“Oh Aneta!” said Maggie.
She ran up to Aneta; she took her hand; she raised it to her lips and kissed it.
“Give me till to-morrow,” she said. “Promise that you won’t say anything till to-morrow.”
Aneta promised. Maggie went to her room.
CHAPTER XXII.
ANETA’S PLAN.
The girls downstairs wondered why Maggie Howland did not appear. After an hour of waiting Kathleen O’Donnell took the lead. The accounts were left alone, but the tableaux vivants were diligently rehearsed, the Tristrams and Jane Burns being the three critics; Rosamond Dacre, Kathleen O’Donnell, and Matty and Clara Roache the performers. But, somehow, there was no life in the acting, for the moving spirit was not there; the bright, quick eye was missed, the eager words were lacking, with the pointed and telling criticism. Then there was the scene where Maggie herself was to take a part. It was from The Talisman, and a night-scene, which she was able to render with great precision and even beauty, and the dun light would be in her favor. It was to be the crowning 156 one, and the last of the tableaux. It was expected to bring down the house. But Maggie was not there, and the girls could not help feeling a little disconsolate and a little surprised.
At supper that evening there were eager inquiries with regard to Maggie Howland. All the girls came up to ask Aneta where the other queen was.