Polly explained how it had all happened, and then she discovered that Mrs. Vaughan was an old friend of her Aunt Milly, Mrs. Holmes, and knew the four boy cousins.
“So you must not remain isolated over at the Knob after this, girls,” she told them at parting, when they had partaken of ice cream, delicate shrimp and lobster salad sandwiches, and tea. “The Orienta is very gay during August, and we have a good many Junior functions for our younger element. I will speak to the Commodore about your club and see that it is listed for the regatta, and whenever you are able to come over I will chaperon all of you and see that you get back safely. We have our touring car up here, and you can all go home in that, you know, any time.”
“Well, forevermore,” gasped Polly, as they trudged back homeward with the sunset spreading its glory over the world of land and sea and sky. “Girls, we have stumbled all unawares into society. Let’s conduct ourselves as angels. Whatever will grandfather say!”
“Did you notice their dresses?” asked Isabel, her eyes dreamy with rapt remembrance. “That one which Mrs. Vaughan wore was sheer, hand-embroidered batiste, and the long coat was of real Irish crochet.”
“I don’t believe she sleeps one bit better than I do,” said Sue, recklessly.
“But, Sue, did you notice Dorothy’s dress?” persisted Isabel. “It was white organdie over pale yellow silk that just matched the tea roses in the pattern. I love clothes that show good taste.”
“Now, Lady Vanitas,” said Polly, reprovingly. “Don’t let your heart dwell so on raiment. Lilies of the field, you know. It was pretty, and there you are. We’ve all brought our Commencement Day dresses along for Sundays, so we’ll freshen them up, and I guess we can go to the ball without the help of any god-mothers or pumpkins. I don’t feel one bit bothered over the social side of it, but how can we hold our own in a regatta, girls? It’s so kind of Mrs. Vaughan to invite us to join them, isn’t it? How funny our little fifteen-footers will look alongside the big forty- and sixty-footers.”
“But she said they were going to have special entries for the Junior events, don’t you remember?” Sue interrupted eagerly. “I don’t see why we couldn’t enter for them. Dorothy and Bess are going to sail their yacht, and they say there are five or six others who are going in.”
“Then we will sail ours,” Polly retorted. “I have intended to all along, but I wanted some encouragement. I wouldn’t race with a great yacht towering over me like a genii just out of a bottle, but I’ll pit the Tidy Jane against any yacht of her build along the whole coast of North America.”
“Hurrah!” Sue threw her cap up into the air. “Wait till you see the Patsy D. come up gallantly in the wind, and grab the Orienta Junior cup away from all of you.”