago -- and I was only twenty then . Eliza Laurance was my cousin , the only daughter of Uncle Henry Laurance . My father -- your grandfather , Amy , you do n't remember him -- had two brothers , each of whom had an only daughter . Both these girls were called Eliza after your great-grandmother . I never saw Uncle George 's Eliza but once . He was a rich man and his daughter was much sought after , but she was no beauty , I promise you that , and proud and vain to the last degree . Her home was in a distant city and she never came to Wyther Grange .
`` The other Eliza Laurance was a poor XXXXX 's daughter .
Aunt beauty brothers father man nothing silk sweetness woman years