"I avoided Smithley's window, but one day I stopped before it almost in spite of myself. There hung the pink garters, with their shining buckles. They seemed to mock my chagrin. Then all at once Clementina stood at my side. She held out her hand!
"'Forgive me, Edna, I might have known it was Roxana!'
"My lip trembled.
"'Carrie Smithley told me just now. You see, she was in the store when you bought the pink garters and when Roxana returned them she told Mr. Smithley what a foolish thing you had bought; she said you were too stubborn to come back yourself and she had to do it. She always had to do the things the rest of the family shirked!'
"I had to smile at Clem's mimicking Roxana, it was so true to life.
"Poor Clem! She said she never expected me to give her anything, but when she opened the parcel and saw the black garters, she rushed into the darkened parlor and cried and cried, on the sofa behind the door! Not because of the garters, but because she expected different treatment from me—'It just seemed like a slap in the face,' she said."
"I guess it did," murmured Ivy. "Is that the end?"
"There's a kind of a sequel," said Mrs. Lee with a smile. "Clementina gave a glance into Smithley's window.
"'Say, Edna, would you care if—'
"'Oh, Clem, I'd be so glad!' said I."