Meanwhile the news, that Dorothy and Tavia were to leave Dalton for a school in New England, had spread among their former school companions. Alice MacAllister, Sarah Ford, May Egner and a number of others had held a little consultation over the matter and decided that some sort of testimonial should be arranged to give their friends a parting acknowledgment of the regard and esteem in which Dalton school girls held Tavia Travers and Dorothy Dale. Of course Tavia was never as popular as Dorothy had always been—she was too antagonistic, and insisted upon having too much fun at the expense of others. But, now that she was leaving them, the girls admitted she had been a "jolly good fellow," and they would surely miss her mischief if nothing more.
May Egner wanted the committee of arrangements to make the affair a "Linen Shower" such as brides are given.
"Because," argued the practical May, "it will be so nice to have a lovely lot of handkerchiefs and collars. No one can have too many."
"Well, we can include the shower if you like," said Alice, who was chairman, "but I vote for a lawn party, with boys invited."
"A lawn party with boys!" chorused the majority, in enthusiastic approval.
"I think it would be a charity to let the Dalton boys come to something," declared Sarah Ford. "If we leave them out all the time, by and by, when we want someone to take us home on a dark night—"
"When you stay chinning too long with Roberta," interrupted a girl who knew Sarah's weakness for "dragging along the way."
"Well, you may be out in the dark some time yourself, Nettie, and it is very nice to have—"
"A very nice boy—"
"Order! Order!" called the chairman. "We have voted to invite them and—"