ething to
eat, but she had not dreamed of such a spread as this.

It made her eyes shine and her cheeks glow to hear such whispered words
as these:

"Yes, indeed! Aren't you?"

"Far and away the jolliest one yet!"

"Do get me some more salad, won't you, please? It's the best I ever
ate!"

"Up-and-down jolly time. A fellow likes to be made feel at home like
this."

Miss Blake, who without seeming to be watching any one, saw that every
one was well supplied, kept a constant eye on Nan, and at last, on the
strength of what she discovered, thought it was time to interfere.

"Now sit down, my dear," she commanded softly, coming up behind the
girl and touching her gently on the arm. "You are getting all tired
out and having nothing to eat yourself. Every one is served and the
waiters will look out for the rest. I have saved a place for you in
the corner beside Louie and Ruth. So go now and rest and eat and enjoy
yourself. You must not be the only one at your party who is neglected."

Nan gave her a grateful look and dashed off toward Louie and Ruth who
were beckoning wildly to her to come. They had so much to tell that
they almost forgot their plates in their eagerness to talk.

"Grace Ellis is just wild to come over here," confided Louie.

"But Mary Brewster won't let her. Mary just bosses Grace about till I
think it's positively disgraceful," whispered Ruth.

John Gardiner sauntered up.

"Got everything you want?" he asked in a manful effort to be attentive.

"No!" replied Nan, promptly, with a twinkle in her eye. "I want a
bicycle, please. Won't you get me one?" and she held out her plate as
if to have it supplied with the desired article.

The tall fellow laughed. "With pleasure," he said, and took the plate
and marched off with it.

"O dear! I hadn't finished my salad!" lamented Nan, looking
regretfully after him.

Louie managed to telegraph their dilemma to Harley Morris, who promptly
responded to it by appearing with another plate of salad and a dish of
sandwiches. He did not go away after Nan was served, but stayed on and
led in the laugh when John Gardiner reappeared with a tiny ice cream
bicycle daintily poised against a mound of jelly, which he presented to
Nan with a low bow full of mock dignity, saying:

"You have only to command and you are obeyed. Here is your wheel, and
may it go as fast as if it were geared to a hundred."

"Thank you," replied Nan, accepting the joke and