n a moment; but Candace had at last got hold
of a right idea, and there was hope that with time people less
charitable even than "perfect angels" might pronounce her "agreeable."

CHAPTER VII.

TWO PICNICS.

IT was while Candace was still doing battle with her shyness, sometimes
getting the better of it and then again yielding and letting it get the
better of her, that Georgie and Gertrude sent out invitations to another
luncheon party of girls. It was the third they had given since coming to
Newport. Mrs. Gray certainly did a great deal for the pleasure of her
daughters, although Berenice Joy did consider her so "strict."

Candace had her share in this entertainment, as one of the three young
ladies of the house. The party was mainly composed of the "Early
Dippers," who were not as formidable to her imagination as entire
strangers would have been. She and Georgie and Gertrude wore their
white woollen dresses, which were almost exactly alike, and "looked like
triplets," as Marian rather spitefully observed. Marian herself was not
asked to the party, and was out of humor in consequence. Her crossness
did not extend to Candace, however. She evinced this by coming in just
as Candace had finished dressing, with a long-stemmed pink rose in her
hand, which she pinned on the shoulder of the white gown, just under
Candace's cheek.

"That looks sweet," remarked Marian. "I am really quite pleased at your
appearance; you're every bit as pretty as Gertrude, and heaps better
looking than that old Georgie, who wouldn't let me come to her party.
Now, take my advice: hold your head up, and don't let any of the girls
bully you. If Berry Joy tries it, sit down hard on her."

"I don't know how to sit down hard," laughed Candace; but she kissed
Marian for the sweet rose, and went downstairs feeling quite brave.
Marian watched her over the balusters; made a face at Berry Joy, who
was just sailing into the drawing-room; shook her dimpled fist at
Georgie's back, visible through the open door; and then went to sit with
her mother, who also was "not invited."

There is no prettier entertainment than a lunch-party of girls. The
flowers, the confections, all the graceful little fripperies of the
feast, seem to suit with the bright young faces, to whom daylight is a
becoming and not a dangerous test. Frederic had taken great pains in
ornamenting the table for his young ladies. There was a nosegay for each
guest, and no two nosegays