ter than Esther--unless you
will play Ahasuerus."

"Well I will put you down for both of 'em."

"But who's to be anything else?"

"Lots. Here.--Splendid! 'Marie Antoinette' going from the revolutionary
tribunal--that will be capital."

"Who will take that?" said Daisy.

"Let me see. I think--I think, Daisy, it must be Theresa Stanfield. She
is a clever girl, and it must be a clever girl to do this."

"But she will not look as old as she ought."

"Yes she will, when she is dressed. I know who will be our dresser, too;
Mrs. Sandford."

"Will she?" said Daisy.

"Yes. She knows how, I know. You and I must go and give invitations,
Daisy."

"Mamma will send the invitations."

"Yes, of course, to the party; but we have got to beat up recruits and
get contributions for the tableaux. You and I must do that. I engaged to
take all the trouble of the thing from aunt Felicia."

"Contributions, Preston?"

"Of people, Daisy. People for the tableaux. We must have all we can
muster."

"I can't see how you will make Theresa Stanfield look like that."

"_I_ cannot," said Preston laughing,--"but Mrs. Sandford will do part
and Theresa herself will do the other part. She will bring her face
round, you will see. The thing is, who will be that ugly old woman who
is looking at the queen with such eyes of coarse fury--I think I shall
have to be that old woman."

"You, Preston!" And Daisy went off into a fit of amusement. "Can you
make your eyes look with coarse fury?"

"You shall see. That's a good part. I should not like to trust it to
anybody else. Alexander and Hamilton Rush will have to be the Queen's
guards--how we want Ransom. Charley Linwood is too small. There's
George, though."

"What does that woman look at the queen so for?"

"Wants to see her head come down--which it did soon after."

"Her head come down?"--

"It had come down pretty well then, when the proud, beautiful queen was
exposed to the looks and insults of the rabble. But they wanted to see
it come down on the scaffold."

"What had she been doing, to make them hate her?"

"She had been a queen;--and they had made up their minds that nobody
ought to be queen, or anything else but rabble; so her head must come
off. A great many other heads came off; for the same reason."

"Preston, I don't think the poor would hate that kind of thing so, if
the rich people behaved right."

"How do you think rich people ought to behave?" said Preston gravely,