pense kept to her small rather plain cap, and
looked very ladylike, quite fit to do the honors of the house.

Some of the cousins had driven in from Cambridge and South Boston. Miss
Cragie, who admired her second-cousin Adams very much, and it was said
would not have been averse to a marriage with him, came over from the
old house that had once been Washington's headquarters and was to be
more famous still as the home of one of America's finest poets. She took
a great interest in Cary and made him a welcome guest.

We should call it a kind of lawn party now. The guests flitted around
the garden and lawn, inspected the promising fruit trees, and were
enthusiastic over the roses. Then they wandered over to the Mall and
discussed the impending changes in Boston, and said, as people nearly
always do, that it would be ruined by improvements. It was sacrilegious
to take away Beacon Hill. It was absurd to think of filling in the
flats! Who would want to live on made ground? And where were all the
people to come from to build houses on these wonderful streets? Why, it
was simply ridiculous!

There were some young men who felt rather awkward and kept in a little
knot with Cary. There were a few young girls who envied Betty Leverett
her at-homeness, and the fact that she had spent a winter in Hartford.
Croquet would have been a boon then, to make a breach in the walls of
deadly reserve.

Elderly men smoked, walked about, and talked of the prospect of war.
Most of them had high hopes of President Madison just now.

Doris was a point of interest for everybody. Her charming simplicity
went to all hearts. Betty had dressed her hair a dozen different ways,
but found none so pretty as tying part of the curls on top with a
ribbon. She had grown quite a little taller, but was still slim and
fair.

Miss Cragie took a great fancy to her and said she must come and spend
the day with her and visit the notable points of Cambridge. And next
year Cary would graduate, and she supposed they would have a grand time.

The supper was quite imposing. Cato's nephew, a tidy young colored lad,
came from one of the inns, and acquitted himself with superior elegance.
It was indeed a feast, enlivened with bright conversation. People
expected to talk then, not look bored and indifferent. Each one brought
something besides appetite to the feast.

Afterward they went out on the porch and sang, the ice being broken
between the younger part of the comp