atched the spots of brilliant color dancing in her
direction. Then she slipped into her coat, and seized her own
lantern. When she came outside, the sidewalk seemed crowded with
grotesque faces, all laughing at her.

"Just think," she said, "I have never been to a Halloween party in
my life."

"You are the queerest thing, Maida," Rosie said in perplexity.
"You've been to Europe. You can talk French and Italian. And yet,
you've never been to a Halloween party. Did you ever hang
May-baskets?"

Maida shook her head.

"You wait until next May," Rosie prophesied gleefully.

The crowd crossed over into the Court Two motionless, yellow faces,
grinning at them from the Lathrop steps, showed that Laura and
Harold had come out to meet them. On the lawn they broke into an
impromptu game of tag which the jack-o'-lanterns seemed to enjoy as
much as the children: certainly, they whizzed from place to place as
quickly and, certainly, they smiled as hard.

The game ended, they left their lanterns on the piazza and trooped
into the house.

"We've got to play the first games in the kitchen," Laura announced
after the coats and hats had come off and Mrs. Lathrop had greeted
them all.

Maida wondered what sort of party it was that was held in the
kitchen but she asked no questions. Almost bursting with curiosity,
she joined the long line marching to the back of the house.

In the middle of the kitchen floor stood a tub of water with apples
floating in it.

"Bobbing for apples!" the children exclaimed. "Oh, that's the
greatest fun of all. Did you ever bob for apples, Maida?"

"No."

"Let Maida try it first, then," Laura said. "It's very easy, Maida,"
she went on with twinkling eyes. "All you have to do is to kneel on
the floor, clasp your hands behind you, and pick out one of the
apples with your teeth. You'll each be allowed three minutes."

"Oh, I can get a half a dozen in three minutes, I guess," Maida
said.

Laura tied a big apron around Maida's waist and stood, watch in
hand. The children gathered in a circle about the tub. Maida knelt
on the floor, clasped her hands behind her and reached with a
wide-open mouth for the nearest apple. But at the first touch of her
lips, the apple bobbed away. She reached for another. That bobbed
away, too. Another and another and another--they all bobbed clean out
of her reach, no matter how delicately she touched them. That method
was unsuccessful.

"One minute," called Laura.