o look like
itself. Aunt Isobel and I were bringing in the footlights, when we saw
Bobby at the extreme right of the stage wrapped in his cloak, and
contemplating, with apparent satisfaction, twelve old hats and six
pasteboard bandboxes which were spread before him.

"My dear Bobby, what are these?" said Aunt Isobel. Bobby
hastily--almost stammeringly--explained,

"I am Twelve Travellers, you know, Aunt Isobel."

"Dear me!" said Aunt Isobel.

"I'll show you how I am going to do it," said Bobby.

"Here are twelve old hats--I have had such work to collect them!--and
six bandboxes."

"Only six?" said Aunt Isobel with commendable gravity.

"But there are the lids," said Bobby; "six of them, and six boxes,
make twelve, you know. I've only one cloak, but it's red on one side
and blue on the other, and two kinds of buttons. Well; I come on left
for the First Traveller, with my cloak the red side out, and this
white chimney-pot hat."

"Ah!" said Aunt Isobel.

"And one of the bandboxes under my cloak. The Dragon attacks me in the
centre, and drives me off the right, where I smash up the bandbox,
which sounds like him crunching my bones. Then I roll the thunder,
turn my cloak to the blue side, put on this wideawake, and come on
again with a bandbox lid and crunch that, and roll more thunder, and
so on. I'm the Faithful Attendant and the Bereaved Father as well,"
added Bobby, with justifiable pride, "and I would have done the Dragon
if they would have let me."

But even Bobby did not outdo the rest of us in willingness. Alice's
efforts were obvious tokens of remorse; she waited on Philip, was
attentive to Mr. Clinton (who, I think, to this day believes that he
made himself especially acceptable to "the young ladies"), and
surpassed herself on the stage. Charles does not "come round" so
quickly, but at the last moment he came and offered to yield the white
plume. I confess I was rather vexed with Mr. Clinton for accepting it,
but Alice and I despoiled our best hats of their black ostrich
feathers to make it up to Charles, and he said, with some dignity,
that he should never have offered the white one if he had not meant it
to be accepted.

One thing took us by surprise. We had had more trouble over the
dressing of the new Prince than the costumes and make-up of all the
rest of the characters together cost--he was only just torn from the
big looking-glass by his "call" to the stage, and, to our amazement,
he seemed d