“You will have to scrub them pretty hard,” Betsy advised her.
But hard as she scrubbed there was a tinge of blue remaining although Betsy comforted her by saying it would wear off. “Do you suppose your mother will consent to your wearing blue—now you have gone to all this trouble about it?” Betsy brought up this difficulty.
“Dear me, I don’t know. Well, all is, I shall make the experiment and take the risks.” By this time Elizabeth had worked herself up into a state of ardent desire to wear blue. It was the unusual which appealed to her. It would make a small sensation and she wouldn’t tell anyone why she did it, she said to herself. “All I shall say when they ask me, if anyone does,” she said to Betsy, “is: It is a vow.”
Fortunately for her plan, she was the first down in the morning, and only her father appeared before she finished breakfast. As he was not so very observant, he did not notice the blue bows on her hair. They were not well tied, but Betsy had promised to give the finishing touch, and Elizabeth sped away without a farewell to any but her father, saying that she had promised to stop at Betsy’s very early. Betsy was as good as her word and attended to the bows, commenting upon Elizabeth’s appearance as she did so. “The blue isn’t bad in one way,” she said, “for it makes your cheeks look pinker and your skin whiter, but—don’t get mad, Elizabeth,—it also makes your hair look redder.”
“Oh, I suppose so,” returned Elizabeth resignedly. “I expected that, and indeed I noticed it myself. Is the waist very streaky, Betsy?”
“Why, no, not so very. It isn’t a very pretty color, but it is real blue.”
“Then my purpose is accomplished,” declared Elizabeth.
There were many curious glances cast in her direction that morning. Corinne and Bess giggled as Elizabeth knew they would and she was quite sure that she could tell exactly what they whispered one to another, but she bore herself gravely and did not look the least conscious. Even Miss Jewett smiled when she saw the prancing blue bows adorning the ruddy locks, but Elizabeth made no sign of seeing the smile. To all questions from the more daringly curious she answered solemnly: “It is a vow,” and nothing further would she say.
She felt very triumphant at having been able to carry out her intention to the letter, although in her inmost heart she perfectly well knew that the blue bows would be ordered off instantly as soon as she reached home. She did not flinch, however, from the ordeal, but walked in to dinner with all the composure of one well assured of her position.
“Will you look at Elizabeth?” cried Kathie as soon as she caught sight of her costume. “You don’t mean to say that you have been to school in that rig.”