Grandmother Brady surveyed Elizabeth with decided disapproval. It seemed

too bad on this her day of triumph, and after she had given a hint, as it

were, about Lizzie's fine clothes, that the girl should be so blind or

stubborn or both as to come around in that plain rig. Just a common white

dress, and an old hat that might have been worn about a livery-stable. It

was mortifying in the extreme. She expected a light silk, and kid gloves,

and a beflowered hat. Why, Lizzie looked a great deal finer. Did Mrs.

Bailey rig her out this way for spite? she wondered.

But, as it was too late to send Elizabeth back for more fitting garments,

the old lady resigned herself to her disappointment. The pink parasol was

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lovely, and Lizzie was wild over it. Even Aunt Nan seemed mollified. It

gave her great satisfaction to look the two girls over. Her own outshone

the one from Rittenhouse Square by many counts, so thought the mother; but

all day long, as she walked behind them or viewed them from afar, she

could not understand why it was that the people who passed them always

looked twice at Elizabeth and only once at Lizzie. It seemed, after all,

that clothes did not make the girl. It was disappointing.

The box of candy was all that could possibly be desired. It was ample for

the needs of them all, including the two youths from the livery-stable who

had attached themselves to their party from the early morning. In fact, it

was two boxes, one of the most delectable chocolates of all imaginable

kinds, and the other of mixed candies and candied fruit. Both boxes bore

the magic name "Huyler's" on the covers. Lizzie had often passed Huyler's,

taking her noon walk on Chestnut Street, and looked enviously at the girls

who walked in and out with white square bundles tied with gold cord as if

it were an everyday affair. And now she was actually eating all she

pleased of those renowned candies. It was almost like belonging to the

great élite.

It was a long day and a pleasant one even to Elizabeth. She had never been

to Willow Grove before, and the strange blending of sweet nature and

Vanity Fair charmed her. It was a rest after the winter's round of

monotonous engagements. Even the loud-voiced awkward youths from the

livery-stable did not annoy her extremely. She took them as a part of the

whole, and did not pay much attention to them. They were rather shy of

her, giving the most of their attention to Lizzie, much to the

satisfaction of Aunt Nan.

They mounted the horses in the merry-go-rounds, and tried each one

several times. Elizabeth wondered why anybody desired this sort of

amusement, and after her first trip would have been glad to sit with her

grandmother and watch the others, only that the old lady seemed so much to

desire to have her get on with the rest. She would not do anything to

spoil the pleasure of the others if she could help it; so she obediently

seated herself in a great sea-shell drawn by a soiled plaster nymph, and

whirled on till Lizzie declared it was time to go to something else.




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