Edith K. Dunton

“ Thayer, there were all the left-over girls, who, having discovered that they could have a good time if they kept together, organized breakfast and lunch parties and afternoon tea-drinkings, with skating, snow-shoeing, and sliding expeditions for appetizers between times. Betty and Eugenia had to seek the privacy of the loft for their lessons, while Madeline spread her Literary Career, in the shape of a heterogeneous litter of half-finished stories, over Betty’s desk, and good-naturedly combined the duties of cashier and manager with the toils of authorship. ”

“ Betty declared hastily that the kitten’s post-card was perfectly lovely, and asked Dorothy to put her letter, with the address in Madeline’s fascinating scrawling hand, and a foreign stamp, into the table drawer; for the cook’s fingers were sticky, the frosting obstinately refused to thicken, and dinner-time was approaching with alarming rapidity.
The day after Mary Hooper’s ill-timed call Betty had delivered an ultimatum: “You’ve either got to tend up to things or leave them alone. Hereafter, when I’m busy in the kitchen I can’t stop, no matter what happens. ”

“ Betty came to her senses first.
“We mustn’t be such sillies,” she told Dorothy, with a watery attempt at a smile. “Mother wouldn’t ever get homesick for two such big cry-babies as we are. Now come and let me bathe your face, and then we’ll go right down to dinner. No, it’s too late. We’ll go over to the tea-shop and cook a nice little supper for ourselves. That will be lots of fun, won’t it?”
“Ye-es,” agreed Dorothy faintly. “Can we have strawberry jam?”
“All you want,” Betty promised, wishing that she too was at the age when strawberry jam could make her forget her woes. ”

“ But I love to mess in the kitchen, and I’ve always wanted a chance to do it without a fussy old cook to glare at me and make remarks about its being her kitchen, and a lot too full of people. I don’t know how to make very many things, except salads and chafing-dish ‘eats,’ but I’m wild to learn. Please let me, mother. How much does a cook cost?”
“Eight dollars a week, unless she’s a particularly good cook and gets ten,” laughed Mrs. Wales. “But you’re absurd, Betty. You don’t realize how much work it is to cook for a big family like ours. ”

“ Or, “I’ve heard of a girl who makes the loveliest stenciled things. Will she be reliable about filling orders? How in the world should I know about that, Betty Wales?”
That was Betty’s part—to make the undergraduates fill orders according to their agreements, to keep accounts for them and for Madeline and her assistants, to sift Mary’s “splendid ideas,” discarding the impractical and arranging to have the useful ones carried out, to spur on Madeline’s enthusiasm, and to help, whenever she could find a spare moment, with the actual work of making the pretty novelties for sale. ”

“ Lots of the girls could give away more than they do, Miss Wales, only they never think of it.”
“It’s the same way about helping the ones who are rather left out to have some good times,” Betty put in eagerly. “It doesn’t take much effort or time from your own fun, and it means such a lot to them.”
“Yes,” Eugenia agreed soberly. “I’m going to try to be more like that next year. It’s horrid to be as snippy as most of our crowd are. Some awfully nice girls are left out of things for one reason or another. We should all have more fun, I guess, if we all had it,” ended Eugenia rather obscurely. ”

“ Hinsdale came home one afternoon to find his study darkened, the floor and table strewn with bits of multi-colored paper and paste-board, and Madeline, in a studio apron, trying the effect of her latest inspiration in candle-shades on the desk lamp.
“I’m going to make a different design for each stall,” she explained cheerfully, without looking up when the door opened. “That will be more interesting to make, and when a thing is interesting to make it’s more likely to turn out well, isn’t it now? Oh, I thought it was only Mary! ”

“ Mr. Morton watched her pick up the heavy tray. “Bless me, but she’s a worker!” he muttered audibly, to the vast amusement of two freshmen at the next table. “I supposed from what the little tomboy said that she was playing at business, but it seems she’s in earnest. How I do like to see people in earnest!”
When Eugenia Ford had finished her dinner, she intercepted Betty in a flying trip to the kitchen after a forgotten cup of coffee. “Isn’t that Mr. Jasper J. Morton of New York?” she asked. “I thought it must be, and so did Mr. and Mrs. Valentine, Susanna’s mother and father. ”

