dance, too!"

She waved toward them one of the slippers she was cleaning.

"Walt said somethin' about it yes'day," continued Mrs. Larabee, with
relish, "but I said no; no twelve-mile drive for me, with a young
baby! But some folks we know came down on the morning train--you
girls have heard me speak of Ed and Lizzie Purdy?"

"Oh, yes!" said Mary Bell, sick with one more disappointment.

"Well," pursued Johnnie, "they had dinner here, and come t' talk it
over, Lizzie was wild to go, and Ed got Walt all worked up, and
nothing would do but we must get out our old carryall, and take
their Thelma and my Maxine along! Well, LAUGH--we were like a lot of
kids! I'm crazy to dance just once in Pitcher's barn. We're going up
early, and have our supper up there."

"We're going to do that, too," said Ellen, with pleasant
anticipation. "Ma and I always help set tables, and so on! It's lots
of fun!"

Mary Bell's face grew sober as she listened. It WOULD be fun to be
one of the gay party in the big barn, in the twilight, and to have
her share of the unpacking and arranging, and the excitement of
arriving wagons and groups. The great supper of cold chicken and
boiled eggs and fruit and pickles, the fifty varieties of cake,
would be spread downstairs; and upstairs the musicians would be
tuning their instruments as early as seven o'clock, and the eager
boys and girls trying their steps, and changing cards. And then