on Tuesday.'

'Aunt Jane seems to have taken to public speaking,' said Harry. 'It
would be rather a lark to hear her.'

'You may have a chance,' said Lady Merrifield, 'for here is a note from
Mrs. Blackburn to ask if I will be so very kind as to let them have the
festival here. They had reckoned upon Tillington Park, where they have
always had it before, but they hear that all the little Tillingtons
have the measles, and they don't think it safe to venture there.'

'It will be great fun!' said Gillian. 'We will have all sorts of
games, only I'm afraid they will be much stupider than the Irish
girls.'

'And ever so much stupider than the dear 111th children,' sighed Mysie.

'Aren't they all great big girls?' asked Valetta, disconsolately.

'I believe twelve years old is the limit,' said her mother. 'Twelve-
year-old girls have plenty of play in them, Vals, haven't they, Mysie?
Let me see--two hundred and thirty of them.'

'For you to feast?' asked Harry.

'Oh, no--that cost comes out of their own funds, Mrs. Blackburn takes
care to tell me, and Miss Hacket will find some one in Siverfold who
will provide tables and forms and crockery. I must go down and talk to
Miss Hacket as soon as lessons are over. Or perhaps it would save time
and trouble if I wrote and asked her to come up to luncheon and see the