tempts of the various girls
to discover who was inside the great head and voluminous drapery.

"I would never have known who was in there if Emma herself had not told
me. I don't believe any one outside the club knows either," was Grace's
conclusion as she returned to her own booth. But in this she was
mistaken.

CHAPTER X

THE ALICE IN WONDERLAND CIRCUS

The Alice in Wonderland Circus went down in the annals of Overton as the
most original "stunt" ever attempted by any particular class. 19-- bore
its honors modestly, but was inordinately proud of the achievement of
the Semper Fidelis Club.

The animals' costumes had been designed by Ruth and Elfreda. After much
poring over half a dozen editions of "Alice," the original illustrations
by "John Tenniel" had appealed most strongly to them, and these had been
copied as faithfully as possible in style and color. The only important
dry goods store in Overton had been ransacked for colored cambrics,
denim and khaki, and under the clever fingers of Ruth, who seemed to
know the exact shape and proportion of every one of the Wonderland
"animals," the Dormouse, the Griffon and the Rabbit had been fitted with
"skins." Elfreda had skilfully designed and made the Mock Turtle's huge
shell and flappers, the Griffon's wings, not to mention ears for at
least half the circus, and Gertrude Wells, whose clever posters were
always in demand, obligingly painted bars, dots, stripes or whatever
touch was needed to make the particular animal a triumph of realism. The
King and Queen looked as though they might have stepped from the pages
of the book, and the Duchess, as played by Anne, was a masterpiece of
acting.

The circus opened with a grand march of the animals. Then followed the
"Mad Hatter Quadrille," called by the Mad Hatter and danced by the March
Hare, the Dormouse, the Rabbit, the Griffon, the Mock Turtle, the Dodo,
the Duchess and Alice. Then the Mad Hatter stepped to the center of the
ring, flourished his high hat, bowed profoundly, and made a funny little
speech about the accomplishments of the animals, each one walking
solemnly into the middle of the ring as his name was called and clumsily
saluting the audience.

Then the real circus began. The Dormouse skipped the rope, the Rabbit
balanced a plate on his nose, the Griffon, with a great flapping of
wings, laboriously climbed a ladder and jumped from the top rung to the
ground, a matter of about six feet, where he