"The best way to treat some people," put in Mollie significantly, "is to pay no attention to them or their remarks."
"Is she speaking to me or at me?" Frank inquired good-humoredly.
"Oh, it is just a general slam at the sex," laughed Allen, who had not taken his eyes from Betty and the pink rose. "We ought to be hardened by this time."
"Yes, you are terribly ill-treated, aren't you?"
Betty sympathized and remarked: "It is truly a case for the S. P. C. A.—I mean the S. P. C. C.," she corrected hastily, while the girls laughed merrily and the boys looked injured.
"That's the worst yet, Betty," Will reproached her. "You needn't make out you didn't mean it, either—we know better."
"Oh, all right," said Betty, her eyes twinkling. "Have it your own way."
"To change the subject," Roy broke in, "what are you girls all togged up for—didn't you get my message?"
"Of course," said Grace. "You nearly put Betty's eyes out with it."
"Sorry," said Roy, with a quick glance at Betty's nearly injured eyes, which had never looked brighter than at that instant. "They look pretty good to me. But that brings me back to my first query—why are you girls all dressed up?"