The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1908-07-22

tess and the rest of us were her
guests. 1t was an evening-dress affair,
and | must say as we sat down to din
ner / never saw a prettier group Of
girls.
Then the fun began. Agatha
Fourth's idea in having progressive
dinner party was for each of the girls
to move up one place with each course
so that they could all have turns sit
ting by us. 1t was delightful; really,
/ don't know that | ever attended a
jollier dinner party. Vincent kept
quoting from the Mad Tea Party in
alice in Wonderland" and the girls
laughed at every single thing he said.
Mrs. Armistead, l am ashamed to say,
was not present; her head ached and
she had dined in her room. am not
naturally noisy or riotous, but the
laughter and jokes of those six girls
to join in with them. Vincent sat at
one end of the table and at the 9TH
er, with three girls on each side of US
The secretary, of course, was not
present
Agatha Fourth had decorated the
and wild fern that grew near the cas-.
tie. Agatha Sixth and l had found
them many times in our wanderings
and, by the way. she was looking es-
pecially lovely that evening. The girls
all wore shimmering white gowns, sim
liar in design, with silver ornaments,
but Agatha Sixth's gown was cream
color with ornaments of gold, and well
did it become her dark beauty.
We had reached the very end of the
dinner, and had just made the last
change of places, which left me with
my favorite Agatha Sixth on my right
and Agatha Third on my left.
Suddenly, as the talk died down
and certain contented silence fell
upon us, Vincent rose to his feet, and
bowling to us formally, began to speak:
Ladies and gentleman" he said,
making the last word pointedly sin
gular, while the girls all laughed, 81
think you are all with me when pro-
pose a vote Of thinks to-to-er-our
hostess"-N felt that he had nearly
said Agatha Fourth!" )-"our hostess,
for giving us SO delightful an enter
tainment." He bowed to Agatha
Fourth and went on:
IF all progressive tea parties are
termed mad hope may attend many
such. But as look around me, gen
tleman and ladies fair, across the red
glow of the candle that turns the roses
to redder gold, and as gaze upon the
youth and beauty here assembled, the
like of which l have never before
looked upon"-he made a courtly in
clination of his head that included
every maid at the table, and they all
sighed heard them-"as look upon
this noble room, this exquisite table,
and think of the graciousness of such
hospitality, am inspired to propose
toast in which feel confident you
will all join me- At this climax Vim
cent raised his glass above his head.
ITO the real Agatha!" he cried-'to
the real Honorable Agatha!"
There was an instant of dead 81
lence, and then to my surprise my
left-hand neighbor, Agatha Third, rose
to her feet, and, with quivering lips,
started to say something. But she had
hardly time to rise before the other
five girls sprang to their feet, and
raising their glasses, Agatha Third
with the rest, they cried with one
voice: TO the Honorable Agatha"
and although it seemed to me that
Agatha Third had very nearly let the
cat out of the bag by rising, as if to
acknowledge the courtesy. yet by the
promptness of the other girls the day
was partially retrieved, and Vincent
and were still somewhat at a loss
as to the identity of our fair and
wealthy hostess.
asked Vincent afterward what he
made of Agatha Thirds behavior.
ut looked to me- said that young
person, AS if those girls had them
selves SO much in command that they
would never betray the secret they're
guarding, no matter what you did"
But didn't you see Agatha Third
get up before the others did," said.
excitedly. She gave herself away. l
tell you, Wilfred, she's the real hon
orable. without doubt. There can be
no two ways about it,"
How keen you are!" he said; land
tell you what it is, ch'bald Win
cent always calls me "Ach bald" with
the 81" left out and the emphasis on
bald" when he's particularly affec-
tionate or sleepy; he was the latter
just uow-"Im just as keen about
marrying this heiress as you are; the
only difference is that insist upon be-
ing in love with her into the bargain,
and you don't. For I'm hard up, fear
fully hard up, you know, and the gov
ernor's so awfully good, hate to ask
him for another's months allowance
| just now. I'm way behind as it is,
and owe Jack Gordon for that prize
polo pony of his. l offered him 910O
| for her the day of the Nottingham
games and he sold her to me on the
| spot Jacks as hard up as ! am
poor fellow. And then, you know, it. s
all perfectly fair. If we only had the
time, that's all. It's pretty quick work
to expect man to find out the heiress,