"Oh, Nan! Would you mind asking for them?" "Well, I am not crazy about it, but I'll do it," and do it she did. She found her mother in a dainty negligee writing notes at a little desk her devoted husband had fashioned from a packing box. "Ah, Nan, how sweet of you to come to me! I see so little of my girls now, they are so occupied with outside interests. Here, child, just run these ribbons in my underwear. It really takes a great deal of time to keep one's clothes in order. Susan should do such things for me, but she is constantly being called off to do other things, at least she says she is. What, I can't for the life of me see." Nan dutifully began to do her mother's bidding, but when she saw the drawer full of things she was supposed to decorate with ribbons she had to call a halt. "I am very sorry, mumsy, but I am helping Douglas pack the lunch baskets. This is a day for a picnic, you know." "No, I didn't know. Who is going?" "Everyone, we hope, as that gives Oscar and Susan a chance to get a thorough cleaning done, with no dinner to cook." "Oh, how absurdly practical you girls have become! I just hate it in you. What business has a girl of your age to know about who does thorough cleaning and when it is done?" Nan restrained a giggle. She had come to a full realization of what a very frivolous person her little mother was and while it made her sad in a way it also touched her sense of humor irresistibly. "I am deeply disappointed in the fact that Douglas is not to come out next winter. Mr. Parker advises me strongly against trying to launch her. He says there are so many debutantes already and that he is engaged up to every dance and that all of the dancing men are in the same fix. Of course if I should go against his advice Douglas would fall as flat as possible. She has no desire to come out as it is and no doubt would do nothing to further her cause. I do not feel equal to the task of bringing her out and of putting spirit into her at the same time. She has been so lifeless and listless lately." Nan smiled, thinking of how she had left Douglas actually dancing as she packed the goodies and smiling all over her happy face. "What a lot of letters you have, mumsy! You are almost as busy as I am with letters. It takes me hours every day answering applications for board." "Oh, yes, I have many notes to answer--friends, welcoming me back to Virginia. This pile over here is nothing but bills--things bought in New York, on my way home. I think it is most impertinent of these tradespeople to send them so promptly. They were so eager for me to open accounts, and now they write to me as though I were a pickpocket. 'Please Remit' at the bottom of every bill, and one man actually accuses me of being slow in payment. He says he understood I was to send money as soon as I reached Virginia. I have no money myself. I shall just have to hand them over to your father----" "Oh, mother, please don't do that!"