At the exact hour agreed upon as the best time for dinner, the little maid, turned cook and waitress, announced the meal as ready, and her reward came in the children's demonstrative approval. “Never tasted anything so delicious” was on their lips repeatedly; and Marie-Celeste having told, to the supreme delight of all who listened, the story of her visit to the Queen, even went so far as to declare that she was enjoying it more than the luncheon in the Castle. Mrs. Hartley said, “Oh, my dear!” in a most deprecating way; but there was no gainsaying the evident sincerity of the declaration.