Crossing Amateur Theatrical Society!"

"Oh--oh!"--Margaret mimicked the eager rush of words. "Let me take
them, Dad," she pleaded, "if it's going to be as fine as all that!
I'll stand treat for the crowd."

"Oh, Mark, you darling!" burst from the rapturous Rebecca.

"Say, gee, we've got to get there early!" Theodore warned them,
finishing his pudding with one mammoth spoonful.

"If you take them, my dear," Mr. Paget said graciously, "of course
Mother and I are quite satisfied."

"I'll hold Robert by one ear and Rebecca by another," Margaret
promised; "and if she so much as dares to look at George or Ted or
Jimmy Barr or Paul, I'll--"

"Oh, Jimmy belongs to Louise, now," said Rebecca, radiantly. There was
a joyous shout of laughter from the light-hearted juniors, and
Rebecca, seeing her artless admission too late, turned scarlet while
she laughed. Dinner broke up in confusion, as dinner at home always
did, and everybody straggled upstairs to dress.

Margaret, changing her dress in a room that was insufferably hot,
because the shades must be down, and the gas-lights as high as
possible, reflected that another forty-eight hours would see her
speeding back to the world of cool, awninged interiors, uniformed
maids, the clink of iced glasses, the flash of white sails on blue
water. She could surely afford for that time to be patient and sweet.