"That was right," Mrs. Keith said emphatically.
"And what do you think, mother?" laughed Mildred. "Viny Apple was one of the guests. The idea of being invited out to meet your ci-devant housemaid and cook! isn't it too funny?"
"Well, dear, let us be thankful that Celestine Ann was not invited also; leaving me to get tea to-night," Mrs. Keith said, joining in the laugh.
Chapter Fifteenth.
"The knight, perusing this epistle,
Believ'd h' had brought her to his whistle.
And read it like a jocund lover,
With great applause t' himself twice over."
—Butler's Hudibras.
Rhoda Jane had set the ball in motion and for several weeks similar festivities were much in vogue among the young people of Pleasant Plains. There were other rag carpet bees, some quilting, berrying and nutting parties, boatings on the river, "buggy rides," and rides on horseback.