"Dear aunt," said Jane, "there are no gooseberries."

"Don't argue, girl!" cried the duchess, furiously; and Garth,
delighted, shook his head at Jane. "When he says 'gooseberry,' he
means anything GREEN, as you very well know!"

Half a dozen people hastened to Tommy with lettuce, water-cress, and
cucumber sandwiches; and Garth picked one blade of grass, and handed
it to Jane; with an air of anxious solicitude; but Jane ignored it.

"No answer, Simmons," said the duchess. "Why don't you go? . . . Oh,
how that man waddles! Teach him to walk, somebody! Now the question
is, What is to be done? Here is half the county coming to hear
Velma, by my invitation; and Velma in London pretending to have
appendicitis--no, I mean the other thing. Oh, 'drat the woman!' as
that clever bird would say."

"Hold your jaw!" shouted Tommy. The duchess smiled, and consented to
sit down.

"But, dear Duchess," suggested Garth in his most soothing voice,
"the county does not know Madame Velma was to be here. It was a
profound secret. You were to trot her out at the end. Lady Ingleby
called her your 'surprise packet.'"

Myra came out from behind her garden hat, and the duchess nodded at
her approvingly.

"Quite true," she said. "That was the lovely part of it. Oh,