Bertha stood up. “We ought to go now,” she announced, but Carol said mysteriously, “No, not yet. Just sit ever so still and see what is going to happen.”
The visitors looked surprised but did as they were told. Some of them had noticed that one corner of the room was screened in a manner which suggested that something was being hidden, but they had thought little of it until Katrina and Carol removed the screens and revealed a table laden with good things to eat.
“Ohee!” squealed the irrepressible Betty Burd. “Girls, aren’t you glad that you were invited?”
“Suppose you all sit on the floor now in a circle,” Carol suggested, “and then Katrina and I will pass the feast.”
Katrina, who had always had a maid to wait upon her, actually enjoyed the novel experience of serving her guests.
Suddenly she thought of something. “Oh, Adele,” she exclaimed, “don’t you suppose that your friend Gertrude Willis would be free and could join us now?”
Adele, who had been wishing that Gertrude was with them, sprang up as she said, “I am sure Trudie would love to come. I will go and find her.”
Gertrude, who had heard nothing about the taming of Katrina, was in the south wing wondering where all the girls could be, and she gladly accompanied Adele back to the party, where she was graciously received by the beaming hostess.
On the floor they all sat in a big circle, and to each was given a plate heaped with cold turkey and cranberry jelly. Potato chips, olives, candy, frosted cookies, a huge chocolate-cake, and grape-juice completed the feast.
Rosamond Wright was just about to begin on an olive when she surprised them all by exclaiming, “Katrina, I just can’t eat a bite of your party until I tell you that I am sorry that I haven’t been nicer to you.”
And Katrina replied simply, “Rosamond, I was just thinking that the fault must have been mine. You see when I was little, I was a spoiled child, and I never smiled except when things happened to please me. It seems easy enough to be cheerful to-day, while you all are here, but to-morrow I may forget.”
Carol laid a loving hand on the girl’s arm as she said, “We want you to be with us often, Katrina, and you will be, because we are to have rehearsals for the play every day now at the four-thirty recreation.”