for the muff shone the agate that none but
MacIntyres had owned since the days of Malcolm the Second. And through
the parted lips, where an instant before a gold-crowned tooth had
gleamed, shone only perfect little white teeth, with not a glint of
dentist's handiwork about them. The gold-leaf had slipped off.

Mary gasped, but before the others had a chance to see her amazed face,
the lady had risen and linked her arm through hers, and was drawing her
towards the door, saying. "Let me go with you. I am sure that Elise will
not mind receiving such a very old friend as I am up in her room."

Although the lady in black clung to her, shaking hysterically with
repressed laughter, behind her crape-bordered veil, it was not till they
had passed the footman, climbed the stairs and paused at Elise's door
that Mary was sure of the identity of her guest. The disguise had been
so complete that she could not believe the evidence of her own eyes,
until the blond wig was torn off and the spectacles laid aside. Then
Elise threw herself across her bed, laughing until she gasped for
breath. Her mirth was so contagious that Mary joined in, laughing also
until she was weak and breathless, and could only cling to the bedpost,
wiping her eyes.

"And wasn't Jimmy a whole menagerie!" Elise exclaimed as soon as she
could speak. "You should have been there to have heard him howl and tear
his hair at something A.O. told him about me. And I sat there with a
perfectly straight face through the whole of it, while she made up
dreadful things about me. I'm going away off in the pasture to-morrow
and practise that bray all by myself till I can do it to perfection.
Then when A.O. begins to sing his praises again, I won't say a word.
I'll just give her Jimmy's laugh. Won't she be astonished? She's bound
to recognize it, for it's the only one of its kind in the world. I shall
keep her guessing until after Christmas, where I heard it."

"Don't _you_ tell her till then!" she exclaimed, sitting up on the side
of the bed. "She would be so furious she wouldn't speak to me. But after
the holidays, it won't be so fresh in her mind. Promise you won't tell
her."

Still laughing, Mary promised, and Elise began to gather up the various
articles of her disguise, saying, "It was worth a five-pound box of
chocolates to hear her describe me as a reckless scape-grace in that
sorority racket we had."

The mention of candy had the effect of an electric shock on Mary.