Aunt Katherine put her hand on Kate’s arm and continued earnestly: “That is one reason why I wanted you to come so much, to help us break the ice. Friday I am giving a party in your honour, Kate, an informal little dance.”
Kate clasped her hands. For a minute she forgot all the mystery that had gone before in her aunt’s speech.
“A dance! Oh, Aunt Katherine, how beautiful of you!” To herself she added, “Glory, glory! Already things are beginning to happen just as Mother said they would.”
“I have asked fifteen boys and thirteen girls. They have all, every one, accepted! If that doesn’t prove how mistaken Elsie is, I am a very foolish woman.”
“Elsie hasn’t mentioned the party to me,” Kate wondered aloud.
“No. I haven’t told her anything about it yet. I wanted you here and established first. I hoped that once you and she were having a happy, gay time together, she would soften, feel more in the mood. Most of the young people I have asked she had met when visiting me during school vacations. She was very popular with them before—well, before. But there are a few new families who have come to Oakdale since—well, since.”
“Before what? Since what?” If it was rude of Kate, she could not help it. It was all too mystifying.
“But that’s just what I can’t tell you, since Katherine hasn’t. Only, your not knowing makes it a bit complicated. No, I’m not sure of that. It may make everything more simple, more natural. But tell me, can’t you be friends with Elsie? She needs your friendship and companionship more than you can guess, my dear.”
“I’m sorry. Perhaps we shall be friends yet. But she does act awfully queer. Oh, it’s mean of me to talk about her so. Perhaps I’ve done something. Perhaps there’s a reason.”
“Well, she’s a strange child. Strange! But she used to be different. I always thought she seemed a little lost and lonely, you know. That was mostly because of her mother—no mother at all, in reality. Just a butterfly. In spite of that Elsie was agreeable and tender once. Quite a dear. But since she has come to live with me she has been entirely a changed person. You must believe, though, Kate, that there is no more reason for her to be unfriendly toward you than there is for her to be unfriendly toward me. And I am speaking truly when I say there has hardly been a friendly moment between us since she came into my home. She is polite, beautifully polite. I suppose that absurd fashionable boarding school she was sent to taught her manners. But it goes no deeper. How do you feel about it? Is there anything unkind or wrong in the way I treat Elsie? Have you noticed anything in the brief time you have been here?”