Mrs. Lennox entered heartily into all the details of the scheme, and agreed with Millicent that if the thing were done at all, it must be done completely and with most careful attention to minutiæ.
“Could you submit to be spoken to as menials?” said Mrs. Lennox. “For I am most anxious to impress my English friends with the superiority of our servants over theirs. You would have to be modest and deferential, address me as ‘madam,’ and both the visitors as ‘your ladyship.’ ”
But all this only made it seem more of a lark, and after copious directions Mrs. Lennox went home, the eight girls promising to appear the next afternoon at two.
That night Aunt Molly returned from the city, bringing wonderful paraphernalia.
The waitresses were to wear white—pique skirts and linen shirt-waists; their caps were of the conventional shape, and their aprons were voluminous indeed, with crossed straps and broad wings, which Uncle Ned declared could not be surpassed for acreage in all London.
The cooks were to wear white, too—linen blouses with rolled-up sleeves, and real cooks’ caps.
The lady’s-maids wore pink and blue gingham respectively, with aprons befrilled and beflounced, and most fetching little caps with ribbon bows.
“THE GEM OF THE COLLECTION.”