x had been on the lookout ever since the
guests began to arrive, and no sooner did her rosy, beaming face appear
behind that of her husband, than he pushed his way through the throng
to reach her side. "No, not out here, Mistress Kitty," he cried. Had she
been of royal blood he could not have treated her with more distinction.
"You are to stand alongside of Masie when she comes in; the child has no
mother, and you must look after her."

"No mother! Mr. O'Day! God rest your soul, she won't need to do without
one long, she's that lovely. There'll be plenty will want to mother, and
brother her, too, for that matter. My goodness, what a place ye made of
it! Look at them lamps, all fireworks up there, and that big chair! I
wonder who robbed a church to get it! Well--well---WELL! John! did
ye ever see the like? Otto, ye ought to rent this place out for a
chowder-party ball. Well, well, I NEVER!"

The comments of some of the others, while they voiced their complete
surprise, were less enthusiastic. Bundleton, after shaking hands with
Felix and Kitty, and then with Kling, dropped his wife and made a tour
of the room without uttering a sound of any kind until he reached Felix
again, when he remarked gravely: "I should think it would worry you some
to keep the moths out of this stuff," and then passed on to tell Kling
he must look out "them lamps didn't spill and set things on fire."

Porterfield, as was to be expected, was distinctly practical. "Awful lot
of truck when you get it all together, ain't it, Mr. O'Day? I was
just tellin' my wife that them two chairs up t'other side of the room
wouldn't last long in my parlor, they're that wabbly. But maybe these
Fifth Avenue folks don't do no sittin'--just keep 'em in a glass case to
look at."

Pestler was more discerning. He had come across an iridescent glass jar,
and was edging around for an opportunity to ask Kling the price without
letting Felix overhear him--it being an occasion, he knew, in which Mr.
O'Day would feel offended if business were mentioned. "Might do to put
in my window, if it didn't cost too much," he had begun, and as suddenly
stopped as he caught Felix's eyes fastened upon him.

There were others, however, whose delight could not be repressed. Tim
Kelsey, after the proper greetings were over, had wandered off down
the room, stopping to examine each article in its place on the walls.
Finally some pieces of old Delft caught his eye. He made a memorandum of
t