THE ORCHARD PARTY 45 
the corner where the table and seats are placed.’”’ Then, 
seeing that some of the girls had brought wraps or jackets 
with them, and also that the Sunday-best hats that they 
wore would be in the way of romping, Gray Lady told 
them to hang them on the tree nearest where she and 
Miss Wilde were seated. 
At first Sarah and Tommy were not going with the 
others, but Goldilocks insisted that they should leave her 
in a gap where the rows of trees formed a long lane through 
which she could see across the meadows to the woods. 
These two children were quite at home in this neigh- 
bourhood, for had there not been a particular gap in the 
old fence through which they had taken a “short cut” 
down to the village ever since they could remember? 
“T wonder if Goldilocks knows that Quail nest in this 
brush and scratch around here like chickens,” said 
Tommy, as they left the orchard for the meadow. 
“Yes, and you got that three-story nest of yours last 
fall in the bough-apple tree,” said Sarah. 
Eliza and Dave soon forgot all about their reasons for 
having at first refused to go to the party, and when they 
heard the horn tooting it seemed so soon that they could 
hardly believe that it was noon and luncheon time. And 
such a luncheon as it was! Around the trunk of the 
largest tree in the orchard, four tables were so placed that 
when covered they looked like one big table, with the tree 
growing through the centre. 
The white cloth was bordered with russet and gold beech 
leaves, bleached ferns, and the deep red leaves of maples 
and oaks; grapes and oranges were piled high in baskets 
made of hollowed-out watermelons. Hard-boiled eggs 
