cefully pushed the chair along to the next
neighbour.

This seemed to the city girls a most amusing performance, but Patty
immediately adapted herself to what was apparently the custom of the
house, and gravely looked at the cake each time, selected such as pleased
her fancy and pushed the chair along.

Noticing Patty's gravity as she accomplished this performance, Elise very
nearly lost her own, but Patty nudged her under the table, and she
managed to behave with propriety.

The conversation at the table was without a trace of hilarity, and
included only the most dignified subjects. The ladies ate mincingly, with
their little fingers sticking out straight, or curved in what they
considered a most elegant fashion.

Miss Aurora was in her element. She was truly proud of her home and its
appointments, and she dearly loved to entertain company at tea. To her
mind, and indeed to the minds of most of those present, the success of a
tea depended entirely upon the number of kinds of cake that were served,
and Miss Bender felt that with fourteen she had broken any hitherto known
record.

It was an unwritten law that each kind of cake must be really a separate
recipe. To take a portion of ordinary cup-cake batter, and stir in some
chopped nuts, and another portion and mix in some raisins, by no means
met the requirements of the case. This Patty learned from remarks made by
the visitors, and also from Miss Aurora's own delicately veiled
intimations that each of her fourteen kinds was a totally different and
distinct recipe.

Patty couldn't help wondering what would become of all this cake, for
after all, the guests could eat but a small portion of it.

And it occurred to her also that the ways of the people in previous
generations, as exemplified in Miss Bender's customs, seemed to show
quite as great a lack of a sense of proportion as many of our so-called
modern absurdities.

After supper the guests immediately departed for their homes. Carriages
arrived for the different ones, and they went away, after volubly
expressing to their hostess their thanks for her delightful entertainment.

The girls expected Winthrop and Roger to come for them in the motor-car,
but they had not told them to come quite so early as now seemed
necessary. In some embarrassment, they told Miss Bender that they would
have to trespass on her hospitality for perhaps an hour longer.

"My land o' goodness!" she exclaimed, looking at them in disma