so seldom I get an opportunity of being proud and
grand. What's the good of staying at a Manor House, and driving down
with `the family,' if I have to be meek and friendly like any one else?
Couldn't you introduce me as the Lady Claire, and let me put on airs for
a treat? It would act as a contrast to your `friendly ways,' and make
them all the more appreciated."

The girls laughed as in duty bound, and declared that it _would_ be
sport, and wondered if they dared, but Ralph sharply called them to
order.

"Rot! As if everybody in this neighbourhood didn't know Darsie by
heart! Put on your hats, and don't talk rubbish. It will take us all
our time to get through with the hall before lunch."

Town-bred Darsie privately hoped that the motor would appear to carry
the helpers to the hall three miles away, but the Percivals themselves
never seemed to dream of such a possibility. In short skirts and thick
boots they plodded cheerfully across boggy meadows and muddy lanes,
climbed half a dozen stiles, and arrived at last in the High Street of
the little village, close to the entrance of the unpretentious wooden
building which called itself the Village Hall.

Darsie thought that she had never beheld an interior which seemed so
thoroughly to need, and at the same time to defy, decoration!
Whitewashed walls, well splashed by damp; a double row of pegs all round
the walls at a level of some five or six feet from the ground; wooden
forms, and a small square platform, made up a whole which was bare and
ugly to a degree.

A group of five or six girls stood beside a pile of evergreens; a youth
in shirt-sleeves was in process of unpacking crumpled flags and
flattened Japanese lanterns from an old tin box; two ladders stood
against the walls.

The entrance of "the family" was marked by a general movement among the
little company, and Darsie watched the greetings which ensued with
twinkling amusement.

Noreen and Ida were _so_ pleasant, _so_ full of gratitude for the
presence of each individual helper, _so_ anxious to be assured that they
could _really_ spare the time. Ralph was so laboriously polite, while
the girls themselves, pleasant, kindly, and well-educated, were either
happily unaware of the thinly disguised patronage, or had the good
manners to conceal their knowledge. There was no doubt which side
appeared to best advantage in the interview!

"The first thing we must do is to decide upon a scheme of decoration,