Grandmother Brady surveyed Elizabeth with decided disapproval. It seemed
too bad on this her day of triumph, and after she had given a hint, as it
were, about Lizzie's fine clothes, that the girl should be so blind or
stubborn or both as to come around in that plain rig. Just a common white
dress, and an old hat that might have been worn about a livery-stable. It
was mortifying in the extreme. She expected a light silk, and kid gloves,
and a beflowered hat. Why, Lizzie looked a great deal finer. Did Mrs.
Bailey rig her out this way for spite? she wondered.
But, as it was too late to send Elizabeth back for more fitting garments,
the old lady resigned herself to her disappointment. The pink parasol was
lovely, and Lizzie was wild over it. Even Aunt Nan seemed mollified. It
gave her great satisfaction to look the two girls over. Her own outshone
the one from Rittenhouse Square by many counts, so thought the mother; but
all day long, as she walked behind them or viewed them from afar, she
could not understand why it was that the people who passed them always
looked twice at Elizabeth and only once at Lizzie. It seemed, after all,
that clothes did not make the girl. It was disappointing.
The box of candy was all that could possibly be desired. It was ample for
the needs of them all, including the two youths from the livery-stable who
had attached themselves to their party from the early morning. In fact, it
was two boxes, one of the most delectable chocolates of all imaginable
kinds, and the other of mixed candies and candied fruit. Both boxes bore
the magic name "Huyler's" on the covers. Lizzie had often passed Huyler's,
taking her noon walk on Chestnut Street, and looked enviously at the girls
who walked in and out with white square bundles tied with gold cord as if
it were an everyday affair. And now she was actually eating all she
pleased of those renowned candies. It was almost like belonging to the
great élite.
It was a long day and a pleasant one even to Elizabeth. She had never been
to Willow Grove before, and the strange blending of sweet nature and
Vanity Fair charmed her. It was a rest after the winter's round of
monotonous engagements. Even the loud-voiced awkward youths from the
livery-stable did not annoy her extremely. She took them as a part of the
whole, and did not pay much attention to them. They were rather shy of
her, giving the most of their attention to Lizzie, much to the
satisfaction of Aunt Nan.
They mounted the horses in the merry-go-rounds, and tried each one
several times. Elizabeth wondered why anybody desired this sort of
amusement, and after her first trip would have been glad to sit with her
grandmother and watch the others, only that the old lady seemed so much to
desire to have her get on with the rest. She would not do anything to
spoil the pleasure of the others if she could help it; so she obediently
seated herself in a great sea-shell drawn by a soiled plaster nymph, and
whirled on till Lizzie declared it was time to go to something else.