"I'll open the cases for you, Mrs Hilliard. I'm a nailer at opening cases; ought to have been a furniture remover by profession. Give me wood and nails, and a litter of straw and sawdust, and I'm in my element. Better take 'em down to the hall and unpack them there, I suppose? Safest plan with breakables. Jolly good crockery you get from abroad! I was at winter sports with my sister, and she fell in love with a green pottery cruse business, half a franc, and as big as your head. I argued with her for an hour, but it was no good, buy it she would, and cuddled it in her arms the whole way home! If you have any green cruses, Mrs Hilliard, I'll buy a dozen!" Esmeralda thanked him, and proceeded to explain her arrangements in a manner elaborately composed. It appeared that she had displayed considerable ingenuity in the way of saving herself trouble. "I sent instructions to each place that every article was to be marked in plain figures. We shall just have to translate them into English money and add on a little more. It's unnecessary to re-mark everything afresh. I've engaged a joiner to be at the hall ready to fix up any boards or shelves which we may need, and of course he'll unpack. There's not the slightest reason for any one else to break his nails; there will be enough work for us on the day." "Are we to be dressed up in fancy character? It's all so sudden that I'd like to know the worst at once," sighed Honor plaintively. "I've been a Swiss maiden, and I've been a Dolly Varden, and I've been the Old Woman that lived in a Shoe, so I guess I can bear another turn of the screw. But I look real sweet in my new blue gown." "Wear it, then, wear it. It's ridiculous dressing up in daylight in a village hall. Let every one wear what suits them best." "Wait till you see my waistcoat!" cried Stanor, and they rose from the table laughing, and breakfast was at an end. Pixie made straight for the nursery. She was jarred and troubled by the scene which had just taken place, all the more so as it was by no means the first occasion during her short visit when Geoffrey and Joan had unmistakably "jarred."