"There would not be any dancing then, that is one thing," said Doris thoughtfully.
"Well," admitted Rosalie honestly but reluctantly, "Miriam's parents are out of town, and Aunt Gertrude is the chaperon to-day."
Doris looked at her in exasperation. "You bad girl, you fooled me on purpose. Run up and ask father, dear, won't you? It will only take a minute, and he won't mind. I can't settle it for you."
"Oh, Doris, it would be mean," protested Rosalie conscientiously.
"Very well, then, Miss Rosalie, decide for yourself. I think you get along better on your own responsibility anyhow. Puzzle it out for yourself, go or not, just as you think best."
"Then I shall go," said Rosalie positively, and she went into the hall for her hat. "You think it is quite all right for me to go then, Doris?"
"I do not think one single thing about it."
"Everybody else goes, and they are just as good as we are--better than Zee and I."
"Oh, you bad General, you make me so cross," cried Rosalie, tossing her hat to the floor. "Why didn't you just say I couldn't go--I never disobey you, do I? Or why didn't you say I could go, then if my conscience hurt me I could say it was your fault. Now you have spoiled the whole thing!"
Rosalie ran to the telephone and called a number in a voice unruffled and sweet.
"I can not go, Bud. It is really quite a party, you know, and Sunday is the Sabbath for us preachers. It was just dear of you to bother with me--I should think you must be tired of trying to be nice to a cranky old preachy crowd."
Then she listened a moment while he voiced fervent denials.
"Oh, that is nice of you, Bud, and I know I should have loved it, but you see how it is, don't you?"
A moment later she gave a gleeful little cry, "Oh, truly, Bud, would you enjoy that? I am sure it will be all right--wait a minute, till I ask Doris. Oh, Doris, he says he does not care to go, and his brother has given him the runabout for the rest of the day, and he wants me to go for a quiet little drive with him, and-- Is that all right? Oh, you darling General!"
"Of course it is all right, and ask him to come to supper here, Rosalie, and go to Endeavor with us."
So Rosalie gurgled rapturously into the transmitter and received a hearty acceptance, and then flung her arms around her smiling sister.