ary gasp when
she saw him--he was resplendent in immaculate white flannels!

"Of course he _bought_ them--just for this!" she thought regretfully.
However, she had a moment of delicious satisfaction when she took him
to Miss Sabrina; they should all see that a hired man could be very
much of a gentleman.

"Peter," she managed to whisper to him, "I have a feeling that
something _awful_ is going to happen!" Then Mrs. Todd and Mrs. Sniggs
had come through the gate and she had gone forward to meet them.

It was Webb who gave Nancy a hint of the real truth. He was, as he
expressed it, "so gol darn flubberin' mad at the hul parcel of
womenfolks he'd liked to burst!" Gossip had crept to the post-office
stoop and Webb had sensed what was going on. "Skunks--beggin' your
pardon, Miss Anne, but that's _what_!"

Nancy had a moment of panic; her eyes sought wildly for Peter Hyde.
Then her fighting blood stirred. "Thank you, Webb," she said with
well-assumed calmness. "Don't worry a bit! We'll show them--we'll act
just as though we hadn't invited anyone else!"

But her nonchalant manner cloaked real distress. There was Miss
Sabrina, proud Miss Sabrina who had opened the doors of her trouble for
all Freedom to come and gape at--Nancy knew it had not been easy!
There was pretty, fluttering, expectant Aunt Milly in the dress she had
had made when she was eighteen; Nonie who had dreamed of throngs of
guests paying homage before her; and B'lindy, who had made a cake that
was "like as a twin to the one my mother made for the Gov'nor!" What
would _they_ say?

Was she not, indirectly, the cause of the humiliation that threatened
them?

Nancy hurried to Peter Hyde where, in a corner of the garden, he stood
paying court to Nonie. In answer to his pleasant nonsense Nonie's
delighted laughter was rising shrilly. Nancy sent Nonie back to Aunt
Milly. Then she caught Peter's arm.

"Peter! _Pe-ter_! Quick--come behind this bush! I'm--I'm--I've got
to cry----"

And to Peter Hyde's consternation Nancy _did_ burst into tears.

"For Heaven's sake, Nancy, what----"

"I'm just--_mad_," Nancy blurted from behind a handkerchief. "The--the
_cats_!" She lifted her head, relieved by her sudden outburst. "It's
that Mrs. Eaton again! She's--just--getting even!" She told what Webb
had said. "And here's the--party--and no one will come! Aunt Sabrina
will never, never get over it. And B'lindy--I _wish_ I could run away."

Pete