dornment, for we don't
appear to be in a very fit state to receive visitors--at least I can
answer for myself that I am not;' and he held up his hands in proof of
this affirmation, though it was evident that Dora and Annie needed no
such proof, as they were pretty much in the same condition.

The young people had performed their ablutions, and were together again
on the grass plot admiring their own handiwork, or rearranging here and
there leaf or fern-wreath, when a ringing at the bell sounded an
arrival, and Harry and his cousins met and saluted their young friends,
the Firmans, in the hall: two very nice-looking girls and their two
brothers, Maurice and Edward, of whom my readers have heard before.

'You will take the young gentlemen into the garden with you, dear
Harry,' said Mrs. Maitland, who had come out of the dining-room to
salute the guests, 'and Dora and Annie will go with the young ladies to
the bedroom.'

'Mamma thinks, Mrs. Maitland,' said the eldest Miss Firman, whose name
was Lucy, 'that we are too large a party to come of one family; she is
afraid of giving you trouble.'

'Not in the least, my dear Lucy,' replied the kind lady. 'I wonder,'
she added, 'what your mamma would say if she knew that we turned you
out of doors as soon as you came.'

Lucy looked up inquiringly, and Dora explained laughingly:

'Mamma means, Lucy, that we are all going to drink tea out of doors.'

'Oh, that _will_ be delightful!' exclaimed both Lucy and Ella, as they
followed their young friends upstairs to remove their hats and jackets;
Harry having done as his aunt had suggested, taken Maurice and Edward
down the steps into the garden in the meantime. The young gentleman was
well aware that he had rather a rough customer to deal with in Master
Maurice, as he had more than once been the object of his school-fellow's
practical jokes; so he thought proper to give him a caution.

'Now, I say, Maurice,' began Harry Maitland, 'don't let's have any of
your school-boy tricks here, that's a good fellow; you know we have
young ladies to deal with this afternoon, and we must try to please
them.'

'Oh, I'm not going to do anything foolish; don't be afraid, old fellow,'
said his companion. 'Why, Harry, you look as solemn as though you
expected me to fly away with the tea-table and all the good things upon
it,' he remarked, as he glanced with a well-satisfied and complacent
look at the said tea-table; and added, 'I assure you that