“Yes, I know. What do you suppose father’ll say?” “Well, I don’t believe I’ll tell father, either, only that I’m going to have a girl here to supper. It would only worry him if he knew she went with Carey; and you can always depend on father to be polite, you know, to anybody.” “Yes,” said Louise soberly. “He’ll be polite, but—he won’t like her, and she can’t help knowing it, no matter how thick-skinned she is; but maybe it’ll do her good. Only I’m afraid Carey’ll be mad, and say something to father or something.” “No, I don’t think he will, not before a girl. Not before any girl. Not if I know Carey. He may say things afterwards, but we’ll have to be willing to stand that. And, besides, what can he say? Aren’t we polite to one of his friends? We’re not supposed to know anything about her. When it comes down to facts, little sister, we don’t really know anything about her except that she dresses in a loud way, chews gum, and talks too loud on the street. The other things you have only heard, and you can’t be sure they are true unless you see them yourself, or some one you trust perfectly has seen them. I know she may get a notion in her head that Carey is crazy about her if we single her out and invite her alone, but I’ve about decided it’s the only way. Anyhow, she’s let herself in for things of that sort by getting herself talked about. I believe we’ve got to do something quite radical, and either kill or cure this trouble. I’ve thought about asking that Brand fellow too, and maybe some one else, some other girl. But who would it be?” Louise thought a moment, then she clutched her sister’s hand eagerly. “Nellie! The very thing! Invite Grace Kendall! She would make them all fit in beautifully. I’d hate awfully to have her know our Carey went with that Clytie thing; but I guess there isn’t any other way, and somehow I think a minister’s daughter ought to understand, don’t you? And help?” Cornelia was still struggling with her pride. “Yes,” she said thoughtfully. “I guess you’re right, little sister. Grace Kendall would understand—and help. I think God must have given you that idea. We’ll invite Clytie and Brand and Grace Kendall, and then trust God to show us how to make them all have a good time without suspecting what it’s all about. We’ll just tell Carey that he must come home early because we have a birthday cake and a surprise for him—make him promise to be there, you know; and then we’ll take him into the living room, and they’ll be there waiting. If he thinks it strange and says anything about it afterwards, we’ll tell him we invited all the people we knew were his friends, and we couldn’t ask him about it beforehand because it had to be a surprise party. Now, little sister, I think you’ve solved the problem with your bright idea; and we can decide on that.” CHAPTER XIV