“ But if Madeline plans things she’ll have a desk that the Queen of England would be dying to sit at, if she saw it,” she ended gaily.
“But are you sure of making money?” demanded father dryly. “Times are bad——”
“But even in bad times people have to eat,” Betty took him up hastily. “And if tea is sixty cents a pound, and there are piles of cups in that, and you sell a cup for ten cents, how can you help making money? People do, in tea-rooms, or they wouldn’t be sprouting up everywhere. And if it can be done I’m sure Madeline and Babbie and I can do it. I just know we can!” ”

“ The best stunts are always invented at this season, and the wildest pranks perpetrated. This year Prexy guilelessly announced in chapel that “bobbing” and “hitching” with sleds were not, in his estimation, dignified forms of recreation for the “womanly woman” who was Harding’s ideal. So with dust-pan coasting also under the ban, and the ice on the skating-rink frozen humpy—just to be spiteful, Georgia Ames declared—the dull season opened ten times duller than usual.
Of course Betty heard all about the “anti-bob” ordinance, and sympathized duly with its downtrodden victims. ”

“ What’s the point of having a full-sized catering company invade your happy little home if you don’t make use of them?”
“A catering company?” Mary stared. “There isn’t such a thing in Harding.”
“Well, a tea-shop corporation then,” [Pg 75] Madeline amended briskly. “We are that, you know. We’ve come up here to establish ourselves. Meanwhile we are not above displaying our talents for the benefit of our very best friends. Betty says she can cook, and Babbie and I are bursting with ideas for original menus and beautiful table decorations. Have you a waitress?” ”

“ Mummy will like it too. She’s awfully proud of us. Now Betty can do a go-as-you-please on the details, can’t she, Madeline? We only bother by putting in our oars; we’re such ignoramuses.”
Empowered to choose her own assistant, Betty spent two days anxiously considering various possibilities. If only it were fall, and Katherine or Rachel were free to try this unconventional way of earning a living! ”

“ Betty had a sudden inkling of Madeline’s meaning. “Do you think he’s really interested in Babbie?” [Pg 199] she demanded. “Because Babbie doesn’t like him, and she perfectly hates having men fall in love with her.”
“She says she does, you mean,” corrected Madeline, “and perhaps she even thinks she does. But she doesn’t. No girl does, if the man is worth anything. I like Young-Man-Over-the-Fence myself, probably because he’s so optimistic about my literary ability, and I’m sorry I queered him with Babbie by my premature announcement of his devotion. ”

“ It’s dear of you to ask me for the vacation, Babbie, but I’ve got to [Pg 146] improve the shining hours. While the tea-room is shut, and Betty, the cruel slave-driver, has gone to be clasped in the arms of her adored and adoring family, I shall turn our palatial apartment into an author’s paradise—papers everywhere, genius burning, and positively no dusting allowed. ”

“ Madeline protested.
“Well, you’re absurd,” Babbie retorted. “You can never make such a thing go in the world, Madeline. That sort of people won’t know how to carry it through.”
“Of course not,” Madeline conceded. “I’ve thought of that. Some of the children will do for Stockings, but for the Cakes and the Jester and all that, I’m going to have college girls who stay here over the holidays. I think I’ll go up now to see Georgia about who’ll be here.”
“Oh, what a splendid idea!” cried Betty eagerly. “I’d been wishing we could make a Christmas for the left-overs.” ”

“ Hinsdale to write a paper for his learned society. She stopped the girls as they went out, to ask if they knew anything about secret springs, and she soon had an animated, admiring group around her, eagerly examining the points of Betty’s treasure, and incidentally revealing to the astute Mary their opinions of the Tally-ho Tea-Shop and drinking in her casual references to delicious crispy brown buckwheat griddle-cakes and to the wonderful new recipe in the desk, that would certainly come to light before long. ”

