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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13895 ***
+
+PATRICIA
+
+by
+
+EMILIA ELLIOTT
+
+1910
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+It is a deep regret to the publishers that Miss Emilia Elliott, the
+creator of the charming character of Patricia, did not live to see this
+book in print, nor to enjoy the welcome that they are confident it will
+be accorded.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+  I. PATRICIA'S FATIGUING DAY.
+
+ II. THE GINGHAM APRON PARTY
+
+III. THE WAY OF A GRANDMOTHER
+
+ IV. PATRICIA'S CHRISTMAS FAMILY
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PATRICIA'S FATIGUING DAY
+
+
+Patricia sat on the back fence, almost hidden by the low-spreading
+branches of an old apple-tree. Below her, on the grass, lay a small,
+curly, black dog, his brown, trustful eyes fixed confidently on
+Patricia.
+
+"Really, you know," the child said, gravely, "it's a very perplexing
+situation. Aunt Julia needn't have been so inhospitable. Why didn't
+I wait until Daddy got home! Daddy's so much more--convincible. But
+it's no use now; Daddy never goes back on Aunt Julia."
+
+Patricia slipped from the fence. "I rather think you and I'd better go
+down to the back meadow to talk things over; it's getting pretty near
+sewing-time."
+
+Out in the meadow, flat on her back in the long grass, Patricia set
+herself to the task of solving this perplexing situation.
+
+Half an hour earlier she had appeared back from one of her desultory
+rambles, accompanied by this most forlorn of all forlorn dogs,
+explaining that she had met him on the road, and he had followed
+her home.
+
+It was no unusual occurrence, but when Patricia added that he didn't
+seem to belong to anybody, and she thought she would keep him, Miss
+Kirby promptly and firmly protested.
+
+To Patricia's pleading, that he was poor and lame and homeless, that
+Cæsar, the pointer, was the only dog they had now, and he was too old
+to play much, Miss Kirby had proved adamant. Patricia might give her
+foundling a good meal, but keep him she _could not_.
+
+Whereupon, Patricia, having given the wanderer what was in reality
+several meals condensed into one, had retired with him to think things
+over.
+
+"It really seems as if you'd been meant for me," she told him now;
+"I found you. I can't see why Aunt Julia won't look at things in a
+proper light. I'm afraid she hurt your feelings. Aunt Julia generally
+means pretty well, but she's apt to speak out sort of quick. We Kirbys
+mostly do. I wonder what your name is?"
+
+The dog stretched comfortably out in the warm grass, quite as happy and
+contented as if he had been everything he wasn't, sat up suddenly, with
+a short little bark, as if trying to give the desired information.
+
+Rolling over, Patricia, her chin in her hands, surveyed him carefully.
+"You aren't very handsome just now; but then, I know lots of people who
+aren't very good looking. I don't see why that saying Aunt Julia is so
+fond of--about 'Handsome is as handsome does'--shouldn't apply to dogs
+as well as people. All the same, you are a very mixed numbery sort of
+a dog: you've got one and three-quarters ears, three and one-half
+legs,--at least you don't use that front paw very much,--and half a
+tail; and your hair is rather--patchy. But inside, I'm sure you're all
+right. And you have _beautiful_ eyes; _they're_ all there, too."
+
+The dog blinked back at her soberly, wagging his abbreviated tail in
+apologetic fashion.
+
+"You've simply got to have a home," Patricia went on; "and it's up to me
+to find you one. But I think you'll have to have a bath first, and your
+paw bandaged."
+
+Jumping up, Patricia darted back to the house, and around to the side
+door, leading to her father's office. Presently, she reappeared with a
+cake of antiseptic soap, a box of salve, a roll of bandage, a pair of
+scissors, and a bath-towel; with these gathered up in the skirt of her
+frock she led the way down to the brook, followed by a most unsuspecting
+small dog.
+
+Ten minutes later that same small dog--decidedly sadder and wetter, if
+not wiser--lay shivering on the sunny bank, while Patricia rubbed him
+vigorously with one of her aunt's largest bath-towels.
