at's really pink. Oh, you know what I mean! And it's trimmed
with white. Big colonial pillars up the front, and a lot of
little balconies jut out where you least expect them. I have one
out of my window, and every night I play Juliet to an imaginary
Romeo in the rose garden below. Lo insists I am getting
sentimental, but it's only the effect of the 'Sunny South,' which
brings me, no matter how indirectly, to the boys we've met--and
the dance!

"Oh, Bet, such a lark! There were over a hundred people--both old
and young, and even then the ballroom--oh, yes, the Gerards have a
ballroom--looked half empty. We danced from ten o'clock until four
in the morning, and went for a picnic the next day. Imagine!

"Fanny looked beautiful. She wore a lovely white dress without a
touch of color on it, and it just set off her wonderful dark hair
to perfection. The cousin, Caroline Gerard, is here at the house,
too. You know, the one Fanny said could sing, and who 'just
naturally gets ahead of her.' Well! Intermission of four minutes.

"No use, I've been struggling with my better self, but I can't
resist the temptation to tell you just what Lo and I think of her.
Betty, she's horrid. I mean it! She's so conceited and sure of
herself and without the least reason to be. She looks a lot like
Fanny, but with a difference. She's larger and much more definite,
if you know what I mean, and she walks into a room with a 'Well,
here I come' sort of an air. She completely puts Fanny in the
background. I'll tell you later, how Lo and I pulled her out
again--Fanny I mean--but now, I'll go back to the dance.

"Caroline was there of course. She wore a wonderful red gown and
carried a big yellow ostrich fan. She looked like a Spanish
dancer. It took me all evening to get used to her. The combination
was rather startling. Lo, in spite of her dislike, wanted to paint
her. _I_ did not--jealousy, on my part of course--for every time
she came near me, she killed my lovely green frock. You see,
before I came down stairs, I looked in the glass and I rather
fancied that I looked quite nice, but, I turned pale by
comparison, and naturally I didn't like it. Are you getting
curious about Lois? I hope so, I'm saving her on purpose for the
end. Betty, she was the belle of the ball. You