was the real ringleader and queen of the occasion, she
ordered her subjects about pretty sharply.

"Now, girls, quick; open the basket. Yes, I'm going to rest. I have
organized the whole thing, and I'm fairly tired; so I'll just sit quietly
here, and Rover will take care of me while you set things straight. Ah!
good Betty; she did not even forget the white table-cloth."

Here one of the girls remarked casually that the grass was wet with dew,
and that it was well they had all put on their waterproofs.

Annie interrupted again in a petulant voice:

"Don't croak, Mary Morris. Out with the chickens, lay the ham in this
corner, and the cherries will make a picturesque pile in the middle.
Twelve meringues in all; that means a meringue and a half each. We shall
have some difficulty in dividing. Oh, dear! oh, dear! how hungry I am! I
was far too excited to eat anything at supper-time."

"So was I," said Phyllis, coming up and pressing close to Annie. "I do
think Miss Danesbury cuts the bread and butter too thick--don't you,
Annie? I could not eat mine at all to-night, and Cecil Temple asked me if
I was not well."

"Those who don't want chicken hold up their hands," here interrupted
Annie, who had tossed her brown cap on the grass, and between whose brows
a faint frown had passed for an instant at the mention of Cecil's name.

The feast now began in earnest and silence reigned for a short time,
broken only by the clatter of plates and such an occasional remark as
"Pass the salt, please," "Pepper this way, if you've no objection," "How
good chicken tastes in fairy-land," etc. At last the ginger-beer bottles
began to pop--the girls' first hunger was appeased. Rover gladly crunched
up all the bones, and conversation flowed once more, accompanied by the
delicate diversion of taking alternate bites at meringues and
cheesecakes.

"I wish the fairies would come out," said Annie.

"Oh, don't!" shivered Phyllis, looking round her nervously.

"Annie darling, do tell us a ghost story," cried several voices.

Annie laughed and commenced a series of nonsense tales, all of a slightly
eerie character, which she made up on the spot.

The moon riding high in the heavens looked down on the young giddy heads,
and their laughter, naughty as they were, sounded sweet in the night air.

Time flew quickly and the girls suddenly discovered that they must pack
up their table-cloth and remove all traces of the feast unless they
wished the