But the greatest excitement came when, after the march, the colored cloaks were cast aside, and the laughing playmates were revealed.
"Did you know me?"
"Did you guess who I was?"
"Did you know you were talking to me?"
These were the questions which they asked each other, and the gracious king and queen looked down upon their merry courtiers, and admired their brilliant costumes.
And what a variety there was! First of all, Dorothy, as an elf in gauze and spangles, was a lovely sprite to look upon.
Near her stood Nancy, dressed as a shepherdess. Dorothy"s cousin, Russell Dalton, made a charming page, while his sister, Aline, was a flower girl. Reginald strutted about in an early Spanish costume, and he had chosen his own dress.
"I can"t look old enough for Ponce de Leon," he had said, "but I want a suit like the one he wears in the painting that hangs in the hall."
His wish had been granted, and he looked like a tiny cavalier about to sally forth in search of fortune, or undiscovered countries.
Mollie Merton made a pretty Red-riding-hood, while, as usual, close beside her, stood Flossie Barnet as Little Bo-Peep.
"Anybody"d know I"m Bo-peep, because I"ve this crook in my hand," said Flossie, "but look at Nina and Jeanette; what are they?"
"We"re Spring and Summer," Jeanette answered with a laugh at Flossie"s little puzzled face, "I am a rose, and she"s a crocus," she continued, "and have you seen Katie Dean yet? She"s a lovely b.u.t.terfly. There she is now."
They all turned to look at Katie as she came toward them. She was indeed a dainty b.u.t.terfly. Her frock of yellow gauze matched her wings, which were edged with gold, and as she ran toward them, she looked as if she might fly if she wished.
Arabella looked very demure as a little Puritan, and really, Patricia"s showy Spanish costume was becoming. There were many more guests, and all were in beautiful costumes. The room was alive with color, and when, later, they danced to merry music, it seemed, indeed, a joyous carnival.
The games came next, and how they played! And of all the games they found one very old one to be the most delightful. Some one asked if they might play it, and thus it happened that the king announced that the next would be "A Journey to Nubia."
The maids entered, and quickly placed two rows of chairs, back to back, down the centre of the room, placing _one less_ chair than there were children.
When the music sounded they were to march around and around the rows of chairs, but when the music should stop abruptly, they must rush to get a seat. The one child who would be left standing must pay a forfeit.
A stirring march was played, and the children walked around the chairs, and every time that they came to the end of the line they paused, believing that the music would cease, but the musicians played on and on. The laughing children marched gaily, when, in the middle of a lively strain, the music stopped, and they rushed for seats.
It was Nancy who found no chair, and she knew that she must pay a forfeit.
"What shall I do?" she asked, and Russell, who liked Nancy, asked if he might set the task for her.
He was given permission, and turning to her he said: "I"ll ask something, Nancy, that I know you can do. I"ll beg you to dance for us."
"Oh, you need not beg," Nancy said sweetly, "if they will play a waltz, I"ll gladly dance for you."
Softly they played a bewitching melody, and Nancy, running out to an open s.p.a.ce, danced till those who watched her were wild with delight.
And when the dance was finished they crowded around her, crying in wonder:
"Oh, Nancy, how can you do it so gracefully?"
"You wouldn"t wonder if you only knew how long I studied, and how many hours I practised," she said.
"I couldn"t dance like that if I practised for ten years," said Russell.
"I don"t believe he could," laughed his sister Aline, "his talent is surely not for dancing, for only the other day he told me that at dancing-school, just as sure as he tried not to step on his partner"s toes, he always trod on his own."
"It"s just what I do," agreed Russell, joining in the laughter that greeted Aline"s words.
Again and again they marched around the double row of chairs, and each time the one caught standing was made to pay a forfeit, to the delight of all the others.
For the next game they clasped hands and formed a great ring. Dorothy, in the centre, extended her arms as she sang this verse:
"As around you gaily dance, I must see if, just by chance, In your ring which has no end, You do hold my dearest friend.
Yes, my truest friend I see, Nancy, dearest, come to me."
Nancy ran into the circle, and the others, clasping hands, danced around them singing gaily:
"See the happy, merry two, One with brown eyes, one with blue, One is dark and one is fair, Which of us will join them there?"
It was Nancy"s turn now to choose a friend from the ring, and she at once chose Flossie.
Flossie was the youngest of the little guests, and she was delighted to be so soon chosen.
Unnoticed by the children, several new arrivals had entered the room.
They were a few of Mrs. Dainty"s nearest neighbors who had been invited to come in during the evening and see the merrymaking.
As Flossie stood in the centre of the ring with Dorothy and Nancy, she looked toward the playmates who circled around them, and was about to choose Mollie, when she spied Uncle Harry, and she laughed with delight.
He was dressed as an English squire of an early century. Quickly she whispered to Dorothy.
"May I, oh, _may_ I?" she asked.
"Yes, oh, _do_," laughed Dorothy.
"I choose you, Uncle Harry," she cried, "oh, come quick."
Never too dignified to have a bit of fun, and always ready to please the children, he hurried forward and entered the ring.
"As if I"d lose a moment in joining three such charming young ladies,"
he said, while the laughing children danced yet faster around the merry four.
How handsome he looked as he stood among his little friends. A brave, athletic young man he was, with a heart full of love for the children, who returned his affection with interest.
"Now, Uncle Harry, it"s your turn to sing," said Flossie. "Do you know the verse you ought to sing?"
"I don"t believe I do know the one which belongs in this game, but I"ll sing one of my own," he said with a laugh.
"You are so charming, all in a ring, Hardly I know of which siren to sing, Yet if I _must_ choose, then it shall be Mollie, bright Mollie to come unto me."
His was a fine voice, and he sang his improvised verse to the music of one of his favorite songs, "Beautiful Dreamer."
"Oh, I wish you had to sing ever so many verses," Jeanette said impulsively, and he bowed to her earnestly spoken compliment.