Then she drew a deep breath, and turned away with a little rippling laugh at herself. "Betty Nelson," she scolded, slipping the pretty dress over her head, and keeping her eyes severely away from the mirror, "you'll be getting conceited next; and if there's anything I hate, it's a conceited person." At a quarter of eight there came a ring at the door bell, and Betty's heart missed a beat. It proved to be only Allen, however--but, strange as it may seem, that fact did not seem to improve the behavior of her heart in the least. As for Allen, he simply stood and stared, as a transformed Betty ran down the stairs toward him. "Oh, Allen, I'm _so_ glad it was only you," she said, holding out her hands to him--which he seemed by no means reluctant to take. "I was so hoping you'd get here before the rest. There are one or two things I want to talk over with you." "Betty," he whispered, his voice sounding strange, even to himself, "you're so pretty, I can't think of anything else, or look at anything else, while you're around. I always did have trouble that way, but to-night----" "I--I'm--just the same to-night as I always am," she stammered, not daring to look at him. "Allen, dear--I----" "What did you call me?" he shouted, turning her about so she had to look at him. "Betty, Betty, say it again. I, oh, I--" "I--I didn't mean it," gasped Betty, joyfully afraid, wanting to run away, yet wanting desperately not to. "I don't know what made me----" "Don't you?" he cried, that same wild thrill in his voice. "Then I'll tell you, Betty. You said it because----" "Good evening, Allen." It was Mrs. Nelson's voice as she came unsuspectingly upon them from the dining-room. "I didn't even know you were here. Betty and I were hoping you would get here early. The footlights don't work just as they should----" and Allen's golden hour was gone, for the moment, at least. He gazed pleadingly toward Betty, but she had put an arm about her mother--Allen noticed with joy that it trembled a little--and was leading the way toward the rear of the house, and out upon the lawn, where the big tent had been erected. It took Allen, who, besides being a very able and rising young lawyer, was also something of an electrician, about two minutes to find the flaw in the wiring and remedy it. Soon after that the first guests began to arrive. The rest of the evening was one brilliant panorama, that the girls never forgot. Until nine o'clock, the time set for the concert and sketch in the big tent, the guests, about two hundred in number, wandered happily about the lawn, watching "Denton's trained animals," which consisted of a little French poodle, an aristocratic yellow cat, and a gifted parrot, with an immense and varied vocabulary, perform.