ord was busily welcoming
Betty at a tea; and was "not at home" when Betty duly returned the
call. Virginia was also careful not to "see" either Betty or her
husband if, by any chance, they passed her when in town.

Of all of which manoeuvres Betty and Donald remained apparently
sublimely unconscious.

As a means of making some return for the good-hearted generosity and
hospitality of the inhabitants, represented by the furniture at the
rectory and many tea-parties under various roof-trees, Mrs. Maxwell
persuaded her husband that they should give a parish party.

So invitations were issued broadcast, and Mrs. Burke was asked to scan
the lists, lest anyone be omitted. China sufficient for the occasion
was supplemented by Hepsey Burke and Jonathan Jackson, and Nickey laid
his invaluable services under contribution to fetch and
carry--organizing a corps of helpers.

The whole adult village,--at least the feminine portion of it,--young
and old, presented themselves at the party, dressed in their best bibs
and tuckers, amusing themselves outdoors at various improvised games,
under the genial generalship of their host; and regaling themselves
within at the tea-tables presided over by Mrs. Betty, whose pride it
was to have prepared with her own hands,--assisted by the
indefatigable Hepsey,--all the cakes and preserves and other
confections provided for the occasion. The whole party was one
whole-hearted, simply convivial gathering--with but a single note to
mar it; and who knows whether the rector, and still less the rector's
wife, would have noticed it, but for Hepsey Burke's subsequent
"boiling over?"

When the games and feast were at full swing, Virginia Bascom's
loud-voiced automobile drove up, and the door-bell pealed. The guests
ceased chattering and the little maid, hired for the occasion, hurried
from the tea-cups to answer the haughty summons. Through the silence
in the tea-room, produced by the overpowering clatter of the bell, the
voice of the little maid,--quite too familiar for the proper formality
of the occasion, in Virginia's opinion,--was heard to pipe out
cheerily:

"Come right in, Miss Virginia; the folks has eat most all the
victuals--but I guess Mrs. Maxwell'll find ye some."

"Please announce 'Miss Virginia Bascom'," droned the lady, ignoring
the untoward levity of the now cowering maid, and followed her to the
door of the room full of guests, where she paused impressively.

"Mrs. Bascom," calle