Part 7 (1/2)
”I am sure that it is a perfectly proper friends.h.i.+p, Betty,” a.s.sented Betty's mother. ”The Gwynne place has been mentioned more than once in the paper and I read of a large garden party given there by Carolyn's mother, about two weeks ago, I think.”
”Oh, was that the gorgeous place that had the pictures of it in the Sunday paper?” Betty looked a little dismayed. ”Why, they must be very stylish and wealthy folksbut Carolyn likes meI know she does.”
”To be stylish and wealthy, my dear, does not always make people sn.o.bs, and there are other a.s.sets that they may recognize in other people, too.
If you and Carolyn are congenial, there is no reason why there should not be a pleasant friends.h.i.+p between you, at least now.”
Betty looked thoughtful. ”You mean that after a while their way of living might make a difference and that Carolyn would have different friends!”
”Perhaps. I don't know, Betty. Separation sometimes makes it impossible to keep in touch. But don't let me start unhappy thoughts about this. I shall do everything I can to let you have friends and a happy time. You always have; why not here in the city? Just so you have none that will hurt you. But you are not likely to choose that kind, I think. Please remember, Betty, that you can't touch coal without getting black.”
”But you ought to be friendly with everybody, oughtn't you?”
”Certainly, so far as being kindbut let the older folks do the reforming, Betty. Well, all this about one innocent party? What should you wear, Betty?”
”Just what I was going to ask you! But I'll find out from Peggy. They are going to play tennis and things. I wish I had a real 'sport costume,' for I don't suppose they'll wear 'party dresses' to an outdoor party like this.”
”Perhaps we can fix something up, Betty. If you only hadn't outgrown everything so! We can't afford new clothes right now, after all our moving and what we have had to buy to fix up this place. And social prominence does not enter into our plans right at present.” Mrs. Lee smiled at Betty, who was sitting in a low chair now with her hands folded on her knees.
”It never does,” laughed Betty, ”but you usually can't help having it. I should think it would be a rest not to be president of a club or responsible for church things. Nevertheless, Mother, don't hide your light under a bushel!”
With this advice, Betty jumped up to run out into the kitchen and pantry, for investigation of the cooky jar. Crumbs about showed that Doris or d.i.c.k had been there before her, and she heard Amy Lou's childish laughter coming from the back yard. But Betty's lessons were hard for the next day and she returned to the living room to take one of her texts back to her room and study a while by herself.
CHAPTER VII: CAROLYN'S GARDEN PARTY
The rest of the week went by in pleasant antic.i.p.ation of the garden party, Betty's first. To be sure there had been ”loads of picnics,” and lawn fetes for the church, usually in the spring or early summer. But a real ”garden party” _must_ be different. There was much consultation about clothes between Betty and her mother. One of the girls had said that of course one wouldn't wear her _old_ clothes, or her Girl Scout or Camp Fire Girl suits, as you would on a picnic to the woods. _She_ was going to play tennis, and her mother had gotten her an ”_awfully pretty_” white sport suit!
Well, what _was_ a sport suit anyhow? Mrs. Lee took Amy Lou down town, one morning when Mr. Lee could drive them down, and spent a rather trying morning trying to shop with a child. She looked at dresses and patterns, with a view of fitting Betty suitably for the occasion. But the new things were expensive. Finally, by letting down a skirt Betty had and arranging a suitable blouse, or upper part, what Betty called a ”near-sport” frock was evolved.
Then, after all the effort, Betty came home one afternoon with a new idea. ”Mother, it's turned so awfully hotIndian summer, I supposethat Peggy says she isn't going to play tennis or anything on a court, and she's going to wear her light green flat crepe that is her second best, or else some real cool summer dress, whatever happens to be ready. Peggy doesn't care! I believe I'll just wear my pretty thin blue and let it go at that. I don't want to play tennis either, especially when I don't know anybody much and not so very many can play. Carolyn says she's going to pay all her social debts at once and have a big party, so I'll be lost in the mult.i.tude.”
Like Janet, Mrs. Lee privately thought that Betty would never be ”lost in the mult.i.tude,” but she did not say so. ”So Carolyn is paying all her 'social debts,' is she?” asked Betty's mother, amused at the ”social debts” expression. ”It is just as well that you have decided on the blue. It will look pretty in the gardens and _I'd_ dress for the flowers instead of the tennis court.”
”Aren't you poetic, Mother! It's a shame that you went to all the trouble about the other dress, though.”
”That will be so much clear gain, child. You now have another frock, which will come in for service at some time, no doubt.”
When the day and the hour arrived, Betty's father arrived home late for lunch, as he could do on Sat.u.r.day, unless there were some executive meeting. That settled the question of how to get to the party, and Betty called up two of her friends to say that her father was going to take her and that she would stop for them if they liked. Naturally they were glad of the opportunity, for the Gwynne estate was out at some distance, _almost_ a ”country estate,” Peggy had said. ”Call up,” said Betty's father, ”when you want to come home, or rather, when I should start from home in time to reach you. We'll take note of the time we spend getting there. Then I'll bring a machine full of whomever you like.”
”Oh, that is so good of you, Mr. Lee!” exclaimed Dotty Bradshaw, one of the freshman girls whom Betty had invited to ride with them. ”But perhaps Betty will want somebody else, though,” added Dotty, happening to think that perhaps she was taking too much, for granted.
”Why, Dotty, of _course_ if we call for you we'll see you back home.
We're sort of new to the city, though, so perhaps you can tell me who live places that wouldn't be too far away.”
”Most anybody that attends our high school would be all right,” answered Dotty, ”because girls that live in other parts of town would go to other high schools.”
”Of course! I didn't think!”
”Well, I don't know about that,” said Selma Rardon, the other freshman in the car. ”There are sometimes people way out, like Carolyn herself.”