vanishing of his beautiful
bride on her wedding night so many years before. In the next scene two
servants appeared with orders to clean out and remove the old chest from
the landing. Hippy and Jessica, as the two mischievous prying servants,
enacted their part to perfection. Hippy carrying a broom and dust pan,
did one of the eccentric dances, for which he was famous, while Jessica,
armed with a huge duster, tried to drive him to work.

Finally both lay hold of the old chest, the rusted lock broke and the
lid flew open. After one look both servants ran away in terror, and
beckoned to the forsaken husband who had appeared in the meantime,
seating himself on the oak settee in the lower hall. With eager gestures
they motioned him to the landing where the old chest stood. The final
tableau, depicted the stricken husband on his knees beside the chest
with a portion of the wedding veil in his shaking hands, while the
servants, ignorant of the story of the lost bride, looked on in wonder.

During the last tableau Nora softly sang the closing verse and the
refrain. Even after the last note had died away the spectators sat
perfectly still for a moment. Then the applause burst forth and David
bowing in acknowledgment, turned and helped Anne out of the chest, where
she had lain quietly after hiding.

The chest had been set with the side that opened toward the wall. While
planning for the pantomime the boys had arranged the lid so that it did
not close, yet the opening was not perceptible to those seated below.
Thus there had been no danger of Anne meeting the fate of the
ill-starred Ginevra, the heroine of the ballad.

"You clever children," cried the old judge. "How did you ever get up
anything like that on such short notice? It was beautifully done. I have
always been very fond of 'The Mistletoe Bough.' My sister used to sing
it for me."

"Grace thought of it," said Anne. "We found all those costumes up in the
garret in the old cedar chest. We knew the story by heart, and we knew
the minuet. We danced it at an entertainment in Oakdale last winter. We
had a very short rehearsal this afternoon in the garret and that's all."

"Anne arranged the scenes and coached David in his part of the
pantomime," said Grace. "She did more than I."

The judge's guests, also, added their tribute of admiration to that of
the judge.

"It was all so real. I could scarcely refrain from telling that poor
young husband where his bride had hid