Ellen had dashed away, "and I'm afraid she's not the only one.
There's my Miss Davids' little sister; if I took her in, Miss Davids
would be free for the day; and there's a little deaf-mute whose
mother runs the bakery. And I told Mary we'd manage the baby, too,
and that if she knew any other children who positively couldn't come
any other way, she must let me know. Of course the school children
are cared for, they will have seats right near the grand stand, and
sing, and so on. But I am really terrified about it, you'll have to
help me out."

"I'll do anything," Mrs. Brown promised.

"I'll do anything I CAN," said Mrs. Lloyd, modestly, "I loathe and
abominate children unless they're decently dressed and smell of
soap--but I'll run a machine, if some one'll see that they don't
swarm over me."

"I'll put a barbed wire fence around you!" promised Mrs. Burgoyne,
gaily.

Mrs. Carew, coming up, as she expressed it, "to gather up some
children," was decidedly optimistic about the plan. "Nobody ever
uses hydrangeas, because you can't make artificial ones to fill in
with," she said, "so you can get barrels of them." Mrs. Burgoyne was
enthusiastic over hydrangeas, "But it's not the fancy touches that
scare me," she confessed; "it's the awful practical side."

"What does Barry think?" Mrs. Carew presently asked innocently. Mrs.
Burgoyne's suddenly rosy face was not unobserved by any of the
others.