“Not a cent of it, dear; and the cook said he was wearing a nice new suit. I told her she had better go back to the kitchen, and count the spoons, and I called loudly after her, ‘Tell him I never want to see his deceitful face again!’ The housemaid had come to the door of my room, too, and was trying to put in a word, but I wouldn’t listen to her.” “Trying to excuse the little wretch; the idea!” “That was what I thought. But, oh, Emily, just then the front door closed with a bang which shook the house to its foundations, and then I noticed for the first time that the housemaid was trying to give me a card!” “Good gracious, Dorothy, you never mean to say—” “That it was Jack’s! Indeed I do. He had heard me scream over the bannister ‘Tell him to go away; I never want to see his deceitful face again.’ And he—he must have thought I meant it for him. Oh, Emily, was there ever such a miserable girl as I!” Chapter VI The Pioneer New Woman “I think the topic for to-day’s discussion should be ‘The Pioneer New Woman,’” observed the president of the Teacup Club. “Have you all got that down in your note-books? You don’t know how it pleases me to see your methodical ways; it shows the real intellectual advancement of our club. Why, for my part, I have gained so much that I am not afraid to discuss any subject with any one.” “We have advanced,” said the brown-eyed blonde. “I feel it, too. By the way, has any one seen my note-book? I haven’t had it for three weeks—are you sure that none of you have gotten it by mistake? I forgot to put my name in it, and—” “I know where it is,” said the girl with the classic profile. “You loaned it to Kate—she told me so herself,—in order that she might read up on some of the topics we have already discussed, and so qualify for admission to the club.” “I shall blackball her, for my part,” spoke up the girl with the dimple in her chin. “She is so frivolous that she would drag down our high standard. Besides, she once left me out when she gave a luncheon, and told people that it was because she had all the decorations in yellow, and feared they would not shade with my complexion.” “Oh, well, Kate is color blind, any way,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “Yes, and she is a little deaf, too,” remarked the president, “and really does not know just how sharp her own speeches sound.” “Perhaps not,” said the girl with the dimple in her chin, “but I shall blackball her just the same. By the way, Alice is giving a birthday dinner party next week—twenty-six covers, one for each year. Clever idea, isn’t it?” “For whose birthday?” asked the girl with the classic profile. “Her own? Ah, really, I knew she was forgetful, but this is carrying it too far.” “I wonder why otherwise sensible people will tell such stories about their ages,” said the girl with the eyeglasses. “I’m sure I don’t know,” said the brown-eyed blonde. “Neither do I,” said the girl with the classic profile.