ularity of machine-gun fire. From every side came loud, eager
voices. She was glad she was a part of it all. As she finished
arranging its cap, she patted each head, just as Mrs. Eaton had done,
but in Nancy's smile there was something that had not been in Mrs.
Eaton's, so she invariably won a quick smile in response.

Suddenly Nancy spied Nonie and Davy, hand in hand, watching the other
children from a little distance. Their childish longing betrayed
itself in the unwonted way their hands clung together, in the
wistfulness of their faces. Nancy hailed them.

"Come along--hurry!" she cried. They ran eagerly to her. Nancy seized
a cape and a cap.

"Dast we?" asked Davy, very gravely.

"Why, of _course_. Quick--take this cap, Davy. Here, Nonie, is a
wreath. Now--stand here--in this line!" She placed them between two
other children. "All of you--faces forward! Be ready for the signal.
Right foot--don't forget."

Mrs. Eaton bustled up. "Everything _ready_, my dear? It's perfectly
_beautiful_--just beautiful!" in breathless staccato. "I wish my
Archie could see it! I'm actually _inspired_!" Her red, moist face
suggested that she had made a mistake in her choice of words. She ran
around the group of children, standing in ragged file, impatiently
awaiting the signal to start. "The little _dears_--just like a
beautiful band of peace!" Suddenly she stared and her face flushed a
darker red. "Nonie Hopworth, how _dared_ you come here!"

Nonie's lips quivered and her eyes went imploringly to Nancy. Davy
tossed his head defiantly. Neither answered.

"_I_ called them, Mrs. Eaton."

Now there was no "my dear" on Mrs. Eaton's tongue. It clicked sharply
against her teeth. She was too outraged, too, to pick her words.

"Get right away!" She seized Davy by the shoulder. "Little
good-for-nothings! This is a patriotic celebration and we don't want
any Hopworth's in it!"

Nancy's eyes blazed. "_Oh_, Mrs. Eaton! _Don't_--they're just
children! They----"

"_You're_ a stranger here in Freedom, Miss Leavitt--I'll be pleased if
you'll let _me_ manage this! I say it's an _insult_ to our heroes to
have Eric Hopworth's young 'uns here--an insult to Freedom's noble
history!" The ruffles on her bosom heaved in her anger. "What'd Eric
Hopworth do for his country! When I think of my Archie----" What she
might have thought did not find expression, because of the pins she was
tearing roughly from Nonie's