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  CHAPTER IV

  SAND COURT

  With one accord, they all looked at Hester. Sure enough, it was easilyto be seen that she was sorry. All her anger and rage had vanished, andshe stood digging one toe into the sand, and twisting from side to side,with her eyes cast down, and two big tears rolling slowly down hercheeks.

  Marjorie sprang up from her wabbly throne, and running to Hester, threwher arms around her.

  "Don't cry, Hester," she said. "We'll all forgive you. I think you lostyour temper and I think you're sorry now, aren't you?"

  "Oh, yes, yes, I am!" sobbed Hester. "But I envied the good times youhad, and when Tom wouldn't let me into your club, I got so mad I didn'tknow what to do."

  "There, there, don't cry any more," and Midget smoothed the tangled redmop, and tried to comfort the bad little Hester.

  Tom looked rather disappointed.

  "I say," he began, "she did an awful mean thing, and she ought tobe----"

  "Hold on a minute, Tom," said Marjorie. "I'm Queen of this club, andwhat I say goes! Is that right, my courtiers?"

  She looked round at the boys, smiling in a wheedlesome way, and Kingsaid, "Right, O Queen Sandy! Right always and ever, in the hearts ofyour gentlemen-in-waiting."

  "You bet you are!" cried Tom, quick to follow King's lead. "Our nobleQueen has but to say the word, and it is our law. Therefore, O Queen, webeg thee to mete out a just punishment to this prisoner within ourgates."

  "Hear ye! Hear ye!" said Midget, with great dramatic fervor. "I herebyforgive this prisoner of ours, because she's truly sorry she acted likethe dickens. And as a punishment, I condemn her to rebuild this royalpalace, but, following Harry's example, we will all help her with thework."

  Then King burst forth into song:

  "Hooray, Hooray, for our noble Queen, The very best monarch that ever was seen. There's nobody quite so perfectly dandy, As our most gracious, most noble Queen Sandy!"

  They all repeated this chorus, and the Queen bowed and smiled at herdevoted court.

  "And also," her Royal Highness went on, "we hereby take into our clubMiss Hester Corey as a new member. I'm glad to have another girl init,--and what I say goes!"

  This time Tom made up the song:

  "What she says, goes! She's sweet as a rose, From head to toes, So what she says, goes!"

  "Miss Hester Corey is now a member," said Midget, "and her nameis,--is----"

  "Sand Witch," suggested Tom.

  "Yes," said King; "you expect witches to cut up tricks."

  "All right," said Hester. "Call me Sand Witch, and you'll see there aregood witches as well as bad."

  "Come on, then," said Marjorie, "and show us how you can work. Let's putthis palace back into shape again as quick as scat!"

  They all fell to work, and it didn't take so very long after all. Hesterwas conquered by the power of Marjorie's kindness, and she was meek as alamb. She did whatever she was told, and was a quick and willing worker.

  "Now," said Midget, after it was all in order once more, "now we'll haveour celebration. You see, we have six in our court now, instead offive, and I think it's nicer. I'll give the Sand Witch my sash to wear,and she can be my first lady-in-waiting."

  This position greatly pleased Hester, and she took her place at the sideof the enthroned Queen, while Tom stood at her other side. King played agrand tune, and they all sang.

  The song was in honor of the flag-raising, and was hastily composed byMarjorie for the occasion:

  "Our Flag, our Flag, our Sand Club Flag! Long may she wave, long may she wag! And may our Sand Club ever stand A glory to our Native Land."

  Tom persisted in singing "a glory to our native _sand_," and King said_strand_, but after all, it didn't matter.

  Then Sandow, bearing the flag, stepped gravely forward, and the boys allhelped to plant it firmly in the middle of Sand Court, while the Queenand her lady-in-waiting nodded approval.

  "Ha, Courtiers! I prithee sit!" the Queen commanded, when the flag wasgaily waving in the breeze.

  Her four courtiers promptly sat on the ground at her feet, and the Queenaddressed them thus:

  "Gentlemen-in-waiting of Sandringham Palace, there are much affairs ofstate now before us. First must we form our club, our Sand Club."

  "Most noble Queen," and Tom rose to his feet, "have I your permission tospeak?"

  "Speak!" said the Queen, graciously, waving her sceptre at him.

  "Then I rise to inquire if this is a secret organization."

  "You bet it is!" cried King, jumping up. "The very secretest ever! Ifany one lets out the secrets of these secret meetings, he shall beexcommunicated in both feet!"

  "A just penalty!" said Tom, gravely.

  "Is all well, O fair Queen? Do you agree?"

  "Yes, I agree," said the Queen, smiling. "But I want to know what thesesecrets are to be about."

