Hetty's garden-party, and what came of it

HETTY'S PROPOSAL.

"MAMMA, dear! A letter for you, from Uncle John, I believe," said Hetty Golding, as she paused at the breakfast table, where the letter was lying near her mother's plate.

"Yes, it is from Uncle John. I wonder whether he will let Harry and Lettice come to us for a week?" said the lady, as she opened her letter.

"Oh, mamma, did you ask him? I hope he has consented, for I have told Ellen Ross and the other girls so much about Lettice that they are quite wild to see her. Is she coming?" asked Hetty, impatiently.

"Wait a minute, my dear, and you shall have the letter to read yourself. Yes, they are both coming," said the widow, as she handed the letter to her daughter the next minute.

But Hetty did not want to read it now. "Oh I 'am' glad," she said, clapping her hands. "Mamma, what shall we do when they come?" she added.

"Do, my dear? Make them as comfortable as we can, to be sure," said Mrs. Golding, calmly.

"Yes, of course. But you know what I mean, mamma. They are used to having everything so nice at home."

"Well, I hope we shall be able to have everything nice here. We always do, Hetty."

"But, mamma, it will be so different; we only keep one servant. Don't you think we had better have Mary Riley as housemaid? Uncle John keeps two, besides a cook and kitchenmaid."

"Your Uncle John is a rich man, while I am only a poor widow—comparatively poor, at least—for my income, as you know is only sufficient for our wants, barely allowing me to lay aside a trifle for a rainy day. But Lettice knows this, and will not expect a house full of servants. No, I don't think I shall have Mary Riley; she has grown such a pert, forward girl since she went to live in London."

A cloud gathered on Hetty's good-tempered face.

She did not like to be reminded of their narrow means, and already had begun to lay plans for making a little display before their neighbours. For Hetty had told one or two dubious stories about her mamma having plenty of money, but preferring to live in strict retirement on account of her health. And when it was remarked that the Goldings never gave even a quiet party, Hetty had nodded, "Wait till my cousin Lettice comes, we shall have a party then." And she had given her invitations pretty freely among her schoolfellows and friends. Many a time she had taken some congenial spirit into her confidence, and together they had discussed the subject. And now, though she had left school, she was not much wiser, and clung tenaciously to her pet project.

"Mamma, we must do something to amuse Lattice while she is here," said Hetty, after gazing abstractedly into her coffee cup for a few minutes. "All the girls are wild to see her, so we must have a party, or something of the kind."

"Well, we will have a little picnic in the woods if the weather is fine. Ring the bell, please dear, I want to speak to Hannah about the dinner."

Hetty shrugged her shoulders as she turned to the bell. "Picnics are so old-fashioned, mamma. Let us have a garden-party," she said.

Mrs. Golding laughed. "A garden-party on our tiny lawn, Hetty? It would be quite ridiculous."

"Yes, if we only had the lawn, mamma. But, you know, before Mrs. Mavor went away, she begged us to use her garden whenever we liked, and nothing could be better than that large, old-fashioned garden. And only being separated from our own by that low wire fence, and having a gate opening into ours, no one need know but what it is our own. It used to belong to this house, you know, mamma."

"Yes, I know it did, my dear. But I should not like to use it for a garden-party, it would be encroaching on Mrs. Mavor's consideration. For I was glad to give up the garden when I took the house, on account of the difference it made in the rent. And, besides, it would be assuming a false position, to say nothing of the expense of such a grand affair as a garden-party."

"But it need not be a grand affair, mamma. And as to the cost, we shall eat no more in the garden than we should in the woods, only we can lay a table tastefully on the lawn or under the trees, and have a cup of tea in comfort, instead of sitting on the ground getting the cramp, and perhaps a bad cold, and eating earwigs and ladybirds with the sandwiches."

Mrs. Golding laughed. "I never heard of your dislike to ladybirds before," she said.

"Well, I don't mind them so much, but I hate the creepy-crawly things that get about you when you sit on the grass," rumbled Hetty, who was determined to find fault with every detail of the proposed picnic.

"But what would you do to amuse yourselves in the garden?" said Mrs. Golding, after listening to Hetty's numerous objections to her plan.

"Oh, we could play at croquet and hide-and-seek, and walk about, and we might manage a dance on the lawn."

"Well, my dear, as you seem to have set your heart upon having it this way, I suppose you must do so. But don't blame me, or Hannah either, if things don't turn out as you expect, for I know nothing about garden parties. If it were only a picnic now—"

"There, mamma, don't say another word. I'll manage everything now you have given your consent. It won't make half the fuss a picnic would, for there will be no packing baskets and breaking plates, and losing knives and forks. I know how we had things at the Eastlakes, and can manage it."

"But, my dear, we cannot pretend to have things as Mrs. Eastlake would. She has plenty of money and a house full of servants, while we have only—"

"If you please, ma'am, Mrs. Newton's servant has brought a message, asking you to go over as soon as you can, for old madam has had a bad fall, and seems very ill." The interruption came from Hannah, who had been indulging in a little private gossip with Mrs. Newton's maid, and had not heard the parlour bell ring some minutes before.

It was Hannah's one failing, this love of gossip. It seemed useless for Mrs. Golding to try to check it, for scolding and reasoning had alike proved ineffectual, and so she had given it up altogether.

Sending a message in reply, she merely told Hannah to come back at once and receive her orders for dinner.

"Shall you go soon, mamma?" asked Hetty when Hannah had left the room.

"Yes, my dear, I must go at once. Old Mrs. Newton is such a dear friend. She will expect me to be with her a great deal."

"Well, I hope she won't be ill long," said Hetty. "What shall I do about this letter? Will you take it with you, mamma?"

"No, I think you can answer it. Tell Uncle John we will be at the station to meet your cousins."

"And about the garden-party, mamma, we ought to have that the day after Lattice comes, because it is to be a sort of introductory affair. And some of them might like to give another when they once know Lettice."

"Very well, my dear, have it when you like. It is to be your party, not mine, for I don't understand such things. I was always content with a picnic and a ramble about the woods and hills, so you and Hannah must manage things between you."

"Very well, mamma, I'll see to everything. You shan't have a bit of trouble," said Hetty, kissing her mother as she spoke, for no one could be more amiable and affectionate than Hetty when she could have her own way, and, unfortunately, she had been allowed to have it rather too much of late.

As soon as Mrs. Golding had gone out, Hetty flew downstairs to consult Hannah about the garden-party, for she must be propitiated and coaxed into putting forth her best culinary skill for the occasion.

"Hannah, my cousin Lettice is coming, and I have persuaded mamma to let me have a garden-party," said Hetty, plunging at once into the matter.

Hannah looked up from her work of washing glasses. "A garden-party!" she repeated. "Who is to get things ready for it, I should like to know?"