inute his square document came, Cousin Dempster said at once that
he would accept, and I, who had done honors with Mrs. President, made up
my mind there, right on the nail, to do just as much for the Brooks
family.

Well, I never took off my pink silk after we came from the White House,
only bunched it up a little more behind when we went down to dinner, and
after that screwed up my hair for a new friz, while I took a nap in the
great puffy easy-chair that stood in my room; for this doing honors hour
after hour is tiresome to the--well--ankles.

Having my dress on, I took something of a nap, and seemed to be dragged
out of my sleep by the hair, when E. E. came to call me, which was,
maybe, owing to the tightness of the crimping wires that caught on the
cushion when I jumped up, and gave me an awful jerk. But I soon got
over that, and gave my hair an extra frizzle before I went out, which
was improving to my general appearance, and very relieving to the head.

Cousin E. E. had put on a span-new dress, observing, modestly, that a
genius could appear in anything, but she hadn't the position which would
stand wearing the same dress twice.

"For the sake of New England," says she, "I mean to do my best," which
she did, in silk, like a ripe cherry, with wave over wave of black lace
over it, and a bunch of white stones on her bosom, burning like a
furnace when the light struck them.

Well, once again we packed ourselves into a carriage, and then, huddled
up in waves of red silk, rolled off to Mr. Brooks's house, which isn't
far from the President's homestead.

"There don't seem to be many here yet," says I, as we got out of the
carriage, and went up the high steps, holding our dresses with both
hands.

Before Cousin D. could answer, the door was opened, and the man inside
waved his hand, which had a span-clean white glove on it, and told us to
walk upstairs, which we did, dropping our dresses as we went, till they
trailed half way down the steps in waves that the fellow with white
gloves on must have thought sumptuous.

Two or three young ladies were in the dressing-room, and that was all. I
shook out my dress before the glass, gave my hair an extra fluff, and
went into the hall, where Cousin Dempster was standing.

"There don't seem to be many ladies here," says I; "in fact, none to
speak of."

"Oh," says he, "they're not expected. You and my wife are exceptions."

"Just so," says I.

"This is a stag party," sa