f festivity. But Emily Fox-Seton was
found by Lady Maria to be invaluable on this occasion. It was so easy,
without the least sense of ill-feeling, to give her all the drudgery to
do. There was plenty of drudgery, though it did not present itself to
Emily Fox-Seton in that light. She no more realised that she was giving
Lady Maria a good deal for her money, so to speak, than she realised
that her ladyship, though an amusing and delightful, was an absolutely
selfish and inconsiderate old woman. So long as Emily Fox-Seton did not
seem obviously tired, it would not have occurred to Lady Maria that she
could be so; that, after all, her legs and arms were mere human flesh
and blood, that her substantial feet were subject to the fatigue
unending trudging to and fro induces. Her ladyship was simply delighted
that the preparations went so well, that she could turn to Emily for
service and always find her ready. Emily made lists and calculations,
she worked out plans and made purchases. She interviewed the village
matrons who made the cake and buns, and boiled the tea in bags in a
copper; she found the women who could be engaged to assist in cutting
cake and bread-and-butter and helping to serve it; she ordered the
putting up of tents and forms and tables; the innumerable things to be
remembered she called to mind.

"Really, Emily," said Lady Maria, "I don't know how I have done this
thing for forty years without you. I must always have you at Mallowe for
the treat."

Emily was of the genial nature which rejoices upon even small occasions,
and is invariably stimulated to pleasure by the festivities of others.
The festal atmosphere was a delight to her. In her numberless errands to
the village, the sight of the excitement in the faces of the children
she passed on her way to this cottage and that filled her eyes with
friendly glee and wreathed her face with smiles. When she went into the
cottage where the cake was being baked, children hovered about in groups
and nudged each other, giggling. They hung about, partly through
thrilled interest, and partly because their joy made them eager to
courtesy to her as she came out, the obeisance seeming to identify them
even more closely with the coming treat. They grinned and beamed rosily,
and Emily smiled at them and nodded, uplifted by a pleasure almost as
infantile as their own. She was really enjoying herself so honestly that
she did not realise how hard she worked during the days be