“Let them talk—it’s the youngsters’ party,” somebody whispered so loud that everybody heard, and everybody laughed.
After the ice-cream and coffee had been served, and the bonbon dish of candy was passed, “What delicious mints!” so many people praised, that Mary Frances said she would carry the candy dish with them to the vegetable garden, and all could see the bed of mint where she gathered the leaves for the flavor.
It would be impossible to tell you how happy and proud the children were as they showed their vegetable garden, with its beautiful neat beds bordered with nasturtiums.
You can imagine how they looked, for if you read the garden lists in early chapters of this story, you know what they had growing.
“Everybody may pick a bouquet,” said Mary Frances, seizing Eleanor’s hand and leading the party to the flower garden. Just as they started, Doctor Hopewell drove up with his son and two daughters.
“We couldn’t help stopping,” he declared. “You made such a beautiful picture.”
They were welcomed with delight, and the girls insisted upon their having some salad and ice-cream.
“Isn’t this the most charming thing you ever heard of!” sighed Marjorie Hopewell.
“It’s just like a girl’s dream come true!” her sister Helen agreed.