noise attracted
Mrs. Major and Kizzie, who reached the door in time to witness the
bewildering wind-up, as the actor, dwelling softly on the words,

"And for a fairy foot as light
As is the young gazelle's in flight."

gave his right foot an upward movement bringing his toe in contact with
the chandelier, and then executed a backward kicking act I am sure no
gazelle, old or young, would wish to emulate.

CHAPTER VII

THEATRICALS

The rehearsals went on. Alene and Ivy recited their parts in the
dialogue in the same listless way, secretly criticising each other's
rendition, but Laura, busy in directing and arranging so many things,
failed to notice the discontent of those two important members of the
Company.

It was only their love of the manager that kept them silent, and even
then it was a hard task, considering Alene's ingenuousness and Ivy's
impulsiveness, both traits alike foes to concealment.

At the last meeting before the great event, everything seemed to go
wrong; the little ones forgot their lines or refused to obey the stage
manager, declaring she was cranky, and threatening to throw up their
parts and go out on the hillside to play; the boys were in a
mischievous mood and teased their sisters unmercifully; Laura was on
the point of tears, which fact Alene discovered by her unusual rigidity
of countenance.

Laura crying would be something terrible! Alene had seen the others
whimper and complain. She had been present when Ivy, in her sudden
fierce passions of anger, would attack the little ones viciously with
her crutches, unless they had previously stolen them away; in which
event she would gnash her teeth, and stamp her feet, in powerless rage,
and only Laura could bring peace by banishing her tormentors. But no
matter what happened, Laura seemed a rock upon which to lean, and if,
in adjusting a grievance, she sometimes failed to use tact, and the
remedy proved worse than the disease, they knew in their hearts she was
acting in good faith, trying to do what was right.

Therefore it behooved Alene upon this occasion to redouble her efforts
to be helpful and cheering.

She won over the babies by promising them each a beautiful doll out of
the trunkful she had at home; whereupon the big boys promised to be
good if she would give them one also, but Alene took their chaffing
good-naturedly and things began to proceed more smoothly.

The last thing on the program, "The Wishes," was call