+
+Then the cut paw was salved and bandaged, and the most hopelessly
+tangled knots of curls cut away. After which, Patricia, sitting back on
+heels, studied her charge approvingly.
+
+"If Aunt Julia could see you _now_! Why didn't I do all this first?
+But--well, Aunt Julia's made up her mind; and she isn't exactly the
+changey kind. I wonder if you'd like it at the Millers'? They've got a
+lot of children, but they're ever so nice children! They've three dogs
+now, so one more oughtn't to count--and you'd have plenty of company."
+
+The dog, whose only present anxiety was to feel dry once more, merely
+rolled over on his back by way of answer.
+
+"Oh, but you mustn't!" Patricia protested. "You'll get all dirty again.
+I know it's horrid to feel too clean, but, you see, it's so necessary to
+make a good first impression! I reckon it was the first impression that
+made all the trouble with Aunt Julia this morning. Come on, we'll start
+right off; it's a pretty long walk to the Millers'."
+
+They went 'cross-lots, stopping for more than one romp by the way, one
+quite as light-hearted and irresponsible as the other; though behind
+Patricia lay more than one neglected task, and before her companion
+stretched a possibly homeless future.
+
+It was a nearly perfect June day, the blue sky overhead just flecked
+with soft, fleecy white clouds, and with enough breeze stirring to lift
+Patricia's short brown curls and fan her sunburned cheeks.
+
+Out on the highroad the wild roses were in bloom, and the air was full
+of soft summer sounds; the very birds hopping lightly about from fence
+to fence had a holiday air--and to Patricia there was something very
+friendly in the inquisitive cock of their pert little heads, as they
+stopped now and then to inspect her.
+
+"Oh!" she cried, joyously, reaching up on tiptoe to gather a spray of
+wild roses just above her head, "aren't we having the loveliest time,
+Dog?"
+
+Her companion wagged agreeingly; he was, at any rate. The hot sun on his
+back felt exceedingly good; he began to entertain hopes of actually
+feeling really and thoroughly dry again--some time.
+
+"That's the Millers' house--the brown one, beyond the curve," Patricia
+told him. And as it was the only house in sight, he had no trouble in
+locating it.
+
+"I'm sure you'll be happy there," Patricia added. "It's funny there
+aren't any children, or dogs, about. There's Mrs. Miller."
+
+Mrs. Miller was hanging out a wash. "Patricia Kirby!" She pushed back
+her sunbonnet, the better to survey the child. "Where is your hat?
+You're redder'n one of my big pinies!"
+
+Patricia put her hand up to her head. "Maybe I left it in the meadow;
+I'm not sure I've had it on at all this morning."
+
+"Well!" Mrs. Miller's tone was emphatic. "The children and the dogs've
+all gone off picnicking," she added. "I suppose you've come to see
+them?"
+
+"N-no," Patricia answered. "I came to bring you a--present, Mrs. Miller.
+The nicest--"
+
+She stopped abruptly, as Mrs. Miller rushed by her, with a shriek,
+waving her apron frantically.
+
+On the grass spread out to bleach, lay one of Mrs. Miller's best
+tablecloths; and in the middle of the cloth Mrs. Miller's present was
+rolling and twisting his damp, dusty little self, uttering all the while
+short, sharp little barks of satisfaction.
+
+But he was on his feet before any one could reach him, and with one
+corner of the cloth caught in his mouth, had run gayly away.
+
+"Head that dog off, Patricia!" Mrs. Miller screamed. "What dog is it,
+anyway--mischievous, good-for-nothing little scamp? He doesn't belong
+about here! Ten to one, he followed you in. I never knew such a child
+for taking up with stray dogs!"
+
+After several strenuous moments the cloth was rescued. "Is it hurt very
+much?" Patricia asked, anxiously.
+
+Mrs. Miller held it up; one of the corners was torn and frayed rather
+badly, and the whole cloth was covered with grass-stains and dirt.
+"You can see for yourself," she said wrathfully; "and it a _new_
+cloth--never used yet!"
+
+"But it'll wash, won't it?" Patricia suggested. "And the torn part won't
+show when it's on the table; and it won't show when it's folded up in
+the drawer." She stooped to lay a restraining hand on the wrongdoer, who
+already had an eye on various other articles scattered about the grass.
