“Ruth, come in here and let me see how you look,” called Miss Sallie. She had sent up to New York for a special tennis costume for Ruth. The suit was a light-weight white serge skirt with an embroidered blouse of handkerchief linen, and the only color was Ruth’s pale blue necktie and the snood on her hair, which was carefully braided and securely fastened to the back of her head.
Gowns were an important part of tournament days; indeed, the New York Horse Show seldom shows more elaborate dressing than does the annual tennis tournament at the Newport Casino.
Mollie and Barbara were the proud owners of two new gowns made by their mother for this special occasion. Bab’s frock was a simple yellow dimity, and she wore a big white hat with a wreath of yellow roses round it.
“You’re a baby blue, Mollie, aren’t you?” asked Grace standing and admiring her little friend. Grace had on a lingerie frock of lavender muslin and lace, and a big hat trimmed in lavender plumes.
“Well,” said Mollie, making her a low bow, “lucky am I to be dressed in blue, if it means I may sit near so lovely a person as you. Fortunately, lavender and blue make a pretty color combination.”
Miss Stuart had a box for the tennis tournament.
When she and the girls entered it, they found it nearly filled with roses. There were no cards except a single one inscribed: “For the Automobile Girls,” for Miss Sallie was as much an automobile girl as any of the others. The girls selected the bunches of flowers that seemed most suited to their costumes. Miss Sallie and Grace immediately decided on the white roses, Mollie chose the pink ones, looking in her pale blue dress and hat like a little Dresden shepherdess.
In some one’s garden a yellow rose bush of the old-fashioned kind must have bloomed for Bab. “Why!” uttered Miss Sallie, holding up Bab’s flowers, from which streamed a long yellow satin bow, “I have not seen these little yellow garden roses since I was a girl. See how they open out their hearts to everyone! Is that like you, Bab? Be careful how you hold them,” teased Miss Sallie; “they have a few thorns underneath, and must be gently handled.”
Ruth half suspected Hugh had been the anonymous giver of the flowers, as soon as she discovered her own bunch. They formed a big ball of pale blue hydrangeas, tied with Ruth’s especial shade of blue ribbon.
“See!” said Ruth, laughing, and holding them up for the other girls to admire. “Hugh was not discouraged by the fact that blue flowers are so hard to find. I wouldn’t have dreamed that hydrangeas could look so lovely, except on the bush.”