"That's capital!" exclaimed Fred. "Give us another, Midge, will you?"
Fred had conducted himself with such becoming propriety, and his applause had been so hearty, that Maggie felt not only quite reconciled to his presence, but also ready to indulge him; and she answered,—
"Yes, I have one more, and it is to be instructive as well as amusing, Fred, because it is an historical charade."
"Go ahead!" said Fred, scrambling back into his seat, which he had left to help carry Sir Percy into retirement.
The preparations for the first syllable of the historical charade were very imposing. Two chairs were placed face to face; upon these was mounted the table, turned upside down, with its legs in the air; to one of the legs was tied a large feather dust-brush,—the whole arrangement supposed to represent an oak-tree, as Maggie explained.
Maggie, Nellie, Lily, and Belle were the performers on this occasion; and in due time they all entered, escorting Sir Percy, now in the character of King Charles, in full kingly costume, the red table-cloth doing duty for his robes, and a crown, a "real crown" of tinsel paper adorning his majesty's brows. He was held with some difficulty upon his horse,—another chair turned down for the purpose,—and again Tom's warning voice came from the store-room.
"You'd better look out with that old hobby. You'll hurt yourselves some time, lugging him about that fashion."
But the suggestion was treated with disdain.