re already gay with the gathering guests. Pretty,
flower-decked tables were set in the maze. The trees were hung with
Japanese lanterns, that a little later would glow into jewelled lights.
There was a group of "grown-ups" on the porch,--mamma, beautiful in cloudy
white; sisters and cousins and aunts,--for the Forester family was a large
one. There were two grandmothers--one fat and one thin,--very elegant old
ladies, with white hair rolled high upon their heads. They looked upon the
youthful guests, through gold lorgnettes, and were really most
awe-inspiring.

The St. Andrew's boys were brought up and "presented" in due form. It was
an ordeal. How Dan got through with it he didn't know. He had never before
been "presented" to any one but Polly. But dad managed it somehow, and on
the porch friendly shadows were gathering that concealed any social
discrepancies. Then Polly flitted off to don her party dress, and Dan
found himself stranded on the danger reefs of this strange world, with dad
giving the fat grandmother his family history.

"Dolan?" repeated the old lady, who was a little deaf. "One of the Dolans
of Maryland, you say, Pemberton? Dear me! I used to visit Dolan Hall when
I was a girl. Such a beautiful old Colonial home! Is it still standing?"
she said, turning to Dan.

"I--I don't know, ma'am," stammered Dan, who found the gleam of the gold
lorgnettes most confusing.

"What does he say?" asked the old lady sharply.

"That he does not know, mother dear!" answered dad.

"He should know," said the old lady, severely. "The young people are
growing up in these careless days without any proper sentiment to the
past. A home like Dolan Hall, with its memories and traditions, should
be a pride to all of the Dolan blood. The name is really
French--D'Olane,--but most unfortunately, as I consider, was
anglicized. The family was originally from Touraine, and dates back to
the Crusaders, and is most aristocratic."

"He looks it," murmured the thin grandmother, fixing her lorgnettes on
Dan's broad shoulders as he moved away to join Tad and Freddy, who were
making friends with Polly's poodle. "I have never seen a boy carry himself
better. Blood will tell, as I have always insisted, Stella."

The lady at her side laughed. She, too, had been regarding Dan with
curious interest.

"What does it tell, Aunt Lena?" she asked.

"The lady and the gentleman," answered Polly's grandmother.

"Oh, does it?" said the other, so