"I don’t know." It struck Peggy, as she replied, that all she knew of Elaine’s affairs was singularly inadequate to account for the weary, disillusioned look which was the other girl’s habitual expression. "You know they used to be quite well off," Peggy explained, as Graham helped her move a table which was taking up more than its share of the room. "I guess it’s more comfortable never to have much, than to have it and lose it." It was not till after one o’clock that everything was ready. The fancy work tables were in the front room, and the display proved that the loyalty of the Terrace girls to a good cause was not of the flash-in-the-pan variety. Many days of hard work were represented on those crowded tables, and, though the skill of the workers varied, the average was commendable. Elaine’s collar had the place of honor, with a background of black velvet to set off its delicately intricate pattern. In the back parlor were the candy and ice-cream tables, as well as the little tea-table, over which Priscilla was to preside, the latter being a concession to the old ladies who no longer possessed a "sweet tooth," and who shivered at the suggestion of ice cream in November. The girls flew home to swallow a hasty dinner, without any very definite idea as to what they were eating, and then hurried themselves into their best clothes, and were back again a good half-hour before the advertised time for opening the Bazar. "From three to ten" the announcements had read, and when the grandfather’s clock in the hall struck the first-named hour there was a general craning of necks, as if with the expectation of seeing a procession of patrons ascending the front steps. Nobody was in sight, however, and some faces assumed an expression of anxiety. "Three o’clock and not a soul here," Ruth said tragically. "O, dear! I hope that somebody’ll come after we’ve all worked so hard." "There’s a splendid concert at the Lyric this afternoon. I shouldn’t wonder if that took a great many people who might have come here," observed Priscilla, with an air of being prepared for the worst. "I thought all the time, that we should have some hand-bills," Amy exclaimed. "You tell people, and you put up notices in the drugstore, but that isn’t enough. There ought to be hand-bills distributed the night before." The spirits of the company were rapidly approaching the zero point when Peggy came to the rescue with one of her sunny suggestions, which appreciably raised the temperature. "Why, it’s only three o’clock. People never come exactly on time to things of this sort." Then she recounted Dorothy’s latest escapade and set them all to laughing.