+"I wouldn't have thought he could run so, with a lame paw, would you,
+Mrs. Miller?"
+
+"The sooner he runs out of my sight, the better for him," Mrs Miller
+declared, warmly. "If he don't get started mighty quick I'll help him
+along a bit with a broom handle."
+
+Patricia drew herself up. "I--I think I'll be going."
+
+"But, Patricia," Mrs. Miller called after her, "what was that about a
+present? Something your aunt sent?"
+
+"No, Aunt Julia didn't send him. I brought you a--a dog, Mrs. Miller."
+
+"_That_ little nuisance! Well, well, of all--"
+
+Patricia waited to hear no more; not until she was some distance up the
+road did she turn to her charge, limping ostentatiously in the rear.
+
+"That was another bad first impression, Dog! It wasn't my fault this
+time. Really, I'm very much ashamed of you."
+
+Dog sat down, holding up a bandaged paw. His whole dejected little body
+expressed penitence of the deepest dye.
+
+Patricia softened. "I'm not so sure whether, after all, you would have
+liked it at the Millers'. I'm a good deal disappointed in Mrs. Miller,
+myself."
+
+She sat down on the grass beside the road to rearrange the loosened
+bandage. "Puppies will be puppies, I suppose. Daddy says you must always
+take the intention into consideration--and I don't suppose you
+_intended_ to be bad. It's dreadfully easy to be bad, without
+intending to. I certainly hope it won't be washing-day at the next
+place. The idea of having Thursday for a wash-day, anyhow! Dear me,
+where is the next place?"
+
+The dog crawled into her lap, trying to lick her face. He was not
+in the least anxious to decide upon any "next place." Sitting there in
+Patricia's lap, in the shade of a wide-spreading maple, seemed a very
+agreeable method of passing the time.
+
+"I think," Patricia said, stroking the little black head, "we'll try
+Miss Jane. You don't know Miss Jane. She's awfully nice. She and her
+sister haven't any dog but they've got a cat; you wouldn't mind
+that--she's a very intelligent cat; Miss Jane says so."
+
+To reach Miss Jane's it was necessary to leave the highroad for a
+narrow, winding lane. A quarter of a mile further on they came to the
+little white house. Patricia thought it very lonely looking, but perhaps
+her companion might think otherwise. "And I do think," she said,
+gravely, "that it's very good of me to bring them such a nice dog--to
+keep the tramps off."
+
+A large gray cat, sunning herself on one of the gate-posts, was the only
+sign of life about the house.
+
+But not for long. The next moment an exceedingly astonished, irate cat
+was taking an unusual amount of exercise in the prim little garden,
+urged cheerily on by a small, curly dog, whose three legs seemed quite
+as effective as most dogs' four. While down the path from the house
+came Miss Jane and Miss Susan, also stout, elderly, and unaddicted to
+overmuch exercise, anxious for their cat, anxious for their garden,
+most of all anxious to get this strange intruder off the premises.
+
+"Go away, little girl, and take that horrid dog with you," Miss Jane
+commanded, shaking a stick she had picked up.
+
+Patricia's eyes flashed. "I'm not '_little girl_.' I'm _Patricia Kirby_!"
+
+"Pa-tri-cia Kir-by! Upon my word!"
+
+Patricia's bare curls were blown and tangled; her face, hot and dusty;
+her blue gingham frock, fresh that morning, between water and dust was a
+sight to behold. She bore very little resemblance to the Patricia Kirby
+Miss Jane was accustomed to see in church on Sunday, or sometimes
+driving about with Dr. Kirby.
+
+"Whatever are you doing alone so far from home, Patricia?" Miss Susan
+asked, coming up. The cat had retired to the shelter of a tall tree,
+from a branch of which she glared down on her pursuer, who lay hot and
+panting on the ground below.
+
+Patricia pointed to the dog. "Why, I came on purpose to bring you
+him--for a present, you know."
+
+Miss Jane gasped.
