occasion that it was quite
unrecognisable. Kenneth Harper, as the Knave of Hearts, who wickedly
stole the tarts, sat by her side and drove the little chariot.

Nan was dressed as a gipsy. She had a marvellous tent in which to tell
fortunes, and in the parade she rode on a much-bedecked donkey.

Marian was a dame of olden time, and Bumble was a Japanese lady of
high degree.

There were quaint and curious costumes of all sorts, each of which
provoked much mirth or admiration from the enthusiastic audience.

After the parade, the fair was announced open, and the patrons were
requested to spend their money freely for the benefit of the hospital.

So well did they respond that, as a result of their efforts, the Tea Club
girls were able to present Mrs. Greenleaf with the sum of five hundred
dollars toward her good work.

CHAPTER XXII

AT THE SEASHORE

Toward the end of August the Barlows' visit drew toward its close.
Although Patty was sorry to have her cousins go, yet she looked forward
with a certain sense of relief to being once more alone with her father.

"It's lovely to have company," she confided to her Aunt Alice one day,
"and I do enjoy it ever so much, only somehow I get tired of ordering and
looking after things day after day."

"All housekeepers have that experience, Patty, dear," said Aunt Alice,
"but they're usually older than you before they begin. It is a great deal
of care for a girl of sixteen, and though you get along beautifully, I'm
sure it has been rather a hard summer for you."

So impressed was Mrs. Elliott with these facts that she talked to Mr.
Fairfield about the matter, and advised him to take Patty away somewhere
for a little rest and change before beginning her school year again.

Mr. Fairfield agreed heartily to this plan, expressed himself as willing
to take Patty anywhere, and suggested that some of the Elliotts go, too.

When Patty's opinion was asked, she said she would be delighted to go
away for a vacation, and that she had the place all picked out.

"Well, you are an expeditious young woman," said her father. "And where
is it that you want to go?"

"Why, you see, papa, the 1st of September, when Bob and Bumble go home
from here, Nan isn't going back with them; she's going down to Spring
Lake. That's a place down on the New Jersey coast, and I've never been
there, and she says it's lovely, and so I want to go there."

"Well, I don't see any reason why you shouldn