“ So she hunted out six assorted neck-bows for the gray kitten, six hair ribbons from Paris for the kitten’s small mistress, a Dutch doll, and a long chain strung with tiny silver charms, each with a story of its own; and having assured the smallest sister that this was only a beginning of the treasures she might expect, Betty went to bed and dreamed that she had lost her emergency fund under the teacher’s desk in Nan’s schoolroom, and had to teach a class in senior “English Lit.” ”

“ Devil’s Cake, adorned with all the little red devils that could be found on the Harding campus—relics of a fad that had prevailed in Betty’s senior year—drove a regiment of Sugar Cookies before her—yellow-haired girls, each carrying a huge cooky, whose framework was a hoop, plentifully besprinkled with a glittering sugary paste. Last of all came the Doughnuts, very big and beautifully browned, worn like life-preservers around the shoulders of their representatives. The Cakes sang and discussed their respective merits. ”

“ Betty waited resignedly.
“The most important thing is an assistant for you,” Madeline went on. “You can’t do more than you are doing now. If we serve dinners, there will be more marketing, more accounts, more to see to all around the place, and longer hours for the cashier.”
“Oh, of course Betty must have an assistant,” chimed in Babbie, “and a bigger salary. It’s not fair for us to be making such good profits when she works so hard.” ”

“ It was rather early for afternoon tea drinkers, but Betty didn’t like to follow Mary and leave the tea-room alone; and Nora was busy in the kitchen helping Bridget [Pg 132] to transform chicken salad left over from lunch into “our special tea-sandwiches.” So she sat down at her desk and was soon so deep in the auditing of her weekly accounts that she didn’t hear the door open, nor see a tall young man stop just inside to look around the room with an appreciative smile and then cross hesitatingly to her desk, his smile growing broader as he found himself still unnoticed. ”

“ She didn’t blame Eugenia for being vexed about the theme and disappointed about the ploshkins. She would have been, in Eugenia’s place, no doubt; but when she asked Eugenia if she should be down in the afternoon to see Dorothy, and Eugenia replied coldly that she was very busy, and never even sent a message of thanks to the little girl for finding the missing theme—then Betty was vexed in her turn. Dorothy wasn’t to blame for any of Eugenia’s troubles. It would be just as sensible for Miss Raymond to be disagreeable to her because her desk had two secret drawers. ”

“ You see I’ve had an inspiration, and I couldn’t wait to get it going.”
“That’s just like Madeline,” laughed Betty. “She wakes me up in the middle of the night with her inspirations. Once she even wanted me to dress and come over here with her to see whether we could make a big horseshoe out of oats.” Betty pointed to the one over the fireplace. “And then when I wouldn’t, she was days and days getting around to it.”
Mr. Thayer laughed appreciatively. “I understand that perfectly. There’s everything in being in the right mood for things. Now to-night I’m hot on the trail of a Christmas party. ”

“ Hinsdale finished his paper?” laughed Betty. “Because if he has you mustn’t bother too much about us, Mary. You’ve helped us now more than we can ever thank you for. You certainly ought to take the money for your candle-shades.”
“Remember you three girls made me famous as a hostess, through the length and breadth of Harding,” Mary told her. “I’ve got to even up for that. And Madeline has half promised that if I’m a very Perfect Patron indeed till Christmas she’ll show me the secret drawer. ”

“ YOUNG-MAN-OVER-THE-FENCE
The only trouble with the gift-shop department was that it went too well. When Madeline and Mary had each made a dozen candle-shades and Betty had decorated some cards and blotters and secured a few pretty samples from needy undergraduates, Madeline painted a “postscript sign” to hang like a pendant from the big one in the gargoyle’s mouth, and tacked a gay poster, announcing the Tally-ho’s new departure, on to the barn door. ”

“ Prexy doesn’t give his sweet creation, the womanly woman, credit for ordinary intelligence.”
“He wouldn’t be able to if he heard you talk, my dear,” Polly Eastman told her soothingly. “Have some more of Betty’s Cousin Kate cookies. They’re very good for the temper, and not against the rules.”
“Are you sure?” demanded Lucile acidly. “There are so many rules now that I shouldn’t pretend to keep them all in my head at once.”
“Let’s get Madeline and make her tell tea-ground fortunes,” suggested Georgia. “I’m tired of all this fuss about rules.” ”

