“Yes, she does. She likes me better than any of the other girls.”
“Why don’t you invite her to come and see you? You ought to be polite to her, since she is so kind.”
This suggestion was by no means pleasing to Mary. In the first place Sue Cameron was by no means the intimate friend she represented, and in the next, if she called and Mrs. Merton referred to the gift, it would at once let the cat out of the bag, and Mary would be in trouble. Therefore she said, “I’ll invite her, mother, but I don’t think she’ll come.”
“Why not?”
“She lives away up on Fifth Avenue, and is not allowed to make visits without some one of the family. The Camerons are very rich, you know, and stuck up. Only Sue is not.”
“You’d better invite her, however, Mary, since she is such a friend of yours.”
“Yes, I will, only you must not be surprised if she does not come.”
The next afternoon Mrs. Carver dropped in for a call. While she was talking with Mrs. Merton, Mary came into the room. Her gold pencil was ostentatiously displayed.
“How do you do, Mary?” said the visitor. “What a handsome pencil-case you have!”
“One of her school friends gave it to her,” explained Mrs. Merton.