ital, and I
believe we shall enjoy it."

When the eager applause had subsided, Mrs. Marvin continued:

"The girl in charge of the entertainment must not be annoyed with
questions as to the program because I wish the entertainment each week
to be a surprise.

"Dorothy, herself must contribute one or two numbers, and I have
appointed Nancy Ferris, and Patricia Levine to help her."

The pupils were wild with curiosity as to what the numbers were to be,
but while a few hinted that they were eager to know just what they were
to hear and see, they did not ask Dorothy to tell them. They thought it
would be more fun to be surprised.

Dorothy found herself in an awkward place.

She had decided to sing a pretty waltz song, for which Nancy played the
accompaniment. Nancy had at first thought of playing a piano duet with
Dorothy, but Dorothy pointed out that a number of the girls, when it
came their turn to entertain, would surely play, and she urged Nancy to
do a fine solo dance.

"It will be more of a treat," she urged, and Nancy agreed.

Patricia declared that she had studied with a fine vocal instructor
since they had heard her, and she also stated that she would sing a
solo, or nothing.

Patricia, when at Merrivale private school with Dorothy and Nancy, had
done some very funny singing, and Dorothy felt a bit nervous as to what
she would do now, but Patricia insisted that she had rapidly improved,
and there seemed to be no choice but to let her sing.

"Do make her tell you what she's going to sing," Nancy said, one
morning, "because if she has chosen something you wouldn't like to have
her sing, you _might_ be able to coax her to change it."

Dorothy promised to question Patricia, but she laughed at the idea of
being able to make Patricia change her mind after she had decided what
she should do.

"What am I to sing?" said Patricia, when at recess Dorothy questioned
her. "I'm going to sing something from grand opera. It's called:

'I dreampt that I dwelt in marble halls,'

and my teacher coached me on it, and he said I sang it just as it should
be sung."

"If her teacher said that she sang it well, perhaps it will be all
right," Dorothy said, but even as she said it she wondered just what
Patricia would do. Patricia _might_ do anything.

Dorothy took the time to practice when all of the pupils were out of
doors at recess. She did not wish them to hear her song until she should
sing it for them at the soc