k, near by, her mending basket beside her, and Kitty
and Elise on the grass at her feet, watching the molasses bubble up in the
kettle. Betty felt a little shy at first, for this was her first meeting
with the General's wife, and she wished that the girls would not insist on
having an immediate outline of the play. It had seemed very fine indeed to
her when she read it aloud to herself, or repeated it to Lloyd. It had not
seemed a very childish thing to her even when she read it to her
godmother. But she shrank from Mrs. Walton's criticism. It was with many
blushes that she began. Afterward she wondered why she should have been
timid about it. Mrs. Walton applauded it so heartily, and entered into
plans for making the entertainment a success as enthusiastically as any of
the girls.

"I bid to be witch!" cried Kitty, when Betty had finished.

"I'd like to be the queen, if you don't care," said Allison, "for I am the
largest, and I'd rather act with Rob than the other boys. But it doesn't
make any difference. I'll be anything you want me to."

"That's the way Betty planned it," said Lloyd. "I'm to be the captive
princess, and Keith will be my brother whom the witch changes into a dog.
That's Hero, of co'se. Malcolm will be the knight who rescues me. Rob
Moore will be king, and Elise the queen of the fairies, and Ranald the
ogah."

"Ranald said last night that he wouldn't be in the play if he had to learn
a lot of foolishness to speak, or if he couldn't be disguised so that
nobody would know him," said Kitty. "He'll help any other way, fixing the
stage and the red lights and all that, but the Captain has a dread of
making himself appear ridiculous. Now _I_ don't. I'd rather have the funny
parts than the high and mighty ones."

"He might be Frog-eye-Fearsome," suggested Betty. "Then he wouldn't have
anything to do but drag the prince and princess across the stage to the
ogre's tower, and the costume could be so hideous that no one could tell
whether a human or a hobgoblin was inside of it."

"Who'll buy all the balloons for the fairies, and make our spangled
wings?" asked Elise. "Oh, I know," she cried, instantly answering her own
question. "I'll tell Aunt Elise all about it, and I know that she'll
help."

"How will you go all the way to the seashore to tell her?" asked Kitty.

"She isn't at the seashore," answered Elise, with an air of triumph. "She
came back from Narragansett Pier last night. Didn't she, mamma? An