Adele and Gertrude and Doris also had them, but Bertha and Peggy had none. The pink envelopes contained invitations to a very select party to be given by Susetta Green on the following Saturday.
“I wasn’t select enough, because my father owns a grocery store, I suppose,” Bertha Angel declared.
“And my dad is also a tradesman, and so I am left out,” Peggy Pierce added with twinkling eyes. “But you other girls go, and then you can tell us all about the party.”
“Go!” Doris Drexel exclaimed. “Indeed we will not go! I told Susie Green myself that we seven always went to places together, or we didn’t go at all. Do you suppose for one second, Peggy Pierce, that I would go to a party if you and Bertha were left out?”
And so it happened that Susetta Green received five notes of refusal to her party. She took them to her mother with tears in her eyes, as she said, “I told you, ma, that they wouldn’t none of them come unless you asked them all.”
Mrs. Green bristled indignantly. “Ask the daughters of tradespeople to a select party? Well, I should say not! With all our money, we ought to associate with earls and dukes.”
“But ma,” Susie dolefully replied, “there ain’t any earls and dukes, and I’m so lonely I’d just as soon play with the gardener’s children.”
Her mother looked at her scornfully. “Well,” she said, “it’s mighty queer those girls refused to come to your party. I looked up all their families and they’re the best around, but your pa—that is, your father—has more money than all of them put together. Just you remember that when you go back to school, and hold your head high. What’s more, I intend hiring a girl to be a maid for you, and then, when you’re older, you shall have a French maid.”
That very afternoon Mrs. Melissa Green, with Susetta at her side, drove in their handsome carriage down the country road. There was a coachman and a footman dressed in green livery, with brass buttons, sitting stiffly on the high front seat, and Mrs. Melissa Green, elaborately dressed in purple satin, felt that they must be making a very grand appearance.
“Where are we going, ma?” Susie asked.