That's much better. You'll do very well--if only
you've wit enough not to worry--to trust me, whatever the emergency.
Now, please, get about my errands. And when you come back, tell Thomas
to let me know. If I need you during the day I'll send for you."

As it happened, she didn't send for Sally before nightfall; but
she kept her busy with commissions delivered by word of mouth--so
busy, perhaps considerately, that the girl found little time to waste
in futile fretting, but was ever conscious, when now and again her
thoughts did inevitably revert to the status of her personal affairs,
of contentment crooning in her heart like the soft refrain of some
sweet old song.

Her social education had made a gigantic forward stride with her
surprising discovery that confession is good for the soul, that
honesty in all things is not only expedient but wholesome. If material
advantage had accrued unto her through that act of desperate honesty,
if she basked all this day long in the assurance of immunity from the
consequences of her folly and imprudence, it was less with the
arrogance of Fortune's favourite daughter than with the humility of
one to whom life had measured out benefactions of which she was
consciously undeserving. The assertion that the world owed her a
living was forgotten, and if recalled, would have been revised to the
sense that she owed the world the duty of honourable and conscientious
living. If her temper was tolerably exalted, it was well chastened to
boot.

Thanks to the tardy advertisement of the fete, the avidity of a people
ever seeking some new thing, and the fame of Abigail Gosnold as an
entertainer of eccentric genius, that day could hardly be said
to wane; rather, it waxed to its close in an atmosphere of electric
excitement steadily cumulative. The colony droned like some huge
dynamo with the rumour of secret preparation against the night. Other
than servants scurrying to and fro on pressing but mysterious errands,
few folk were visible in the afternoon; the drives and beaches; the
lawns, terraces, courts, gardens, verandas and casinos were one and
all deserted.

At Gosnold House, below-stairs, in kitchens and servants' halls, and
all about the grounds as well, a multitude of work-people swarmed like
an invading army of ants. Astonishing feats of preparation were
consummated as if by legerdemain. And though the routine of the
household proceeded marvellously without apparent hitch or friction,