because "Master
Simpkins had trod on her blue dress and torn off one of the
flounces"--and Miss Jane Judkins was very red in the face, because one
of Mr. Augustus Anthony's jacket buttons had caught in a fine gold
chain upon her neck, and a little gold cross had snapped off, nobody
knew where, that belonged to her sister Julia, who made her promise
"certain true not to lose it;" and Miss Smith had burst her kid glove
right across the hand, and couldn't think of dancing after such a
disaster.

Gertrude ran to her mother in great trouble, proposing that harmony
should be restored by the supper table. It looked very gay--that supper
table, with its lights, and bouquets, and fancy confectionary; it
seemed almost a pity to put it in confusion; but Mr. George Sales did
not incline to that opinion; so he very quietly seized a dish of
oysters and commenced helping himself out of it, quite oblivious of
"the presence of the ladies."

Master Anthony was more gallant--he, under the influence of Miss Jane
Judkins' tri-colored bows and velvet spencer, valiantly attacked, knife
in hand, a fortress of ice-cream, and having freighted a gilt-edged
saucer with it, was in the act of presenting it to her, with a
dancing-school bow, when he unfortunately lodged the contents of the
saucer on her pink skirt and lace flounces. Gertrude retired to the
dressing-room with the afflicted Miss Jane, offering her all the
sympathy that such a melancholy occasion called for.

When Gertrude returned to the supper room she had the pleasure of
hearing Miss Taft remark, that it was "the stupidest party she ever
attended; and as to the supper, it was positively shabby--only _two_
pyramids of ice-cream! but then she had heard her mamma say that
Gertrude's mother had never been to parties much, so she supposed she
really didn't know any better; _she_ (Miss Taft) intended to have a
party herself, when she was twelve years old, which event was to come
off in a month or two, and _then_ they'd see a party worth dressing
for."

Poor Gertrude, after all the pains she had taken, her pretty supper
table "shabby," her party "stupid," and her mamma--"didn't know any
better!" She was perfectly miserable--her head ached violently, and had
it not been for shame, she would have cried outright.

The "ladies and gentlemen" having surfeited themselves at the "shabby
supper table," had one more dance, in which nobody was suited with
their partners, and several declared,