“ Betty stopped short, with a swift effort to be tactful. “You’d ruin your imagination, I mean, thinking up new sandwiches and paying grocer’s bills.”
Babbie and Madeline exchanged despairing glances.
“I won’t dust our room, Madeline,” Betty promised, “not once in the whole two weeks, and you may scatter papers wherever you like. And you mustn’t think I mind terribly, Babbie. You’ve got to tend up to things you do for a living or else—— Oh, dear! who is that knocking?” ”

“ When she hurried in, looking prettier than ever because her cheeks were flushed with her quick [Pg 107] walk down the hill and her eyes sparkling in anticipation of a triumphant occasion, she found Georgia, Polly, Lucile, and the Dutton twins all hanging over Betty’s desk, so absorbed in their conversation that they entirely failed to notice the advent of their small hostess.
“Oh, here you are,” began Eugenia, with a vague little nod toward the group. “Shall we go and sit down while we wait for the others? Our table is all ready, I think.” ”

“ Six girls ordered special dinners for the opening night. Eugenia Ford sent a written order by a friend who came in for tea. She explained that she wanted everything “as elegant as possible,” because her dinner was in honor of her roommate’s mother and father—“very wealthy people.” She hoped the waitress would wear a cap. As caps were Nora’s bête noir, Betty decided to ask the newest Student’s Aid waitress if she would mind wearing one just this time, by way of helping to heap coals of fire on Eugenia’s pretty head. ”

“ If I am ever married and have any children, I shall bring them up to eat whatever there is on the table. Will hates eggs, and loves apple-pie. Dorothy hates pie and adores [Pg 38] ice-cream. Father never eats ice-cream and likes his steak rare. Mother wants her steak actually burned, and nothing but crackers and cheese and coffee for desert; and father loves coffee, but mustn’t drink it. I am just as fussy as any of them, but I never shall be again. I must stop and get dinner. Pity the poor cook of this hard-to-suit family! ”

“ She only knew that her cousin had had a darling shop, and had hated to give it up. Then she went over to the piano and played dreamy music, while Richard Blake and Mrs. Bob and the girls struggled with their estimates.
When they had finished, Madeline’s brow puckered. “It’s going to be too big for us to swing, I think. Mrs. Hildreth might give you all that money, Babbie, but I don’t think we ought to take it.” She swept the papers together. “Enjoy our society while you have it, ladies and gentlemen. To-morrow we’re going up to Harding to open a tea-room.” ”

“ That’s easy. Madeline, just tell me if there’s a suitor in my cup, please. That’s all I care about. Your presents and trips abroad don’t interest me a bit.”
Betty had quite forgotten this conversation when, a week or so later, Polly Eastman appeared one morning at the Tally-ho.
“Don’t you want to rent your loft for a little party?” she demanded. “It’s bigger than the down-town hall, and it will be so nice to sit down here between times. We want extra-good eats too, so you’ll get very wealthy out of us.”
“What in the world do you want to give a girl-dance for?” demanded Betty. ”

“ Maggie was laying the table, but she had no ideas on the subject of possible luncheon dishes. So Betty found some eggs, got a chafing-dish ready, and had all her preparations made for a delicious omelette, when Will came in, exasperated at Cousin Joe’s fussiness, and very hungry, and reminded her that he hated eggs.
“Oh, Will! I’m so sorry! Well, anyhow you love strawberry jam.” ”

“ But a man is a novelty in Harding, and this particular man would have attracted attention anywhere; in an instant he was the centre of interest; in another he had discovered Betty and she had discovered him.
“Well, Miss B. A.!” he called out gleefully, quite oblivious of the staring crowd of girls. “Put down that tray and come and shake hands. Didn’t expect to see me to-night, did you? Well, I was almost up here, and I’d promised myself that some time this winter I’d investigate Harding College, so I seized the opportunity. ”