."

"Mrs. Bertram is not coming, mother, but you must put on your best cap
all the same. Mrs. Bertram is from home. It was the girls I met this
morning--the girls, and their brother, Captain Bertram."

"Oh, well, child, if they are all young folk the cap with Maltese lace
will do. I don't wear Honiton, except for those who know."

"Mother, I thought we might have supper in the garden. The weather is so
lovely now, and it is quite light at half-past eight. Shall I give the
order, and take all the trouble off you?"

Mrs. Meadowsweet rose with a slight effort to her feet.

"Do you think I am going to let you be worried, child?" she said. "No,
no, what good is the old mother if she can't manage a thing of that
sort? Of course you shall have supper in the garden, and a good supper,
too. I am glad you have asked your friends, Bee. How well and bright you
look. I am very glad you have made nice friends at last, child."

"All my friends are nice, mother, at least I think so. By the way, I met
the little Bells, and they were dying to come, so I asked them, and they
said perhaps they would bring the Jenkinses, and Mr. Jones, and of
course, the boys will drop in."

"My word, child, but that's quite a party! I had better send out at once
for a salmon, and two or three lobsters and some crabs. There's cream
enough in the house, and eggs, and plenty of stuff in the garden for
salads. Oh, I'll manage, I'll manage fine. I got in a couple of chickens
and a pair of ducks this morning; I'll warrant that your grand friends
have enough to eat, Trixie. But now I must go and have a talk with
Jane."

CHAPTER VIII.

NOBODY ELSE LOOKED THE LEAST LIKE THE BERTRAMS.

It was the fashion to be punctual at Northbury, and when Catherine,
Mabel and Loftus Bertram arrived about ten minutes past seven at the
Gray House they found the pleasant old drawing-room already full of
eager and expectant guests.

Beatrice would have preferred meeting her new friends without any
ceremony in the garden, but Mrs. Meadowsweet was nothing if she was not
mistress of her own house, and she decided that it would be more
becoming and _comme il faut_ to wait in the drawing-room for the
young visitors.

Accordingly Mrs. Meadowsweet sat in her chair of state. She wore a
rose-colored silk dress, and a quantity of puffed white lace round her
neck and wrists; and a cap which was tall and stiff, and had little
tufts of yellow ribbon and little rosettes of M