plans for the
morrow, as she had arranged a little party and was counting on them to
make it complete. Of course, they had assured her that no plans could be
so important as to stand in the way of so tempting an invitation; so it
had been settled to the satisfaction of every one.

It was just nine o'clock when they climbed into the automobile and Mr.
Payton started to give the chauffeur his directions. He was to drive
through Hyde Park, entering it through the beautiful gate at Hyde Park
Corner and ending with the magnificent Marble Arch. From there they would
drive straight to Henley, where they were to meet the Applegates.

"It's good we started early; now we can see lots before we meet the other
people," said Jessie, contentedly.

"Can't we get out, Dad," begged Lucile, "and get a little closer look at
Kensington Gardens--I love to say it; it sounds so very English, don't
you know--just for a little while? Can't we, Mother? It looks so
pretty!"

"No; we'll have just time to ride through the park," Mrs. Payton
answered, and Lucile must needs be satisfied.

"I read somewhere that they took several hundred acres from the park to
enlarge the gardens," Phil volunteered. "Is that so, Dad?"

"Yes; three hundred, I think it was," his father answered. "And now here
we are, before the famous Hyde Park itself!"

As they entered the park through a most imposing gateway the girls
uttered a little cry of admiration.

"The lawns are like velvet!" cried Lucile. "And those exquisite flowering
shrubs! What do you call them, Mother?"

"I think they are hawthorne bushes," Mrs. Payton answered, absently.

"And the flowers! Did you ever see such gorgeous tints?" said Jessie.
"And the splendid old trees! Why, they look as if they might be a million
years old!"

"I bet some of them could tell many a tale of duels fought beneath their
shade in the time when such things were the fashion," remarked Phil, and
Evelyn turned to him with shining eyes.

"You mean real duels, where they both fight till one of them gets killed?
Oh!"

"It's plain to see you were born a century too late, Evelyn," Jessie
remarked, mournfully.

"I don't care; it must have been fun," she maintained.

"Lots," Lucile agreed, gravely. "I can't imagine anything funnier than
having a couple of silked and satined gentlemen sticking spears into each
other for my sweet sake."

The description did not coincide in the least with that of authors and
historians w