+
+"He's a very nice dog," Patricia went on. "I'd love to keep him for
+myself; only Aunt Julia--Aunt Julia seemed to think one dog was enough.
+I don't think Aunt Julia is particularly--enthusiastic, about dogs. You
+would like him, wouldn't you?"
+
+Not dust, heat, nor weariness could hide the persuasive charm of
+Patricia's quick upward smile.
+
+Before that smile Miss Jane, who was very soft-hearted, wavered; but
+Miss Susan shook her head resolutely. "Augusta would never hear of it
+for one moment!"
+
+"Is Augusta your cook?" Patricia asked. Cooks were that way sometimes;
+even Sarah had her moments of revolt--so far as Patricia was concerned.
+
+"Augusta is our cat," Miss Jane explained. She felt grateful to Susan,
+and sorry for Patricia.
+
+Patricia sighed; she had recognized the finality in Miss Susan's tone.
+"Do you know of any one who would like a dog," she asked, "a very nice
+dog?"
+
+"You might try the Millers'," Miss Jane suggested.
+
+"I--I don't believe Mrs. Miller would care for him," Patricia answered,
+hurriedly. She turned to go. "Why, where is he?"
+
+"Perhaps he's waiting outside in the road for you." Miss Susan was not
+ordinarily so inhospitable, but the minister was coming to supper that
+evening; and, like Martha of old, Miss Susan was burdened with many
+cares.
+
+Patricia sighed again; the road outside the low white fence seemed
+suddenly very long and sunny. She was tired and discouraged; above all,
+she was hungry.
+
+"Before you go, Patricia," Miss Jane said, kindly, "come round to the
+kitchen and have a glass of cool milk and a cookie."
+
+The kitchen door had been left open in the excited rush of a few moments
+before. As the three neared it now, Miss Susan darted forward, with very
+much the same shriek of horrified dismay as Mrs. Miller had uttered not
+long since.
+
+Mounted on a chair, his feet firmly planted on the kitchen-table was
+a small black dog, just finishing the contents of a large glass dish
+standing at the edge of the table.
+
+"It's my custard," Miss Susan wailed, "and the minister coming to
+supper!"
+
+The "very nice dog" turned round, licking his chops contentedly. It
+almost seemed as if he winked at Patricia.
+
+The next instant, skilfully dodging Miss Susan, he had retired to the
+side yard, to finish licking his chops. Truly, it was a red-letter day
+for him. He wagged affably at the eloquent Miss Susan; surely he had
+paid her the highest compliment in his power.
+
+"Oh, I am so sorry," Patricia declared. "He must have been very
+hungry--I couldn't have given him nearly enough breakfast." Then she
+brightened. "After all, Miss Susan, I don't suppose he's ever had
+custard before; and I know Dr. Vail has--lots of times."
+
+Which view of the case did not in the least appeal to the indignant
+maker of the custard.
+
+Seeing which, Patricia concluded that the best thing to do was to take
+her charge away as quickly as possible. And in the confusion milk and
+cookies were quite forgotten.
+
+"Really, you know," Patricia admonished, once they were outside the
+gate, "you're not behaving at all well! Tearing table-cloths, chasing
+cats, and eating up custards aren't at all good dog manners."
+
+The culprit, quick to detect the disapproval in Patricia's voice,
+thought it time to limp again.
+
+"Is your paw very bad?" Patricia asked.
+
+The dog assured her that it was.
+
+"I don't know what we're going to do next," Patricia told him. And
+once back on the main road, she came to a standstill. She couldn't take
+her protégé home; even less could she desert him. She sat down by the
+roadside to consider the matter--to consider various other matters, as
+well. Even with Patricias there comes the moment of reckoning.
+
+Aunt Julia had said that the next time she evaded sewing-lesson she must
+go to bed at five o'clock. Patricia stretched out her tired little legs;
+at the present moment that particular form of punishment did not appear
+very unendurable. Just now, however, it seemed doubtful if she would be
+at home by five o'clock.
+
+Also, Daddy had said that the next time she broke bounds in this way
+he should be obliged to punish her. Patricia fanned herself with a
+decidedly dingy pocket-handkerchief; she wished Daddy had
+said--_how_.
