“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 attractive,” Mollie argued, her eyes fixed on the pile of pretty gowns which Harriet was laying out on her bed.

“Do wear the rose-colored gown to-day, Harriet!” Mollie pleaded.  “It is such a love of a frock and so becoming to you with your white skin and dark hair.  Dear me, it must be nice to have such lovely clothes!” Mollie paused for a minute.

Harriet turned around to find her little friend blushing.

“I do hope,” Mollie went on, “that you are not going to feel ashamed of Bab and me while we are your guests in Washington.  You can see for yourself that we are poor, and have only a few gowns.  Of course it is different with Grace and Ruth.  But our father is dead, and—­” Mollie stopped.  She did not know how to go on with her explanation.  Somehow she did not feel that Barbara or her mother would approve of her apologizing to Harriet for their simple wardrobes.

“Mollie!” Harriet exclaimed reproachfully.  “You know I think you and Barbara are so pretty and clever that it does not matter what your clothes are like.  Besides, if you should ever want anything special to wear while you are here, why, I have a host of gowns.”