hat I could wish you, my dears,' replied Mrs.
Maitland; 'and I can only say now, "Go on and prosper."'

'Mamma, mamma dear, don't go just this minute,' cried Dora, as Mrs.
Maitland was retreating through the drawing-room window; 'Harry has a
favour to ask of you.'

'Well, what is it, Mr. Special Pleader?' inquired the lady, resuming her
place on the balcony.

'Now, aunt,' said Harry, laughing, 'I don't think it is quite fair of my
cousins to _engage_ me in such a trifling matter, especially as I am not
likely to get anything for my _brief_, except perhaps a rebuke from
you.'

'Well, go on, my good sir,' said his aunt; 'I have some curiosity to
learn what you have to do in the Court of Request to-day.'

'It is simply this,' replied Harry; 'my instructions are to plead for
the loan of the purple and gold tea equipage, in order to make a
magnificent display before the astonished eyes of a parcel of school
girls and boys. That's my case, madam,' added the juvenile pleader, with
a bow. 'I beg to say,' he added, after a moment's pause, 'that _I_ am
no advocate in this cause; I leave it entirely in the judge's hands.'

'Yes, we leave it in your hands, mamma,' said both the girls; 'we think
we have confided our case to a very one-sided lawyer, and that one side
is certainly against his clients.'

'I am sorry to say "no" to any petition you make, my dears,' said the
kind lady; 'but prudence forbids my granting your request to-day, as
misfortunes will happen, and are very likely to happen, where such a
young gentleman as you describe Master Maurice Firman to be is of the
party. Besides, I really think myself,' added prudent mamma, 'that the
white and green tea service, though not so gorgeous as purple and gold,
will be much more suitable for your present entertainment.'

'All right, aunt,' 'All right, dear mamma,' was the response to this
decision.

Fortunately, in Mrs. Maitland's family, what mamma said was always right
with her daughters, and this saved a world of trouble.

The happy trio went on with their preparations, and when the table was
brought out on to the lawn, and had received not only the pure white and
green tea-service, but the very elegant floral decorations invented by
the cousins, it really had a most imposing appearance, and was
pronounced by the highest authority to be perfect.

'Well, now we have prepared the feast, or at least adorned it,' said
Harry, 'I think we had better look after our own a