THE WOULDBEGOODS
sprinkling of Antiquities melted off the lawn; the party was over, and only the dirty teacups and plates, and the trampled grass and the pleasures of memory were left.
We had a very beautiful supper—out-of-doors, too—with jam sandwiches and cake and things that were over; and as we watched the setting monarch of the skies—I mean the sun—Alice said:
"Let's tell."
We let the Dentist tell, because it was he who hatched the lark, but we helped him a little in the narrating of the fell plot, because he has yet to learn how to tell a story straight from the beginning.
When he had done, and we had done, Albert's uncle said, "Well, it amused you; and you'll be glad to learn that it amused your friends the Antiquities."
"Didn't they think they were Roman?" Daisy said; "they did in The Daisy Chain."
"Not in the least," said Albert's uncle; "but the Treasurer and Secretary were charmed by your ingenious preparations for their reception."
"We didn't want them to be disappointed," said Dora.
"They weren't," said Albert's uncle. "Steady on with those plums, H. O. A little way beyond the treasure you had prepared for them they found two specimens of real Roman pottery which sent every man-jack of them home thanking
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