  "That's future business," declared King. "Just now we have to electofficers, and all that."

  "All right," said Marjorie, "but you must be more courtly about it. Sayit more,--you know how I mean."

  "As thus," spoke up the lady-in-waiting, dropping on one knee before theQueen.

  "What is the gracious will of your Royal Highness in the matter ofsecretary and treasurer, O Queen!"

  "Yes, that's better. Well, my court, to tell you the truth, I don'tthink that we need a secretary and such things, because it isn't aregular club. Let us content ourselves with our present noble offices.Grand Sandjandrum, what are the duties of thy high office?"

  "No duties, but all pleasures, when serving thee, O noble and graciousQueen!"

  "That's fine," said Midget, clapping her hands. "Hither, Sir Sand Piper!What are thy duties at, court?"

  "Your Majesty," said King, bowing low, "it is my humble part to play thepipes, or to lay the pipes, as the case may be. I do not smoke pipes,but, if it be thy gracious wish, I can blow fair soap bubbles fromthem."

  "Sand Piper, I see you know your business," said the Queen. "Ha! SandCrab, what dost thou do each day?"

  "Just scramble around in the sand," replied Harry, and suiting theaction to the word, he gave such a funny scrambling performance thatthey all applauded.

  "Right well done, noble Sand Crab," commented the smiling Queen. "Andthou, O Sandow?"

  "I do all the strong-arm work required in the palace," said Dick,doubling up his little fist, and trying to make it look large andpowerful.

  "Now, thee, my fair lady-in-waiting, what dost thou do in this, mycourt?"

  Hester shook back her mop of red curls, and her eyes danced as sheanswered, gaily:

  "I am the Court Sand Witch! I cut up tricks of all sorts, as doth becomea witch. Aye, many a time will I cause enchantments to fall upon thee,one and all! I am a magic witch, and I can cast spells!"

  Hester waved her arms about, and swayed from side to side, her eyesfixed in a glassy stare, and her red curls bobbing.

  "Good gracious!" cried Marjorie. "You're like a witch I saw on the stageonce in a fairy pantomime. Say, Hester, let's have a pantomimeentertainment some day."

  "All right. My mother'll help us. She's always getting up privatetheatricals and things like that. She says I inherit her dramatictalent."

  "All right," said Tom, warningly; "but don't you turn your dramatictalent toward tearing down our palace again."

  "Of course I won't, now I'm a member."

  "Of course she won't," agreed Marjorie. "Now, my courtiers, andlady-in-waiting, there's another subject to come before your royalattention. We must have a Court Journal."

  "What's that?" inquired Harry.

  "Why, a sort of a paper, you know, with all the court news in it."

  "There isn't any."

  "But there will be. We're not fairly started yet. Now who'll write thispaper?"

  "All of us," suggested Tom.

  "Yes; but there must be one at the head of it,--sort of editor, youknow."

  "Guess it better be King," said Tom, though
tfully. "He knows the mostabout writing things."

  "All right," agreed King. "I'll edit the paper, only you must allcontribute. We'll have it once a week, and everybody must send me somecontribution, if it's only a little poem or something."

  "I can't write poems," said Harry, earnestly, "but I can gather upnews,--and like that."

  "Yes," said Marjorie, "that's what I mean. But it must be news about uscourt people, or maybe our families."

  "Can't we make it up?" asked Hester.

  "Yes, I s'pose so, if you make it real court like and grand sounding."

  "What shall we call our paper?" asked King.

  "Oh, just the _Court Journal_," replied Midget.

  "I don't think so," objected Hester. "I think it ought to have a namelike _The Sand Club_."

  "_The Jolly Sandboy_," exclaimed Tom. "How's that?"

  "But two of us are girls!" said Marjorie.

  "That doesn't matter, it's just the name of the paper, you know. And itsounds so gay and jolly."

  "I like it," declared King, and so they all agreed to the name.

  "Now, my courtiers and noble friends," said their Queen, "it's time weall scooted home to luncheon. My queen-dowager mother likes me to be ontime for meals. Also, my majesty and my royal sand piper can't come backto play this afternoon. But shall this court meet to-morrow morning?"

  "You bet, your Majesty!" exclaimed Tom, with fervor.

  "That isn't very courtly language, my Grand Sandjandrum."

  "I humbly beg your Majesty's pardon, and I prostrate myself in humblehumility!" And Tom sprawled on his face at Marjorie's feet.

  "Rise, Sir Knight," said the gracious Queen, and then the courtdispersed toward its various homes.

  "Well, we had the greatest time this morning you ever heard of!"announced Marjorie as, divested of her royal trappings and clad in afresh pink gingham, she sat at the luncheon table.

