she chanted. "There goes the door bell. Ted, you're the footman?"
"By all the powers above!" exclaimed Ted, as he swung open the door in mock ceremony. "Mr. Francis Lindsay, in a full suit of evening clothes! Such splendour! I'm glad now I blacked my shoes. Miss Billy, don't you wish you'd braved Bea's jeers and worn your ostrich tips?"
"To the horror of all who were present that day
He uprose in full evening dress,
And with senseless grimaces endeavoured to say
What his tongue could no longer express,"
quoted Francis. "Am I or am I not to come in? Good-evening, Miss Billy, good-evening, Miss Lee."
Beatrice looked critically at the tall figure bending over her sister's hand. In his evening clothes Mr. Schultzsky's grand-nephew was a fine looking man, she owned to herself, and her voice was unusually cordial as she added her greeting to Miss Billy's.
At the stroke of eight Margaret appeared, and John Thomas soon followed, in a high state of collar and excitement. "Mary Jane wasn't ready to come with me," he announced cheerfully. "She was prinking before the glass when I went by her room, and she said she couldn't fix her hair. She'll be along."
His prediction was verified by a faint jingle of the door bell. A moment later Marie Jean's shrill voice was heard in the hall. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Theodore, don't mention it, please. I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting. Where shall I lay my cloak?" The little group, gathered round the first fall fire, fell apart to permit the entrance of the last guest.
It was Marie Jean, but transformed. She wore the trailing silk skirt, and a bodice of showy pink taffeta, but the heavy frizzes were gone. Her hair was parted as smoothly and evenly as Margaret's own, and the German braids lent new character to her face. She glanced in some surprise at Beatrice's simple grey-blue gown, and surveyed Miss Billy's scarlet waist with disapproval. The plain elegance of Margaret's tailor suit utterly escaped her, but her eyes brightened as she beheld Francis' pearl studs. "He's got a genuine swallow tail," she said to herself. "I'm glad I dressed up."
"Come into the kitchen," announced the host, leading the way to the rear of the house. "This is the scene of our operations. Lindsay, how we are to manage such elegance as yours and Miss Marie Jean's, I don't see. You'll have to be aproned, each one of you." He handed Marie Jean and Margaret long gingham aprons, and then to the amusement of all proceeded to array Francis' six foot length in one of Bea's daintiest and most be-ruffled pinafores.