watching you all
anxiously when the gong rings to unmask. Don't run away like
Cinderella when you hear it, will you?" she added, smiling.

"No, indeed," a mumble assured her. "We will all come and say 'how do
you do' to you then in our own voices."

Another group, this time of boys, came up, and the four hurried away.

It was not long before the guests had all assembled and the music began.

"Let's go over there and watch," Phyllis suggested, pointing to a bench
under a palm in the corner. "Then we can see whom we know."

"There's John Steers, dressed as a donkey,"--Sally pointed to a tall,
ungainly boy, who presented a droll aspect as he leaned up against the
wall beside the musicians' platform. His thin body accentuated by the
large donkey's head gave him a top-heavy expression, and the forefeet
that covered his long arms hung dejectedly at his sides.

"He doesn't look as though he were having a very good time," Janet
laughed. "Why doesn't he go and talk to some one?"

"Not John; he perfectly hates and despises parties, but his mother
makes him go to them, and he always stands over by the musicians and
mopes just as he is doing now," Phyllis explained.

"There are Eleanor and Rosamond over there talking to the two boys in
armor,"--Daphne pointed.

"Of course, I'd have known them even if old Pringle had not told us
their costumes,"--Sally chuckled. "Oh, do look at that boy dressed as
Robin Hood; he is bow legged,"--she went off into convulsions of
laughter, and as the others looked at the very fat and uncomfortable
lad across the room they joined her. They had hardly time to compose
their features before three boys came up to them and bowed.

One, the tallest of the lot, wore a monk's garb of rough brown and the
big hood completely covered his head; his face was hidden by a ghostly
white mask. The one next to him was dressed exactly like the Mother
Goose pictures of Little Jack Horner and he carried a paper pie under
one arm. The last of the trio was the most amusing; his face was
blacked and a wig of kinky black hair stood out in dozens of tiny
braids, each tied with a different colored string. He wore a red and
white calico dress that was just short enough to show his big, clumsy
boots. He made a very deep bow before Sally and said in a high shrill
voice.

"May I have this dance, please, ma'am?"

"With pleasure,"--Sally for a wonder did not forget to mumble. She did
not have the slightest i