"Five of us!" echoed Teddy. "I say! we ought to have a name. The Frisky Five! No! that isn't good. Somebody else try!"
"The Festive Five!" suggested Tom.
But Mary shook her head. "I have it!" she said. "Join hands, all! the Faithful Five! Hurrah for us!"
The five children stood up and held hands, looking at one another with a certain solemnity.
"The Faithful Five!" they repeated. "Hurrah for us!"
And Teddy added: "But we'll make a toast of it to-night with shrub—lots of shrub!"
"And now we must make the wigs!" said Mary. "We'll do that in the barn chamber, so that we sha'n't mess with the silk."
"And then can't we climb a tree?" said Sue, plaintively. "I haven't climbed a tree for a month, Mary! I will be Isabella of Buchan, if you like, and you can all capture me and put me in the cage in the greening-tree."
"All right!" "Hurrah!" "Come on!"
The joyous voices died away; and Mrs. Hart took off her glasses and wiped her eyes, but not before a tear had fallen on her work. "Bless them!" she said. "And hurrah for them! This may have been a good thing, after all."