THE PARTY. 81

The hall. Objects of interest in it, Receiving the company,

 

and plays, and then, at half-past eight, the children were
to go home.

The room called the hall was the apartment in which
Caroline’s company were to be entertained. This room
was selected partly because it was larger than any other
room, and partly because there were-so many books and
playthings in the desks and closets which it contained.
The children were first received, however, in the parlour.
The parlour was in the front part of the house, and was
very beautifully furnished. It had a very soft carpet upon
the floor, and rich crimson damask curtains to the win-
dows, and a centre-table with a chandelier over it im the
middle of the room, and sofas, arm-chairs, ottomans, and
other luxurious seats about the sides. The boys and
girls, as they came up in small parties, to the door, were
admitted by Susan, the maid who generally waited upon
Caroline, and conducted to small bed-rooms, in which
they put away their hats and bonnets, and then ushered
into the parlour, where Caroline was standing, surrounded
by her friends, ready to receive them.

As the company came in, some walked about the room
to see what was there, and some took their seats upon the
sofas and ottomans. They were at first quite silent, and
looked upon each other, and especially upon Wallace and
Livingston, with a constrained air. In fact, though all
the rest of the company were perfectly acquainted with
each other, they were somewhat afraid of the strangers,
though not morc so, it is to be presumed, than the stran-
gers were afraid of them.

After a little time Caroline proposed that the company
should go out into the garden, and as they all seemed
much pleased with this proposition, she led the way into

G