"Do let's have oysters for one thing; they are just in season now,"
begged Mildred.

"Of course--they are just the thing; suppose we have pigs in blankets,
and Jack shall make them, for they are easy and oh, so good! And,
Mildred, you shall have a chafing dish, too, and make something else;
and we can make things to go with them, so there will be plenty of
supper for everybody. How many are you going to have?"

"Oh, we haven't thought about it yet, and we must talk it over with
Mother and see what she thinks; but I know she will love the party,
because she always does."

And so, sure enough, their mother did love the plan. A chafing-dish
supper was _such_ a bright idea, she said, and so like Miss Betty.

They decided to ask only eight guests, four boys and four girls. In case
the food did not turn out to be what they hoped, it was better not to
have too many to eat it, Jack thought.

Hallowe'en obligingly came on a Saturday, just as though it knew how
convenient that day would be for everybody. Mildred and Brownie and
Miss Betty and Mother Blair and Norah all helped in getting things
ready, laying the table, filling the alcohol lamps of the two
chafing-dishes,--one borrowed from Miss Betty,--and preparing the good
things for the supper. They decided to have first, the dish of oysters
made by Jack at one end of the table, and some eggs to go with them,
made by Mildred at the other. With these were to be some potatoes--a new
kind Mildred had never heard of--and Brownie thought she could make
these and send them in nice and hot; she was going to make cocoa, too,
to go with the other hot dishes, and she and Mildred together were going
to make sandwiches in the afternoon. And after these, Miss Betty said,
there was to be something perfectly wonderful--something so good and so
new.

"Oh, what?" they all begged.

Miss Betty's eyes rolled up to the ceiling, and she shook her pretty
head. "Wait and see," she said solemnly. "I'll bring in the things this
afternoon and we will all make it together." And they had to be content
with this promise.

The table was laid just as they had it at breakfast and luncheon and
Sunday night supper, with pretty doilies, one for each person and
several over for chafing-dishes and piles of plates and sandwiches. In
the middle was a big bowl of bright colored autumn leaves mixed with
chrysanthemums; and at each place was a dainty card with a picture of a
witch riding a broomstick, and t