raphy game would be a pleasant change. Alice proposed
having an afternoon tea for the dolls, and Diana agreed, although it did
not seem quite a suitable hour for it in the middle of the morning.

"I wish mother would let us go out into the kitchen and help her," Alice
said.

They had had too much play, and this was the truth. A little real work
would have been interesting.

"I guess they are making some kind of a surprise for your birthday
dinner," said Diana.

And when dinner came, and they saw the big biscuits and the little ones,
and large cookies with caraway seeds in them, and the small ones, they
were perfectly delighted.

The dolls were all allowed to come to the table with them, and, as there
were four people and five dolls, each doll was well looked after. Alice
had two on one side of her and one on the other. It was a merry meal;
Peggy, having made up her mind to play dolls, did it thoroughly. She
answered for the dolls in a different voice for each. Her namesake,
Peggy Owen Carter, who sat beside her, ate so much her little mother had
to reprove her.

"My dear child, you mustn't be so greedy," said Diana. "I should think
you had never tasted lamb stew before."

"I haven't," said Peggy Owen Carter, in a shrill, high-pitched voice
that made the children laugh. "We only have such things as legs of lamb
and roast beef and turkey and broiled chickens at our house."

"Oh, please, can't we help to do the dishes?" Diana asked, when the
lively meal was over.

"Yes, you and Alice can do the dishes inside while Peggy helps me in the
kitchen with the pots and pans."

"Can't Peggy help us?" Alice asked.

She had learned the value of Peggy. Everything was so much more exciting
when she was around.

"You can begin by yourselves, and I'll be through with her pretty soon,"
said Mrs. Owen.

It kept on snowing fast all day, and, toward the end of the afternoon,
Diana began to wonder how she was to get home. Mrs. Owen went to the
telephone to call up the Carters, but could not make it work. She tried
again and again. The line was out of order. This had happened once
before that winter in another snowstorm. Diana began to look a little
sober. She was not exactly homesick, but the thought of home with her
father and mother and her two brothers seemed very pleasant. It seemed
forlorn not to be able to reach them by telephone. They knew where she
was, however, and it was pleasant to have Peggy and Alice so overjoyed