“They won’t know for sure, and anyway, the boys won’t know. You needn’t even tell Clayton.”
So the matter was settled, and Dolly went off home happy at having gained her point.
At last the night of the party arrived. The girls had planned not to let each other know what they would wear, and see if they could guess identities. Dolly and Dotty had no idea of each other’s costume, and even Grace and Ethel Rawlins were in equal ignorance of theirs.
The girls were to meet at the Rawlins house and the boys at the Browns’ and go out to Uncle Jim’s separately, in motor cars provided by the several families.
Mrs. Rawlins would act as hostess, and Mr. Rawlins was a general manager, who seemed to look after everything at once.
At the hour of meeting, Dolly found herself to be the first one to arrive. She had come from home by a roundabout way, and her father, who accompanied her to the corner, stepped aside and let her go up the steps alone, so that no one might suspect it was she. Dolly was attired as a Ghost. Her dress was lovely, being made of many layers of white tarlatan, one over the other, with long angel sleeves, and fluttering draperies, that wafted about as she walked.
A scarf of the same material enveloped her head and neck, and trailed its long ends behind her. She wore white silk gloves, but her hands were hidden in the swirl of the misty material. She was a veritable ghost, and deep in the shadows of her swathing headgear, her face was concealed by a little white satin mask. Of course her hair was completely hidden, and she moved with slow, sinuous movements, waving her draped arms in true spectre fashion.
“Come in, Ghost,” said Mrs. Rawlins, as Dolly stepped into the reception room. “Well, you are a spirit, indeed! I never saw a real live ghost before!”
Dolly swept long, ghostly curtseys, but said no word.
Grace Rawlins came next. She had gone out and around several blocks so that she might enter her own house as a visitor. Grace was a Fairy. Her dress was full and frilly, of pale pink crêpe paper, and she had pink and gilt wings, and a long wand. Her hair, which might have been recognisable, was hidden in a dainty pink silk cap, with a long gilt feather, and a full ruche of frilled paper hid her neck and chin. A pink mask covered her face, and she wore long pink silk gloves.