e is now the
head of the house, and it is she who should wear the teaberry gown. Don't
tell her, please, until to-morrow; I thought it would be nice to have a
little ceremony about it, and in that case I shall have to have some one
to help me."

"It is very good of you, my dear," said Mrs. Drane, "to think of such a
thing, and Cicely and your brother will be delighted, I know, to find out
what you think of this change of administration. Ralph said to me the
other day that he was afraid you were not altogether happy in yielding
your place to another. He had noticed that you had gotten into the habit
of going off by yourself."

Miriam laughed.

"Just wait until he hears the beautiful speech I am going to make
to-morrow, and then he will see what a wise fellow he is."

"Mrs. Drane! Miss Miriam!" exclaimed La Fleur, her face beginning to glow
with emotion; "let me help to make this a grand occasion. Let me get up a
beautiful lunch. There isn't much time, it is true, but I can do it. I'll
make Michael drive me to town early in the morning, and I'll have
everything ready in time. A dinner would be all very well, but a
luncheon gives so much better chance to the imagination and the
intellect. There're some things you have to have at a dinner, but at a
lunch there is nothing you are obliged to have, and nothing you may not
have if you want it. And if you don't mind, I'd like you to ask old Miss
Panney. I've been a good deal at odds with her since I have known her,
but I'm satisfied now, and if there is anything I can do to make her
satisfied, I'm more than ready. Besides, when I do get up anything
extraordinary in the way of a meal, I like to have people at the table
who can appreciate it. And as for that, I haven't met anybody in this
country who is as well grounded in good eating as that old lady is."

Her proposition gladly agreed to, La Fleur rose to a high heaven of
excited delight. She had had no chance to show her skill in a wedding
breakfast, for the young couple had been married very quietly in
Pennsylvania, and she was now elated with the idea of exhibiting her
highest abilities in an Investiture Luncheon.

She handed the basin of peas through the open window to Seraphina, and
retired to her room, to study, to plan, and to revel in flights of
epicurean fancy.

"Mike," said Seraphina to her brother, who was now raking the grass near
the kitchen window, "did you hear dat ar ole cook a talkin' jes' now?"

"No,"