The dishes are in the round one. I
thought Nan might not be prepared for quite such a family party."
With quick, deft fingers the girls swept aside the sewing, unscrewed
the little machine, spread a fine damask cloth over the pine table,
and on it arranged the pretty green and gold dishes and glasses,
putting the big bowl of roses in the centre.
Then from the other basket they took tiny buttered biscuits,
three-cornered sandwiches, tied with narrow green ribbons, a dish of
chicken salad, and a big loaf of nut cake. All these quite covered the
table so that the cream had to be left in the freezer until it was
wanted.
How Nan did enjoy that feast! How her eyes shone with quiet happiness
as she watched the bright faces and listened to the merry talk; not
all merry either, for more than once it touched upon the deep things
of life, showing that the girls had thought much, even if their lives
had been happy, sheltered ones.
When the feast was ended, the dishes repacked in the basket, and the
unfinished work put away, the girls gathered about Nan to say
"good-bye," and she wondered how she could have dreaded their
coming,--for now it seemed as if she could not let them go. She felt
as if all the joyous brightness would vanish with them. The quick
young eyes read something of this feeling in her face, and more than
one girl left a kiss with her cordial farewell.
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