“Like this: ‘Miss Ellen North’s compliments to Mrs. So-and-So, and requests the pleasure of her company on June fifteenth at eight o’clock in the evening at a birthday party in honor of Miss Orinda Crump.’ Of course, it was rather formal, and as I took them around myself I needn’t have written them, but could have delivered my message in person, but I wanted to be sure how many would accept, and then I didn’t want them to forget.”
“Nobody in this town would be likely to forget a party at Rindy Crump’s,” was the comment, given gruffly.
There never was a more active person than Ellen showed herself to be that day. She made the house into a bower, she was “up-stairs, down-stairs, and in my lady’s chamber,” so that every room was rose-sweet. The cakes kept arriving up to the last minute,—even Miss Sophia Garrett sent one,—and the bowl of fruit punch was delivered safely, while the freezer of ice-cream stood in readiness to be brought over by Lucilena at the last moment. Mrs. Hale offered to lend Lucilena for the occasion, that dusky person eagerly seconding the offer. Wipers was dressed up in a flaunting blue bow made from a discarded hair ribbon of Caro’s; to be truthful one must relate that it was torn to bits before midnight in an affray with Bunty, but this did not prevent Wipers’ initial appearance from being quite magnificent.
The hardest duty of the day was that of dressing up Miss Rindy, who balked every step of the way. “You must let me do your hair,” Ellen insisted at the outset.
“What for?” asked Miss Rindy.
“Because I want it to be becoming.”
“It does well enough. I’ve always worn it this way, and I don’t mean to change.”
“Just for this once; if you don’t like it you can go back to the old way. Do you know I read somewhere that a woman doesn’t begin to grow old till she ceases to change the arrangement of her hair. I am crazy to see how you will look when I am through with you.”
“Very well, go ahead, but I warn you that if I don’t like it, down it comes.”
Ellen went ahead. She waved, fluffed out, brought down becoming locks over the high expanse of her cousin’s forehead, and then giggled as she stood off to see the effect.