"That reminds me, Luke, next week, Thursday, is my birthday,
and I am to have a little party in the evening.  Will you come?"

Luke's face flushed with pleasure.  Though he knew Florence
very well from their being schoolfellows, he had never visited
the house.  He properly regarded the invitation as a compliment,
and as a mark of friendship from one whose good opinion he
highly valued.

"Thank you, Florence," he said.  "You are very kind, and I shall
have great pleasure in being present.  Shall you have many?"

"About twenty.  Your friend Randolph will be there."

"I think there will be room for both of us," said Luke, with
a smile.

The young lady bade him good morning and went on her way.

Two days later Luke met Randolph at the dry-goods store in
the village.

"What are you buying?" asked Randolph, condescendingly.

"Only a spool of thread for my mother."

"I am buying a new necktie to wear to Florence Grant's birthday
party," said Randolph, pompously.

"I think I shall have to do the same," said Luke, enjoying
the surprise he saw expressed on Randolph's face.

"Are you going?" demanded Randolph, abruptly.

"Yes."

"Have you been invited?"

"That is a strange question," answered Luke, indignantly. 
"Do you think I would go without an invitation?"

"Really, it will be quite a mixed affair," said Randolph,
shrugging his shoulders.

"If you think so, why do you go?"

"I don't want to disappoint Florence."

Luke smiled.  He was privately of the opinion that the
disappointment wouldn't be intense.

CHAPTER VI
PREPARING FOR THE PARTY

The evening of the party arrived.  It was quite a social event
at Groveton, and the young people looked forward to it with
pleasant anticipation.  Randolph went so far as to order a new
suit for the occasion.  He was very much afraid it would not be
ready in time, but he was not to be disappointed.  At five o'clock
on Thursday afternoon it was delivered, and Randolph, when
arrayed in it, surveyed himself with great satisfaction.  He had
purchased a handsome new necktie, and he reflected with pleasure
that no boy present--not even Linton--would be so handsomely
dressed as himself.  He had a high idea of his personal
consequence, but he was also of the opinion that "fine feathers
make fine birds," and his suit was of fine cloth and stylish make.

"I wonder what the janitor will wear?" he said to himself, with
a curl of the lip.  "A pair of overalls, perhaps.  They would
be very appropriate, certainly."

This was just the question which was occupying Luke's mind. 
He did not value clothes as Randolph did, but he liked to look neat. 
Truth to tell, he was not very well off as to wardrobe.  He had
his every-day suit, which he wore to school, and a better suit,
which he had worn for over a year.  It was of mixed cloth, neat
in appearance, though showing signs of wear; but there was one
trouble.  During the past year Luke had grown considerably, and
his coat-sleeves were nearly two inches too short, and the legs of
his trousers deficient quite as much.  Nevertheless, he dressed
himself, and he, too, surveyed himself, not before a pier-glass,
but before the small mirror in the kitchen.

"Don't my clothes look bad, mother?" he asked anxiously.

"They are neat and clean, Luke," said his mother, hesitatingly.

"Yes, I know; but they are too small."

"You have been growing fast in the last year, Luke," said
his mother, looking a little disturbed.  "I suppose you are
not sorry for that?"

"No," answered Luke, with a smile, "but I wish my coat and
trousers had grown, too."

"I wish, my dear boy, I could afford to buy you a new suit."

"Oh, never mind, mother," said Luke, recovering his cheerfulness. 
"They will do for a little while yet.  Florence didn't