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 butterfly.  There she is now.”

They all turned to look at Katie as she came toward them.  She was indeed a dainty butterfly.  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.