“Your cousin Ethelyn is going to make her début next week. I have a bid to the ceremonies.”
“Yes, so have I. Well, let her ‘come out,’ if she likes. I prefer to ‘stay in’ for another year, anyway.”
“So do I,” said Elise. “Mother says I ought to come out next winter, but I’m not bothering about it yet.”
“Let’s have a good time this winter, then,” said Kenneth, “while we’re all children. If you girls come out next winter, you’ll be so gay with dances and parties, I can’t play with you at all.”
“All right,” agreed Patty. “But have you time to play, yourself, Ken? I thought you were fearfully busy absorbing the laws of the United States.”
“Oh, I do have to hammer at that all day, and some evenings, too. But it’s an unwritten law that a fellow must have some fun; so I’ll take an afternoon off now and then, to come round and tease you girls.”
Then dinner was announced and, following their elders, the young people went out to the dining-room.
“Oh, how pretty!” cried Patty, as she saw the table, for the decoration, though simple, was most effective.
Along the centre of the white cloth, lay a long bed of holly leaves, on which the word “Welcome” was outlined in holly berries.
There were no other flowers, and the glossy green and vivid scarlet made a charming centrepiece, surrounded, as it was, by dainty silver, glass, and china.