tears set in, drowning her utterance.

"Well, what do you think o' _that_?" exclaimed Martha, amazed at the
undue sensitiveness of her offspring. "Never mind, Cora! You done it
grand!--as far as you went."

To cover this slight mishap, Claire gave a hurried signal to the pages,
who appeared forthwith in splendid form, if a little overweighted by the
burdens they bore. In some strange way Claire's simple gifts had been
secretly augmented until they piled up upon the trays, twin-mountains of
treasure.

When the first surprise was past, and the wonders examined and exclaimed
over, Martha bent toward Claire, from her seat of honor on the grass.

"Didn't I think to tell you Mr. Blennerhasset come up on the early
train? Sammy, he drove down to the station himself to meet'm. Mr.
Blennerhasset brought up all them grand things--for Mr. Ronald. Ain't
he--I mean Mr. Ronald--a caution to 've remembered the day? I been so
took up with things over there to the great house, I musta forgot to
tell you about Mr. Blennerhasset. Ain't everything just elegant?--

"It's pretty, the way the night comes down up here. With the sharp
pin-heads o' stars prickin' through, one by one. They don't seem like
that in the city, do they? An' the moon's comin' up _great_!"

Claire's eyes were fixed on the grassy slope ahead.

"Who are those three men over there?" she asked. "What are they doing? I
can't make out in the dusk anything but shadow-forms."

"Sam, an' Mr. Blennerhasset, an'--an'--another fella from the
neighborhood. Mr. Blennerhasset he brought up some fire-works to
surprise the young uns, an' they're goin' to set 'em off. It's early
yet, but the sooner it's over the sooner to sleep. An' the kids has had
a excitin' day."

Up shot a rocket, drawing the children's breaths skyward with it in
long-drawn "A-ahs!" of perfect ecstasy.

Then pin-wheels, some of which, not to belie their nature, balked
obstinately, refusing to be coerced or wheedled into doing their duty.

"Say, now, mother," cried Francie excitedly--"that pin-wheel--in the
middle of it was a cork. When it got over spinning fast, I saw the
cork."

"Don't you never do that no more," cautioned Martha. "Never you see the
cork. It's the _light_ you want to keep your eye on!" which, as Claire
thought it over, seemed to her advice of a particularly shrewd and
timely nature.

She was still pondering this, and some other things, when she felt Mrs.
Slawson's hand on her shoulde