This time Janet laughed. "How about your drawl, Taffy?" she inquired.
"Oh, dear, this will never do," Phyllis protested. "We will all have to keep as quiet as possible and only answer 'yes' and 'no.'"
Sally's blue eyes opened wide behind her mask of black satin.
"Oh, but that won't be any fun at all!" she cried.
"We might mumble everything we want to say," suggested Janet; "and if we all do it, it will be more confusing than ever."
"Good idea, 'How do you do this evening; isn't the room beautiful?'" Daphne mumbled in a monotone.
"Oh, Taffy," Janet laughed, "even your very best friend wouldn't know you."
"Well, then let's go in and pay our respects to Muriel; she and her mother are over there by the other door," Sally suggested, and led the way.
The room through which they walked was indeed beautiful. Ivory white woodwork made a fitting frame for the pale gold brocade that hung on the walls. Ferns and great bowls of roses filled every corner, and the perfume of the flowers scented the warm air of the room. Two crystal chandeliers blazed in all the glory of their rainbow colors and reflected their brilliance in the polished floor.
Groups of girls and boys chattered and laughed and tried to guess the identity of each other. Every hero and heroine in history was represented, and they nodded and bowed to dainty Mother Goose folk.