“Come on, Rosie,” cried the merry Matron; “I’ll show you how to set the table. Goodness! Millicent, what are you doing?”
Millicent, evidently freed from her enchantment, stood on the dining-table with a kerosene-can in one hand and a lamp-chimney in the other. The lamp-shade was on her head, and she was with difficulty holding the swing-lamp still while she filled it.
“Why didn’t you take the lamp down?” began Marguerite.
“Who’s Lamplighter of this establishment, I’d like to know! This is the only correct and elegant way to fill a swing-lamp. It is a patented way, and recommended by all the crowned heads of Europe, of which I am one. Now, you see, I set down my can, then my chimney, replace the shade—and there you are!” And Millicent sprang off the table and betook herself and her can to the Grotto.
“Oh, there’s kerosene all over the table—shall I scrub it, miss?” said Rosie, anxiously.
“No,” said the Matron; “just wipe it off with a dry cloth. Now lay the felt and then the table-cloth—so; no, wait, Rosie, get it perfectly straight; almost straight is crooked, you know. There, that will do.”
Marguerite arranged an embroidered centerpiece in place just as Helen came in with a dish of fruit.
“This is our dessert,” she announced.
