“Many thanks for the hint, Secretary Ayres,” said Mary affably. “I am now requested by our hostess to announce that she would like her dishes washed before ten o’clock. I must go this minute, but the rest of you——”
“Bar the door!” shouted Bob, “and hold her tight! She’s got to help this time, for once.”
Whereupon the business meeting of “The Merry Hearts” adjourned suddenly and in some disorder.
CHAPTER VI
A TOUCH OF STYLE AND SOME OTHER TOUCHES
“The Merry Hearts” lost no time in arranging the details of what Babbie called Georgia’s coming-out party. Various methods of bringing her to public notice were discussed, but it was finally decided that each “Merry Heart” should do whatever her individual taste and inclination suggested, only each must add some touch, however slight, to the sum total of Georgia’s achievements, report what she had done at the next ensuing meeting of the society, and be very careful not to divulge the secret of Georgia’s personality to any outsider.
Then the fun began. It was curious to see how each girl’s personality came out in the way she manipulated Madeline’s second self. The B’s, as was to be expected, contributed touches of style. Babbie immediately ordered a card plate for Georgia, with a hundred cards engraved according to the latest decree of fashion. Watching her opportunity she slipped one under the door of a Westcott House senior who made a specialty of cultivating freshman friendships. The mystified senior inquired busily for two days without eliciting any definite information as to the identity of her caller, and Georgia’s name became very familiar to the Westcott House girls.
A day or two later a huge box of violets arrived by special messenger for Miss Georgia Ames. The parlor-maid was new to the ways of the house (this Bob had counted upon in ordering the flowers), and without looking at the name on the box, she laid it on the table in the front hall. There it stayed all day, stared at and sighed over by envious passersby, who easily guessed the character of its contents and lamented that, having been sent to the wrong address, a bunch of violets as big as this one must hide its sweetness under a bushel.
After dinner, while the girls lingered in the hall and parlors, as was their custom, Bob engaged in conversation the senior who had been the recipient of Babbie’s card and carelessly led her toward the hall table.