st protest.

"The Leavitts, Anne----" she had begun.

"Oh, _bless_ the Leavitts," Nancy had laughingly broken in, "dear Aunt
Sabrina, don't you see that it's your chance to show that--that catty
Mrs. Eaton, who's just a common storekeeper's wife and's only been here
on North Hero one and one-half generations, that _you_, Sabrina
Leavitt, are not going to be told by _her_ what you should do and what
you shouldn't do!"

Miss Sabrina had not forgotten what she had suffered from Mrs. Eaton's
cruel tongue; Nancy's impetuous argument carried convincing weight. So
Nancy triumphantly added to her list, Mr. Daniel Hopworth, Miss
(Elizabeth or Eliza, she wondered) Hopworth, Miss Nonie Hopworth and
Master David Hopworth.

For the next few days such a bustle followed that Nancy wondered why
she had not thought of it before! While B'lindy opened shutters and
swept and dusted and aired, the sunshine poured into corners of the old
house that had never seen it before. Miss Sabrina unlocked old chests
and sorted out and polished old silver and washed and pressed old linen
of exquisite fineness. Aunt Milly made over the white dress for Nonie.
Nancy wrote the invitations, in Miss Sabrina's name, and despatched
them by Webb to what B'lindy called "Tom, Dick and Harry" in Freedom.

Nancy, herself, invited Webb.

"I'll tell you a secret about this party, Webb! I want everyone in
Freedom to know that Happy House _is_ a happy house; I want them to see
how wonderful Aunt Milly is and that she _wouldn't_ be happier in her
grave! I want them to see the old mantel and the lovely rooms. And I
want them to know that the Hopworth's are invited!"

"Wal, I guess Freedom folks never saw the like before at Happy House,
leastways not sence the old missus was alive," the old man had
excitedly answered. "You _bet_ old Webb'll be thar!" Nancy knew that
as each invitation was delivered at each door there would go with it an
excited account of the strange "sociable" that could include the
Hopworths, and his added opinion that "thet gal'd sartin'ly started
things happenin' at Happy House."

The smithy's son was engaged to help Jonathan cut the grass, weed the
gardens and clip the borders, under Nancy's direction. So that, while
amazing changes were going on within the house, changes equally
startling were transforming the garden. Old Jonathan straightened more
than once to view with pride the results of their work.

"This garden used to be