`` Ruby , you should n't talk about Mrs. Lynde , '' said Anne severely . `` It spoils the effect because this is hundreds of years before Mrs. Lynde was born . Jane , you arrange this . It 's silly for Elaine to be talking when she 's dead . '' Jane rose to the occasion . Cloth of gold for coverlet there was none , but an old piano scarf of yellow Japanese crepe was an excellent substitute . A white lily was not obtainable just then , but the effect of a tall blue iris placed in one of Anne 's folded hands was all that could be desired . `` Now , she 's all ready , '' said Jane . `` We must kiss her quiet brows and , Diana , you say , ` Sister , farewell forever , ' and Ruby , you say , ` Farewell , sweet sister , ' both of you as sorrowfully as you possibly can . Anne , for goodness sake smile a little . You know Elaine ` lay as though she smiled . ' That 's better . Now push the flat off . '' The flat was accordingly pushed off , scraping roughly over an old embedded stake in the process . Diana and Jane and Ruby only waited long enough to see it caught in the current and headed for the bridge before scampering up through the woods , across the road , and down to the lower headland where , as Lancelot and Guinevere and the King , they were to be in readiness to receive the lily maid . For a few minutes Anne , drifting slowly down , enjoyed the romance of her situation to the full . Then something happened not at all romantic . The flat began to leak . In a very few moments it was necessary for Elaine to scramble to her feet , pick up her cloth of gold coverlet and pall of blackest samite and gaze blankly at a big crack in the bottom of her barge through which the water was literally pouring . That sharp stake at the landing had torn off the strip of batting nailed on the flat .
XXXXX did not know this , but it did not take her long to realize that she was in a dangerous plight .
Anne Diana Guinevere Japanese King Lancelot Lynde Ruby iris samite