they had recovered from the first excitement of the news which Mr. Wilde had brought them, and when they had seen that proud and delighted old gentleman off once more for the city where he lived,—“Mother, I want to have a party, and give the other children a good time. I want to celebrate not only our good luck, but the way we got it. I want to have a Shakespeare party.” “Oh, yes! Let’s have a party!” crowed John. “A dress-up party, Mary?” “Yes, a dress-up party. Everybody must be a Shakespeare character.” “I think that is a very nice idea,” said Mrs. Corliss. “Next month comes Shakespeare’s birthday, the twenty-third of April, which is also Saint George’s day. I think it would be lovely to have a party and show our Crowfield friends that Aunt Nan’s house is going to be hospitable and jolly from this time on.” They invited all the children in Mary’s class[101] of the High School and in John’s class of the Grammar School. Everybody was told that he or she must come in a Shakespeare costume; and this set them all to looking up quotations and reading plays more than had ever before been done in Crowfield. [101] For days before the party Mary’s library was crowded every afternoon with eager children who came to ask questions and get suggestions about their costumes. Mary and Katy Summers helped them as best they could, and Mrs. Corliss pinned and draped and made sketches to show how things ought to look. During these busy days Caliban retreated to the attic and sulked most of the time, because Mary paid him so little attention. But then, Mary said his costume was already nearly perfect. So why bother about him? They held the party in the library, the biggest room in the Corliss house. And Aunt Nan’s portrait looked down on a strange gathering of folk out of her favorite books. It seemed as if the old lady must be pleased if she knew how many persons had become interested in Shakespeare through the things which had happened and were still happening in her library. The door was opened by John dressed as[102] Puck, in brown jacket and tights, with little wings sprouting out of his shoulder-blades. [102] In the library the guests were received by Mary in long, glittering, green draperies to represent Ariel, with a wand and a crown of stars. She kept
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