As the two girls approached, Pauline whispered to them, with an air of triumph, "You see the caps are plenty big enough!" and sure enough the three boys wore their caps, set jauntily on the side of their heads; but without a doubt the bands were amply large.
"So you see, I did know something after all," Pauline went on, and Dolly said frankly, "You did, Polly; you were right and we were wrong."
Dotty was not quite so smilingly gracious, but she had a strong sense of justice and she said, "They are big enough, Pauline, I was mistaken," and then the dancing began.
There were only simple dances as the children had not mastered the intricacies of modern steps, and there was much fun and gay good-natured banter. The Shepherds and Shepherdesses danced first with each other, but later others joined them and the clan separated.
But the last dance before supper Dolly danced with Carroll Clifton.
At the finish they sat for a moment under some palms to rest, and Carroll took off his cap and held it in his hand.
As a matter of fact, Dolly had forgotten all about the cap discussion, but suddenly her eyes fell on the inside of the cap, as Carroll held it carelessly upside down on his knee.
She could hardly believe her eyes, but she looked again and sure enough, she was right! A full inch of material had been let into the band at the back to make it larger. Dolly stared at it, and then taking the cap, as if to admire it, she said, "I wonder if this is the one I made. You know we girls made the shepherd caps, and I hope you're duly grateful."
"Yes, nice cap-makers you are!" said Carroll, banteringly. "They were so little we couldn't get them on. I told Polly and she gathered them in last night and took them up to her room and made them bigger. I guess she spent half the night doing it, for her light was burning pretty late."
Dolly said nothing, but a wave of indignation swept over her to think Pauline should so deceive her. To think she should be so small and petty as when she found herself in the wrong to secretly rectify her own mistake and then triumphantly announce to the girls that the caps were big enough after all!