“What’s on the contrary?” demanded Lily, sharply.
“Milkmaids shouldn’t be rosy-cheeked, you know,” said Chet, gravely.
“Why not, Mr. Funny?”
“Because a milkmaid is naturally a pail girl,” chortled Chet.
Lily was rather angry for a while because they joked her about the rouge. She was the only girl in all the Junior class who used cosmetics and, as Chet laughingly said once, “painting the Lily was a thankless job—it didn’t improve her looks!”
They piled into the two autos and started off with much laughter and blowing of horns. Nellie Agnew was almost the last one to board the Beldings’ car.
“I had to run down to Mrs. Doyle’s for Daddy Doctor,” she explained. “Poor little Johnny is dreadfully sick. He never really recovered from the shock, or the cold, when he fell into the sewer basin. He’s such a poor, weak little thing now. It would make your heart ache to see him, Laura.”
“Lil says that Hester goes there all the time, and that she’s always doing something for Rufe, or the rest of them,” Jess Morse said.
Laura shook her head. “I know,” she said. “I saw Hester and Rufie in the park together the other day. They seem to be very good friends. And I’m sorry.”
“Why—for pity’s sake?” demanded Nellie.