at down again, first going red, then going pale; and we all thought
she was getting ready to faint. But as soon as she could speak, she
said, when we shrieked at her, "It's nothing--nothing. I've just
thought of something, that's all."

Afterwards, when she and Sally and Potter and I were alone together,
she told us that at last she had got the right inspiration for her big
entertainment.

It was two days after the Violet Tea, so it was quite time she should
get it, she said; and she had been dreadfully worried, because the
invitations ought to go out almost at once. The famous Pink Ball at the
Casino was for the 23d, and she wanted to have her party the night
before, so that everybody would be worn out, and the ball would fall
flat.

"But we've got our cards all right now," said Potter. "Why do you want
to queer the show?"

"I intend to show Mrs. Van der Windt what I can _do_," she answered.

"Suppose a lot of the people you want refuse you, so that they can be
fresh for the ball?" Sally suggested.

"They won't," said Mrs. Ess Kay, "when they have seen what I shall say
on the invitations."

Then she got up, went to her desk, took out some engraved cards which
she had ready, all but filling in the date, and wrote something in one
corner. "What do you think of that?" she asked Sally.

Sally took the card, looked at it for a minute, laughed, and passed it
on to me, while Potter came and stared over my shoulder.

She had written across the card: "Fancy Dress, with Masks. A Visit to
the Maze; and Aladdin's Cave."

"Do you think that will bring them?" she enquired, with a triumphant
and mysterious air.

"I think it _will_," said Sally.

"You know your business, old girl," remarked Potter.

"They'll want to know what it means, and they'll be bound to come and
find out. What _is_ your idea, anyway?"

"I'll tell you another time," said Mrs. Ess Kay. "I should like it to
be a surprise for Betty, just as it will be for people outside. She'll
enjoy it more."

I didn't tease to know the secret, though I was really curious,
especially about Aladdin's Cave, which seemed to promise something
gorgeous. The mystery was religiously kept; but there was plenty of
excitement in sending out the invitations.

There were endless discussions between Mrs. Ess Kay and Potter, and
though she seemed so angry with Mrs. Van der Windt and several other
members of the Ball committee, for trying to make a stand against her,
she was