d upon a hay-cutter plied his violin--his
fiddle he called it--and another workman plunked away on his banjo
till the rafters rang.

"Oh, such a tangle! And it seems so easy!" cried Jane Potter, for once
aroused to enthusiasm for something beside study. "Come on, Martin!
Come half-way down and go round behind me--Oh! Pshaw! You stupid!"

Yet uttered in that tone the reproof meant no offense and Jane was as
awkward as her partner, but the dance proved a jolly ending for a very
jolly day. Only, the day was not ended yet; for with a crisp command:

"Every one of you get your places an' set round in a circle. It's
Danny's and my turn now, and--Come on, Daniel!" Alfaretta vanished in
the harness room.

Danny followed, rather sheepishly, for despite his love of fun he
didn't enjoy being forced into prominence; and from this odd retreat
the pair presently emerged with great pans of snowy popped-corn,
balanced on their heads by the aid of one hand, while in the other
they carried each a basket of the biggest apples even Melvin had ever
seen; yet the wonder of the Nova Scotian apples had been one of his
proudest boasts.

"Jump up, Jim, in your 'Uncle Sam' clothes and fetch the jugs out.
Fresh sweet cider, made to farmer Smith's this very day! There's nuts
in there all cracked, for some of you other fellows to bring and
tumblers and plates 't Aunt Malinda let us take. We've had ice-cream
and plum-puddin' and every kind of a thing under the sun and now we're
going to have just plain up-mounting stuff, and you'll say it's prime!
Danny and me done this. We planned it that night Monty got stuck--Oh!
my soul, I forgot!"

"Never mind. I don't care," said Monty; and, maybe to prevent another
doing so, promptly related for Mrs. Calvert's benefit the tale of his
misadventure. Indeed, he told it in such a funny way that it was plain
he was no longer sensitive about it; and he finished with the remark
that:

"If Deerhurst folks don't stop feeding me so much I may even get stuck
in that big door!"

The quiet sitting and talking after so much hilarity was pleasant to
all and tended to a more thoughtful mood; and finally clapping her
hands to insure attention Molly Breckenridge demanded:

"A story, a story! A composite story! Please begin, Mrs. Calvert:
'Once upon a time----' Then let Helena, my Lady of the Crinoline take
it up and add a little, then the next one to her, and the next--and so
on all around the ring. The most fun is