  "What was it all about, Moppets?" asked Mrs. Maynard.

  So King and Marjorie together told all about the intrusion of Hester ontheir celebration, and how they had finally taken her into the Sand Clubas a member.

  "I think my children behaved very well," said Mrs. Maynard, looking atthe two with pride.

  "I did get sort of mad at first, Mother," Marjorie confessed, notwanting more praise than was her just due.

  "Well, I don't blame you!" declared King. "Why, that girl made mostawful faces at Mops, and talked to her just horrid! If she hadn't calmeddown afterward we couldn't have played with her at all."

  "I've heard about that child," said Mrs. Maynard. "She has most awfulfits of temper, I'm told. Mrs. Craig says that Hester will be as goodand as sweet as a lamb for days,--and then she'll fly into a rage oversome little thing. I'm glad you children are not like that."

  "I'm glad, too," said King. "We're not angels, but if we acted up likeHester did at first we couldn't live in the house with each other!"

  "Her mother is an actress," observed Marjorie.

  "Oh, no, Midget, you're mistaken," said her mother. "I know Mrs. Corey,and she isn't an actress at all, and never was. But she is fond ofamateur theatricals, and she is president of a club that gives littleplays now and then."

  "Yes, that's it," said King. "Hester said her mother had dramatictalent, and she had inherited it. Have you dramatic talent, Mother?"

  "I don't know, King," said Mrs. Maynard, laughing. "Your father and Ihave joined their dramatic club, but it remains to be seen whether wecan make a success of it."

  "Oh, Mother!" cried Marjorie. "Are you really going to act in a play?Oh, can we see you?"

  "I don't know yet, Midget. Probably it will be an entertainment only forgrown-ups. We've just begun rehearsals."

  "Have we dramatic talent, Mother?"

  "Not to any astonishing degree. But, yes, I suppose your fondness forplaying at court life and such things shows a dramatic taste."

  "Oh, it's great fun, Mother! I just love to sit on that throne with mylong trail wopsed on the floor beside me, and my sceptre sticking up,and my courtiers all around me,--oh, Mother, I think I'd like to be areal queen!"

  "Well, you see, Midget, you were born in a country that doesn't employqueens."

  "And I'm glad of it!" cried Marjorie, patriotically. "Hooray! for theland of the free and the home of the brave! I guess I don't care to be areal queen, I guess I'll be a president's wife instead. Say, Mother,won't you and Father write us some poems for _The Jolly Sandboy_?"

  "What is that, Midget?"

  "Oh, it's our court journal,--and you and Father do write such lovelypoetry. Will you, Mother?"

  "Yes, I 'spect so."

  "Oh, goody! When you say 'I 'spect so,' you always _do_. Hey, King, RosyPosy ought to have a sandy kind of a name, even if she doesn't come toour court meetings."

  "'Course she ought. And she can come sometimes, if she doesn't upsetthings."

  "She can't upset things worse'n Hester did."

  "No; but I don't believe Hester will act up like that again."

  "She may, Marjorie," said Mrs. Maynard. "I've heard her mother say shecan't seem to curb Hester's habit of flying into a temper. So just here,my two loved ones, let me ask you to be kind to the little girl, and ifshe gets angry, don't flare back at her, but try 'a soft answer.'"

  "But, Mother," said King, "that isn't so awful easy! And, anyway, Idon't think she ought to do horrid things,--like tumbling down ourpalace,--and then we just forgive her, and take her into the club!"

  "Why not, King?"

  King looked a little nonplussed.

  "Why," he said, "why,--because it doesn't seem fair."

  "And does it seem fairer for you to lose your temper too, and try whatchildren call 'getting even with her'?"

  "Well, Mother, it _does_ seem fairer, but I guess it isn't very,--very_noble_."

  "No, son, it isn't. And I hope you'll come to think that sometimesnobility of action is better than mere justice."

  "I see what you mean, Mother, and somehow, talking here with you, it allseems true enough. But when we get away from you, and off with the boysand girls, these things seem different. Were you always noble when youwere little, Mother?"

  "No, Kingdon dear, I wasn't always. But my mother tried her best toteach me to be,--so don't you think I ought to try to teach you?"

  "Sure, Mothery! And you bet we'll do our bestest to try to learn. Hey,Mops?"

  "Yes, indeedy! I _want_ to do things right, but I seem to forget justwhen I ought to remember."

  "Well, when you forget, come home and tell Mother all about it, andwe'll take a fresh start. You're pretty fairly, tolerably, moderatelygood children after all! Only I want you to grow a little speck bettereach day."

  "And we _will_!" shouted King and Marjorie together.