time, that almost before she knew it, _she_ was drawn into the game too.
Nobody had ever heard of such a thing before! There sat Aunt Izzie on
the floor, with three long lamp-lighters stuck in her hair, playing,
"I'm a genteel Lady, always genteel," in the jolliest manner possible.
The children were so enchanted at the spectacle, that they could hardly
attend to the game, and were always forgetting how many "horns" they
had. Clover privately thought that Cousin Helen must be a witch; and
Papa, when he came home at noon, said almost the same thing.

"What have you been doing to them, Helen?" he inquired, as he opened the
door, and saw the merry circle on the carpet. Aunt Izzie's hair was half
pulled down, and Philly was rolling over and over in convulsions of
laughter. But Cousin Helen said she hadn't done anything, and pretty
soon Papa was on the floor too, playing away as fast as the rest.

"I must put a stop to this," he cried, when everybody was tired of
laughing, and everybody's head was stuck as full of paper quills as a
porcupine's back. "Cousin Helen will be worn out. Run away, all of you,
and don't come near this door again till the clock strikes four. Do you
hear, chicks? Run--run! Shoo! shoo!"

The children scuttled away like a brood of fowls--all but Katy. "Oh,
Papa, I'll be _so_ quiet!" she pleaded. "Mightn't I stay just till the
dinner-bell rings?"

"Do let her!" said Cousin Helen, so Papa said "Yes."

Katy sat on the floor holding Cousin Helen's hand, and listening to her
talk with Papa. It interested her, though it was about things and people
she did not know.