"Hardly," replied Jemima, with a superior smile. "The party is coming from Lexington."
Kate's face changed. She asked in quick dread, "Who are they?" It was not often that she met people from Lexington, except in the way of business, and then it was an ordeal to her.
"We don't know. Isn't it exciting? Professor Thorpe is bringing them."
Then Kate smiled. They would not be people who knew her. She could trust James Thorpe.
"I must make myself presentable," she murmured, moving toward the stairs.
The two girls heaved sighs of relief. It was evident that they had entertained doubts as to her reception of the party. Jacqueline walked beside her, rubbing a caressing cheek against her shoulder—a trick she had learned from the horses among whom she spent much of her time.
"You see, Mummy, Blossom thought it was high time for us to be having some beaux."
"Good Heavens—not yet!" murmured Kate.
"At my age, you had several babies," Jemima reminded her, firmly; and Kate could not deny it.
"So we consulted our godfather," continued Jacqueline. "It seemed to us we had at last found a use for a godfather—besides candy, and birthday presents, and things like that, which don't really count. We asked him if he couldn't find us some nice young professors at the university—attractive, dancing ones, you know, not old fossils like him."