"
"I suppose you will have the dress," said Daisy; "of course you will.
But if you say you do not want to be Esther, they will make me do it."
A hint that closed Nora's mouth. She did not say she did not want to be
Esther. Mrs. Sandford was astonished at the change of performers; but
Daisy's resignation was so simply made and naturally, and Nora's
acceptance was so manifestly glad, that nobody could very well offer any
hindrance. The change was made; but Preston would not suffer Daisy to be
one of the attendants. He left her out of the picture altogether and put
Jane Linwood in Nora's vacated place. Daisy was content; and now the
practising and the arrangements went on prospering.
There was a good deal of preparation to be made, besides what the
mantua-maker could do. Mr. Stilton was called into the library for a
great consultation; and then he went to work. The library was the place
chosen for the tableaux; the spectators to be gathered into the
drawing-room, and the pictures displayed just within the wide door of
communication between the two rooms. On the library side of this door
Mr. Stilton laid down a platform, slightly raised and covered with green
baize cloth, and behind the platform a frame-work was raised and hung
with green baize to serve as a proper background for the pictures. A
flower stand was brought in from the greenhouse and placed at one side,
out of sight from the drawing-room; for the purpose, as Preston informed
Daisy, of holding the lights.
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