agic consequences of that hour!

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

PIXIE TALKS ON LOVE.

The immediate cause of Geoffrey's displeasure having been in connection
with the bazaar, it appeared to Joan that it was in that connection also
that she must make an amend. He had complained that she had failed in
interest and personal energy: by a supreme effort, then, she must
demonstrate how his words had taken root.

It was the eleventh hour; any one but an impulsive Irish woman would
have realised the futility of organising any fresh feature, and would
have contented herself with doing well what was already planned, but
such tame methods were not for the woman who had been Esmeralda
O'Shaughnessy. She was accustomed to acting in haste; at home, at
Knock, the most extensive entertainments had been organised at a few
hours' notice, and how much easier it would be now with a staff of
trained servants at her command and a purse full of money to buy the
necessary accessories, instead of being obliged to manufacture all that
was required out of ordinary household goods. Joan heaved a sigh of
regret for the memory of those gay old days when a sheet and a
pillow-case had provided a fancy costume which had captivated Geoffrey
at a glance, then knitted her brows afresh in the effort to think out
some scheme appropriate to the occasion.

The vicar's wife had lamented a lack of music which would afford
variation from the prosaic business of buying and selling. At the time
Joan had suspected a hint, and had resolutely turned a deaf ear. She
hated singing to strangers, she hated singing in a building notably
deficient in acoustic properties, she had not the faintest intention of
victimising herself for the sake of a village throng. But now, with the
new impetus driving her on, nothing seemed too hard or distasteful. The
vicar's wife should have her music--music with such accessories as it
had never entered her modest head to imagine, music which should be the
feature _par excellence_ of the bazaar. Joan's was a quick, inventive
brain; within half an hour she had mentally arranged her programme, made
a list of the necessary accessories, and planned how they should be
procured.

When the little party were again assembled for luncheon she was able to
state her plans with an air of complete assurance which left them
breathless with astonishment. She had decided to provide two short
concerts, one in the afternoon, one in the evening. She wou