sant and
amusing to discuss.

The next morning--the last morning of the year--broke fine and bright,
and the view seen through the long windows of the dining-room was almost
as beautiful as in summer itself. The park showed the same stretch of
velvet green, a belt of evergreens and tall Scotch firs filled up the
far distance, while the leafless boughs of elms and beeches made a lace-
like tracery against the sky. To the right the old cedar stood calm and
unmoved, as it had stood while generations of Percivals had lived, and
loved, and sorrowed, and died.

When breakfast was over--and breakfast in the country is a meal which
pursues a calm and leisurely course--the four young people strolled into
the porch to discuss the programme for the day.

"Darsie is nerving herself to look at the horses' tails!" said Ida
laughingly. It was a Percival peculiarity, agreeable or irritating
according to the mood of the hearer, that they never by any chance
forgot a remark, but continually resurrected it in conversation for
years to come. Never a morning had Darsie spent at the Manor that she
had not been reminded of scathing comments on the habit of daily visits
to kennels and stables, as delivered by herself on the occasion of her
first visit. To-day, however, she had only time to grimace a reply,
before Ida continued cheerfully--

"You won't be asked, my dear! We have something far more important on
hand. You have walked right into the jaws of the tenants' annual New
Year's treat, and will have to tire your hands decorating all the
morning, and your gums smiling all the evening. It's an all-day-and-
night business, and we get home at cock-crow in a state of collapse--"

"It's held in the village hall," Noreen took up the tale, slipping
unconsciously into what Darsie called her "squire's-eldest-daughter-
manner."

"Quite a nice building. We make it look festive with wreaths and
bunting. They think so much of decorations!" ("They" in Percival
parlance alluded to the various tenants on the estate.) "We try to think
of something novel each year as a surprise. They like surprises. We've
arranged with half a dozen girls to be there to help. Quite nice girls,
daughters of the principal farmers. You must be _quite_ sweet to them,
Darsie, please! It is our principal meeting of the year, and we make a
point of being friendly."

"Must I really?" Darsie assumed an expression of dejection. "What a
disappointment! It's