Katie's party did not begin till six, so she was much later in starting. Her mother helped her dress, and then, with the white serge screened from sight and damp beneath her waterproof, she left for the Paffords. Mary went the short distance with her, and it was arranged that Edgar should be asked to call for her on his way home from Mrs. Armstrong's. Mr. Barfitt's accounts were now finished, and his evenings were therefore once more at his own disposal.
But though Dora, when giving her mother a good-bye kiss, had said they should certainly be back by ten, it was more than half-past when the cab drove up to the door, and eleven had struck before the whole family was again gathered beneath the same roof.
"Oh, Katie, we've had such a jolly time," said Lottie, as her sister and Edgar entered the room. "I'm not one bit sleepy, and we are all getting warm before we go to bed. Have you had a happy evening?"
The little girl spoke so rapidly that she stopped for sheer want of breath.
"Well," replied Katie, "there was nothing but dancing, and of course it isn't the pleasantest thing in the world to sit still oneself and watch other people moving about."
"I should think not indeed," said Dora. "You had much better have been playing musical chairs and dumb charades and post. I'm sure I enjoyed it as much as Olive and Lottie."
"I don't know," said Katie, stiffly, "whether I could bring myself to play such childish games now. If we'd only been taught dancing like other people, of course I should have got on very well. But we had a lovely supper—turkey, and chicken and ham, and tarts, and jellies, and everything you can think of. Then the house was so large and handsomely furnished. I always get tired of Mrs. Armstrong's one pokey little room."
"Katie dear," said her mother, gently but reprovingly, "I think you are tired and a little disappointed with your evening. You, as we all do, must honour Mrs. Armstrong, for we know that her husband left her with very small means and a little baby to bring up and educate. She has undergone great hardships and worked very hard in order to fit her only son to be a doctor. But she told me this morning that she thought her long struggle was nearly over now, for Percy was in a position to earn enough money to keep them both. For that reason she said she thought she might be a little extravagant on her birthday, and thus it was that you have been so pleasantly entertained." Then, changing the subject, she asked, "Was Percy at home to-night?"
"Yes, he came ever so much earlier than usual on purpose to see us," replied Olive. "But Giles talked to him such a deal that there wasn't a chance for anybody else to say much."
Giles blushed furiously.