THE SURPRISE PACKET
The sun-dial pointed to half past four o'clock.The hour of silence appeared to be over.The birds commenced twittering; and a cuckoo, in an adjacent wood, sounded his note at intervals.
The house awoke to sudden life.There was an opening and shutting of doors.Two footmen, in the mulberry and silver of the Meldrum livery, hurried down from the terrace, carrying folding tea-tables, with which they supplemented those of rustic oak standing permanently under the cedar.One, promptly returned to the house;while the other remained behind, spreading snowy cloths over each table.
The macaw awoke, stretched his wings and flapped them twice, then sidled up and down his perch, concentrating his attention upon the footman.
"Mind!" he exclaimed suddenly, in the butler's voice, as a cloth, flung on too hurriedly, fluttered to the grass.
"Hold your jaw!" said the young footman irritably, flicking the bird with the table-cloth, and then glancing furtively at the rose-garden.
"Tommy wants a gooseberry!" shrieked the macaw, dodging the table-cloth and hanging, head downwards, from his perch.
"Don't you wish you may get it?" said the footman viciously.
"Give it him, somebody," remarked Tommy, in the duchess's voice.
The footman started, and looked over his shoulder; then hurriedly told Tommy just what he thought of him, and where he wished him;cuffed him soundly, and returned to the house, followed by peals of laughter, mingled with exhortations and imprecations from the angry bird, who danced up and down on his perch until his enemy had vanished from view.
A few minutes later the tables were spread with the large variety of eatables considered necessary at an English afternoon tea; the massive silver urn and teapots gleamed on the buffet-table, behind which the old butler presided; muffins, crumpets, cakes, and every kind of sandwich supplemented the dainty little rolled slices of white and brown bread-and-butter, while heaped-up bowls of freshly gathered strawberries lent a touch of colour to the artistic effect of white and silver.When all was ready, the butler raised his hand and sounded an old Chinese gong hanging in the cedar tree.Before the penetrating boom had died away, voices were heard in the distance from all over the grounds.
Up from the river, down from the tennis courts, out from house and garden, came the duchess's guests, rejoicing in the refreshing prospect of tea, hurrying to the welcome shade of the cedar;--charming women in white, carefully guarding their complexions beneath shady hats and picturesque parasols;--delightful girls, who had long ago sacrificed complexions to comfort, and now walked across the lawn bareheaded, swinging their rackets and discussing the last hard-fought set; men in flannels, sunburned and handsome, joining in the talk and laughter; praising their partners, while remaining unobtrusively silent as to their own achievements.
They made a picturesque group as they gathered under the tree, subsiding with immense satisfaction into the low wicker chairs, or on to the soft turf, and helping themselves to what they pleased.
When all were supplied with tea, coffee, or iced drinks, to their liking, conversation flowed again.
"So the duchess's concert comes off to-night," remarked some one."Iwish to goodness they would hang this tree with Chinese lanterns and, have it out here.It is too hot to face a crowded function indoors.""Oh, that's all right," said Garth Dalmain, "I'm stage-manager, you know; and I can promise you that all the long windows opening on to the terrace shall stand wide.So no one need be in the concert-room, who prefers to stop outside.There will be a row of lounge chairs placed on the terrace near the windows.You won't see much; but you will hear, perfectly.""Ah, but half the fun is in seeing," exclaimed one of the tennis girls."People who have remained on the terrace will miss all the point of it afterwards when the dear duchess shows us how everybody did it.I don't care how hot it is.Book me a seat in the front row!""Who is the surprise packet to-night?" asked Lady Ingleby, who had arrived since luncheon.
"Velma," said Mary Strathern."She is coming for the week-end, and delightful it will be to have her.No one but the duchess could have worked it, and no place but Overdene would have tempted her.She will sing only one song at the concert; but she is sure to break forth later on, and give us plenty.We will persuade Jane to drift to the piano accidentally and play over, just by chance, the opening bars of some of Velma's best things, and we shall soon hear the magic voice.She never can resist a perfectly played accompaniment.""Why call Madame Velma the `surprise packet'?" asked a girl, to whom the Overdene "best parties" were a new experience.
