-the choosing of the caskets, and the third--the
courtroom.

Angela, who was industriously shaking powder into her new satin slipper
because it hurt, began reciting her lines:

"'Your Father was ever virtuous; and holy men at their death have good
inspirations--'"

"Do keep still, Ange," Betty begged; "you'll get me all mixed up. 'Oh,
upright judge--a Daniel--come prepare--'" she murmured to herself.

Lois in the other corner of the room was chanting: "'The quality of
mercy is not strained--it droppeth like the gentle dew from Heaven upon
the place beneath. It is _thrice_ blest--' There, I know I'll get that
wrong," she broke off--"it's 'twice blest,' and I always say 'thrice.'"

"You're far too generous with your blessings," Polly laughed. "I feel
perfectly sure that I will giggle right out when you say: 'You see me
Lord Bassanio as I am--' you know."

"Don't you dare look at me," Lois warned, "or I'll laugh, too. Mercy,
listen to those people! I'm going to peep." She opened the door a crack
and looked out into the Assembly Hall. She saw Maud and Fanny, who were
acting as two of the ushers, seating the new arrivals.

"The hall's jammed," she told the girls. "How many guests have you
to-night, Dot?" she asked.

"Six! My mother, two girl cousins of mine and three boys."

"I expect five," Evelin said. "I hope they're all here. Did you notice
two lanky men, a girl that looks like me, and my mother and father?"

"No, I didn't," Lois said; "that is, I can't recognize them from your
description."

"Wasn't it a shame your mother couldn't come, Betty?" Polly said. "But,
of course, Dick is here," she teased.

"No, he's not," Lois laughed. "I'd have seen his red head in the crowd
if he had been."

"He's coming with John Frisby and Ange's sister and brother-in-law,"
Betty said, without paying any attention to Lois' teasing.

"There'll be at least twenty couples for the dance," Polly said. "That
means the room won't look half empty, the way it did last year."

"I hope there's enough sherbet," Evelin said; "boys always eat twice as
much as you expect them to."

"Well, there are cakes enough to feed a whole army," Dorothy Lansing
added. "I know, for I ordered them."

"The orchestra is here. Oh, bother that buckle! it's sure to come off,"
Helen exclaimed.

"Has the sherbet come, does anybody know?" Angela asked.

"They promised it by six o'clock," Dot Mead replied; "it's surely here
by now."

"It's time for t