“You’re right, of course, Judy. Let me see…this is Tuesday. The floors in the dining room and the Big Parlor must be done over…they’re simply terrible. I’ll paint them today and stain them to-morrow. I wish I could do something to the front door. The paint is all peeling off. But I daren’t meddle with it. We must just leave it open and trust she won’t notice it. Then, Cuddles, we have to go to Winnie’s one day this week to help her get her sewing done. We should have gone last week but I wanted to wait till this week to see their big crab-apple tree in bloom. We’ll go Thursday. That will give us Friday to prepare. We must take her to the Poet’s room because the ceiling isn’t cracked there as it is in the spare room and we must put the spread mother embroidered on the bed. Sid can go for mother Friday evening. It is a shame to have her visit cut short when it’s her first for years…but of course she’d like to be here.”

“Oh, oh, and there’ll be two great ladies together thin,” said Judy. “I’ll match yer mother agin inny countess in the world. Sure and a Bay Shore Selby cud hould up her hid wid inny av the quality.”

Pat was herself again. Tillytuck was lost in admiration of her. From that moment Silver Bush was a place of excited but careful planning and overhauling and cleaning and decorating and discussing. Even Tillytuck had his say.

“The dinner’s the thing,” he told them. “A good meal is never to be sneezed at, speaking symbolically.”

Everyone agreed with this. The dinner must be such as even the wife of a belted earl could not turn up her nose at. Pat did endless research work among all her recipe books. Cuddles cut school to help. What was Latin and the chance of tattooing compared to this?

It was decided to have fried chicken for dinner…Judy’s fried chicken was something to dream about.

“Wid sparrow grass. Sure and sparrow grass is a sort av hardy vegetable. Ye’ll be making the sauce ye lamed at the Short Coorse, Patsy dear. And will ye be having time to hemstitch the new napkins?”

“Cuddles and I are going to sit up all night to do them. I think we’ll have iced melon balls and ice-cream for dessert and a lemon coconut cake. We mustn’t attempt too much.”

“Not to be ostentatious,” agreed Judy who dearly loved a big word now and then.

“And, after all, she may be on a diet,” grinned Cuddles. Cuddles had regained all her insouciance. Trix Binnie would be sunk when she heard of it all, positively sunk.

“I hope she’ll think Silver Bush nice,” breathed Pat. That was all she really cared about.