Later in the afternoon Madge and Phyllis were surprised to see Roy Dennis and Mabel Farrar come down the golf clubhouse steps and walk across the lawn toward them, smiling with apparent friendliness. Madge's resentful expression softened. She did not bear malice, and she felt that she had said more to Roy Dennis about his treatment of them than she should have done. She, therefore, bowed pleasantly. Phil followed suit. To their amazement they were greeted with a frozen stare by the newcomers, who walked to where the two girls were standing without paying the least attention to the latter. Madge's color rose to the very roots of her hair. Phil's black eyes flashed, but she kept them steadily fixed on the girl and man.
"How do you do, Mr. Holt?" asked Mabel in bland tones, addressing the girls' companion. "I believe I am right in calling you Mr. Holt. I have heard that you were a friend of Mrs. Curtis and her son. This is my friend, Roy Dennis. We are so pleased to meet any of dear Mrs. Curtis's _real_ friends. We should like to have you take tea with us."
Philip Holt looked perplexed. He opened his mouth to introduce Madge and Phyllis to Miss Farrar, but the girls' expressions told the story.
Miss Farrar and Mr. Dennis had purposely excluded the two girls from the conversation.
For the fraction of a second Philip Holt wavered. Mabel Farrar was smartly dressed. Roy Dennis looked the rich, idle society man that he was. Moneyed friends were always the most useful in Mr. Holt's opinion, he therefore turned to Miss Farrar with, "I shall be only too pleased to accompany you."
"You'll excuse me," he turned condescendingly to Madge and Phil, "but Mrs. Curtis's friends wish me to have tea with them."
Madge smiled at the young man with such frank amusement that he was embarrassed. "Oh, yes, we will excuse you," she said lightly. "Please don't give another thought to us. Miss Alden and I wish you to consult your own pleasure. I am sure that you will find it in drinking tea!" She turned away, the picture of calm indifference, although she had a wicked twinkle in her eye.
"Well, if that wasn't the rudest behavior all around that I ever saw in my life!" burst out Phil indignantly after the disagreeable trio had departed. "Mrs. Curtis or no Mrs. Curtis, I don't think we should be expected to speak to that ill-bred Mr. Holt again. The idea of his marching off with that girl and man after the way they treated us! I shall tell Mrs. Curtis just how he behaved as soon as I see her, then she won't think him so delightful."