_The Carnation Countess_.

A full fortnight before the thirty-first of October, came the first
general rehearsal of the musical play. It could not be rehearsed with
the scenery, of course, nor on the Opera House stage. The big hall of
the high school building had a large stage and here the preliminary
rehearsals were to be conducted.

That was a Saturday afternoon eagerly looked forward to. Although the
boys claimed to have much less interest in the play than the girls, even
they were excited over the rehearsal. Few of the boys had speaking parts
in _The Carnation Countess_, but all who had good voices were drafted by
Professor Ware for the choruses.

"And even those fellows whose voices are changing, and sound more like
bullfrogs than anything human," chuckled Neale O'Neil, "have got to
help swell the 'Roman populace' or carry out the dead."

"Now, Neale O'Neil! you know very well," said Tess, reprovingly, "that
the Romans aren't in this play at all, and there will be no dead to
carry out."

"Buzz! buzz! buzz-z-z-z!" crooned Dot, rocking her Alice-doll to sleep.

"Somebody'll slap at that bumblebee and try to kill it, if it doesn't
look out," promised Agnes, pouting. "I wish you folks wouldn't talk
about the old play. You--make--me--feel--so--bad!"

"You'll feel worse when you see that Trix Severn trying to play Innocent
Delight," sniffed Eva Larry, who chanced to be present in the Corner
House sitting-room where the discussion was going on.

"I don't suppose she is really _bad_ in it, Eva," Ruth said.

"Not bad? She's--worse!" proclaimed the boisterous one. "Just wait. I
know Miss Lederer is heart-broken over her."

"She'll spoil the play, won't she?" asked Tess, the anxious. "I hope I
won't spoil it, with my Swiftwing part."

"Oh, you're all right, honey," Agnes assured her. "You know your part
already, don't you?"

"Oh, yes. It's not nearly so hard to remember as the sovereigns of
England. And that's how I come to get the part of Swiftwing, I guess."

"What is the way?" asked Ruth, curiously.

"She means the reason," Agnes put in, who had lately begun to criticise
the family's use of English.

"The reason I got the part?" queried Tess, gravely. "'Cause I could
recite the sovereigns of England so well. I guess Miss Pepperill told
Professor Ware, and so he gave me the part in the play."

"Of course!" whispered Neale. "Of course, it couldn't be that they gave
a certain person her part because, if it