her in half-sorrowful consolation. But alas! next
year even Mayor Harper had to go out.

CHAPTER XII

A REAL PARTY

The little girl would have felt a great deal better if Lily Ludlow had
not been on the other side. Lily was growing into a very pretty girl.
They were wearing pantalets shorter now, and she noticed that Lily wore
hers very short. Then aprons were made without bibs or shoulder bands,
and had ruffles on the bottom. They were beginning to go farther around,
almost like another skirt. Lily had two white ones. She walked up and
down the block with a very grand air. Then Miss Chrissy met Margaret at
the house of a mutual acquaintance, and invited her very cordially to
call on her, and Margaret did the same. Miss Chrissy lost no time, but
came card-case in hand, and made herself very agreeable.

"Would you like to go down and call on Jim's girl?" Margaret asked
smilingly. Ben always called her that.

"No," replied Hanny, with much dignity. "I don't like her. She called me
'queer' the first time she saw me, and I shouldn't think of calling
Nora queer, no matter how she looked. If Jim wants her he may have her,
but I _do_ hope they won't live in New York."

The temper was so unusual and so funny that Margaret let it go without a
word.

Everything came back to its normal state. Mr. Theodore and her father
and Steve remained the same good friends. The party transparencies and
emblems were taken down. It seemed to her that people had not been as
deeply disappointed as they ought to be. She was very loyal and faithful
in her attachments, and no doubt you think quite obstinate in her
dislikes.

But something else happened that aroused her interest. Indeed, there
were things happening all the time. Miss Jane Underhill, up at Harlem,
was dead and buried, and Margaret had taken a great interest in Miss
Lois. Cousins had been going and coming. Mrs. Retty Finch had a little
son, and Aunt Crete had come down and spent a week with her
sister-in-law. But this distanced them all--Steve and Dolly Beekman were
going to be married! The Beekmans had been staying up in the country
house. All the girls had been married there.

There were to be five bridesmaids. Annette and Margaret were among them.
Joe was to be best man and stand with Miss Annette. Doctor Hoffman was
to stand with Margaret. There was a Gessner cousin, a Vandam cousin,
and Dolly's dear friend, Miss Stuyvesant. All the bridesmaids were to be
gowned