ce
childhood. He is immensely rich, but he is very ill-bred, and that is why
Uncle dislikes him. I don't think Harriet cares a bit more for this young
man than she does for half a dozen others. But if Uncle doesn't look out
Harriet will marry him for spite. Harriet hates being poor. She is not
poor, really. But I am afraid she is terribly extravagant. Promise not to
laugh when you see Charlie Meyers. He looks a little like a pig, he is so
pink and fat."

"Girls!" called Harriet's voice. "Are you still in here? Mr. Meyers has
just gone, and I wanted you to meet him. He is going to have a motor
party and take you to see Mount Vernon. We can drive along the Potomac
and have our supper somewhere in the country."

"I'm going to drive Mr. A. Bubble, Harriet," Ruth replied. "As long as I
brought my car to Washington I must use it. But I suppose we can get up
guests enough to fill two automobiles, can't we?"

"Where's Father?" Harriet inquired, trying to conceal a tremor in her
voice. "Did he know I was upstairs?"

"I am afraid he did, Harriet," Ruth replied.

"Well, I don't care," declared Harriet defiantly. "I will select my own
friends. Charlie Meyers is stupid and ill-bred, but he is good natured,
and I am tired of position and poverty."

"You are no such thing, Harriet," protested Ruth, taking her cousin by
the hand and leading her to a long mirror. "There, look at yourself in
your yellow gown. You look like a queen. Please don't be silly."

"It's clothes that make the woman, Ruth," Harriet replied, kissing Ruth
unexpectedly. "And this yellow gown is just one of the things that
troubles me. Dear me, I am glad the reception is over!"

CHAPTER IV

AT THE CHINESE EMBASSY

"Shall we eat our luncheon with chopsticks to-day?" Mollie Thurston asked
Harriet Hamlin an hour before the "Automobile Girls" and their hostess
were to start for the Chinese Embassy.

Harriet laughed good-humoredly at Mollie's question. "You absurd child,
don't you know the Chinese minister is one of the most cultivated men in
Washington! When he is in America he does what the Americans do. But his
wife, Lady Tu, is delightfully Chinese. She paints her face in the
Chinese fashion and wears beautiful Chinese clothes in her own home. And
the little Chinese daughter is a darling. Really, Mollie, you will feel
as though you had been on a trip to the Orient when you meet dainty
little Wee Tu."

"Oh, I don't believe a Chinese girl can be at