"To be sure, we can't," agreed Mrs. Merrill. "But we can stay home for a party _before_ we go down town for a show. And that's just what we're going to do. You hurry off to school now, dear, because it's ten of one. And next time you see Frances Westland, you invite her to come here for twelve o'clock luncheon a week from next Saturday. Be sure to tell her it's an all-afternoon party, so she can stay long enough to go down town with us." "And who else'll we have?" asked Mary Jane, when Alice had gone. "It wouldn't be a party with one person." "Of course not," said her mother. "There are going to be three folks. After school this very day you are going to invite Frances and Betty Holden--that'll make it almost a 'Frances' party, won't it? We'll ask them right away, even though a week from Saturday is a long time off, because Dadah will want to get the tickets and we will all want to make our plans." A week and five days seem a very long time, when you have to wait for them. But Mary Jane found that, after all, they went quicker than she had thought they could, because there was so much to do. First she had to decide what she wanted to have to eat at the luncheon. After much thought and consultation the menu was made out and tacked up on the kitchen cabinet for future reference. Mary Jane printed it out all by herself and the letters were big and plain and could be easily read by any cook--especially Mother. It said: CHICKEN BALLS HOT ROLLS FRUIT SALAD WITH WHIPPED CREAM ICE CREAM CAKE HASHED BROWN POTATOES JELLY Chicken balls really meant chicken croquettes, but croquettes proved to be such a big and puzzling word that Mary Jane decided she would say balls and Mrs. Merrill agreed to take a verbal order for the croquette part of the luncheon. When the food was planned for, Mary Jane began to talk about the decorations. It was soon found that to be really pretty, the table trimmings would have to be made by the hostess herself, so Mary Jane set to work. From the advertising sections of magazines she cut letters about an inch high. Letters enough to spell everybody's first name and last initial. She had to have the last initial because two of her guests had the same first name. These she sorted very carefully and put in envelopes; one envelope for each person and just the right letters in that envelope for the person's name. Then, she planned, when the luncheon was all ready, she would put the letters in little piles in front of each person's place and let them puzzle out the names before they sat down.