ded about in the brass coal scuttle, beautifully
polished and lined with paraffin paper. Each guest received a present. A
string of jet beads proved to be small black seeds, and a necklace of
green jade resolved itself on inspection into a collar of green string
beans strung by one end so that they lay at length like a verdant
fringe.

The early evening was spent in the dining-room--no one knew why. When
supper was served in the library it became evident that it was just a
part of the program to have everything topsy turvy. It was evident, too,
that a raid had been made on Dr. Hancock's supplies, for the lemonade
was served in test tubes and the Charlotte Russe in pill boxes.

It was after supper when Edward Watkins had grown sure that Miss Merriam
surely was not coming that he indulged in a burst of sarcasm. After a
consultation with Margaret he drew the curtains across the door leading
into the hall.

"Are you ready?" he called to Margaret.

"Yes," came in reply.

"Then here, my friends, you see the portrait of the original April
Fool."

He swept back the portiere and the laughing group, silenced by the
energy of his announcement, saw Edward himself reflected in a mirror
that Margaret had set up on a chair. They all laughed, but it was uneasy
laughter, and Tom tried to reassure his brother by clapping him on the
shoulder and exclaiming, "You do yourself an injustice, old man, you
really do," with a touch of earnestness in it.

CHAPTER XI

APRIL 19 AND 23

Ethel Blue took no part in the historical program that Helen put on the
stage of the Glen Point Orphanage on April 19th, "Patriots' Day," when
Massachusetts folk celebrated the Revolutionary battle of Concord and
Lexington. The reason was that she was just getting over a cold that had
come upon her at the very time when the others were making ready for the
performance, and had made her feel so wretched that she could do nothing
outside of her school work. This was how it happened that she was
sitting at the rear of the room when Edward Watkins came in, looked
searchingly over the audience and then slipped into a chair beside her.

"Miss Merriam not here?" he murmured under cover of a duet that Dorothy
and Della were playing on the piano.

"No."

"Do you know why she won't speak to me?"

Ethel Blue fairly trembled. What was she to say? She had been warned not
to interfere in other people's affairs. Yet she did not know how to
answer without t