has money to fling about like that, I have of course no more to say."

Miss Pinshon looked up again at me. Those black eyes were always the
same; the eyelids never drooped over them. "What are you going to do,
Daisy?" she asked.

Truly I did not know, yet. I gave my aunt a note to the overseer from
my father, which I begged her to forward; and ran away to take sweet
counsel with myself.

I had had some little experience of such an entertainment in the
strawberry festival at Melbourne. I remembered that good things to eat
and drink were sure to be enjoyed, and not these only, but also a
pretty and festive air thrown about these things. And much more would
this be true among the beauty-loving, and luxurious-natured children
of the tropics, than with the comparatively barbarous Celtic blood.
But between entertaining thirty and seven hundred there was a
difference. And between the season of roses and fruits, and the time
of mid-winter, even though in a southern clime, there was another
wide difference. I had need of a great deal of counsel-taking with
myself, and I took it; and it was very good for me. In every interval
between mathematical or arithmetical problems, my mind ran off to this
other one, with infinite refreshment.

Then I consulted Maria; she was a great help to me. I thought at first I
should have to build a place to hold our gatherings in; the home kitchen
was not a quarter large enough. But Darry told me of an empty barn not
far off, that was roomy and clean. By virtue of my full powers I seized
upon this barn. I had it well warmed with stoves; Darry saw to that for
me, and that they were well and safely put up; I had it adorned and
clothed and made gay with evergreens and flowers, till it was beautiful.
The carpenters on the place put up long tables, and fitted plenty of
seats. Then I had some rough kitchens extemporised outside of it; and
sent for loads of turkeys from Baytown; and for days before and after
Christmas my band of cooks were busy, roasting and baking and
cake-making. Coffee was brewed without measure, as if we had been a
nation of Arabs. And then tickets were furnished to all the people on the
place, tickets of admission; and for all the holidays, or for Christmas
and three days after, I kept open house at the barn. Night and day I kept
open house. I went and came myself, knowing that the sight of me hindered
nobody's pleasure; but I let in no other white person, and I believe I
gained