+
+"I'm not saying you're not a very nice dog," Patricia patted her
+companion, curled up on the folds of her short skirts; "still, if
+I hadn't met you this morning--"
+
+The dog blinked sleepily, licking her hand. Perhaps he was thinking of
+a poor, forlorn little animal who had until that morning been hunted and
+driven, half starved, never caressed.
+
+"I wonder," Patricia said, anxiously, "if Mr. Carr wouldn't like you?
+We'll go see, at any rate."
+
+Up the hill they trudged, to where, in his little cabin, lived old Carr,
+the cobbler.
+
+He was at his bench as usual, and he paused, needle in air, at sight of
+his visitors.
+
+Patricia was growing desperate; she went straight to the heart of her
+errand.
+
+She and Carr were great friends, and the latter was immensely
+interested. Over his spectacles he surveyed the pair. Patricia's gray
+eyes had lost their confidence; they were almost as unconsciously
+pathetic as the dog's brown ones.
+
+"Well," Carr said, slowly, "there's no denying a dog's company; and
+since old Sampson died--"
+
+Patricia beamed. "Then you will take him? And you won't mind if he's
+rather--lively? You see, he's so very young. Maybe, I'd better tell you
+everything." And sitting down on one end of the workbench, Patricia made
+full confession of her charge's misdoings. "But I think he's sorry," she
+ended, hopefully.
+
+"Sure, Miss," Carr assented; "especially as to the custard--that there
+wasn't more. What's his name, Miss?"
+
+"I don't know. I've called him just Dog."
+
+"I reckon he won't care what he's called, so long as you don't call him
+too late for dinner," Carr remarked. "How about Custard? It'd keep his
+sin afore him." He took a piece of rope from the floor. "I'd best tie
+him for a bit at first."
+
+It was half-past four when Patricia reached home. Sarah was upstairs and
+Aunt Julia busy with callers.
+
+Making a hasty raid on the pantry, Patricia slipped quietly up the back
+way to her own room. Aunt Julia had said it must be bed; and there was
+no particular use in waiting to be sent.
+
+She was just getting into bed, after a hurried bath, when Miss Kirby,
+having learned from certain unmistakable evidence that Patricia had
+returned, came upstairs.
+
+"Patricia!" she exclaimed, her voice expressing almost as much relief as
+displeasure, "where have you been?"
+
+Patricia moved restlessly. "I've been--everywhere!"
+
+"Sarah has ransacked the entire neighborhood." Displeasure was fast
+becoming the dominant note in Miss Kirby's voice now that Patricia was
+safe in bed before her. "Of course you understand," she began.
+
+Patricia raised a small, flushed face. "Please, Aunt Julia, I'm in
+bed--and you didn't have to send me. I've had a most _fatiguing_
+day; and I'm dreadfully afraid that if you start in to talk to me the
+'Kirby temper''ll make me say something back."
+
+Miss Kirby sat down, surveying her niece in silence for a moment.
+Patricia had frankly stated a quite undeniable fact; and she had no
+desire to put the matter to the test. "Very well," she said, presently,
+"we will wait until to-morrow morning."
+
+"But that would be ever so much worse," Patricia pleaded. "I do so hate
+waiting for things. I thought--maybe--if I went straight to bed--you'd
+skip the--talk part, this time. I'm very tired; finding a home for a dog
+takes it out of you a lot. People 'round here don't seem very anxious to
+have dogs. And--I went considerably beyond bounds--so I've got Daddy to
+settle with yet. All the same, I did find him a home, Aunt Julia--I
+haven't got that on my mind."
+
+Miss Kirby rose, and going over to the bed bent and kissed the tired,
+wistful face. Patricia had a fashion of exciting sympathy at the wrong
+time, in a way that was perilous to discipline. "For this time, then,
+Patricia," she said. "Now I must go downstairs."
+
+Left to herself, Patricia suddenly remembered that there was to be
+strawberry shortcake for supper. Oh, dear, if only Custard had chosen
+any other day to drift across her path! A sent-to-bed bed-supper meant
+simply bread and milk. Patricia wondered if Dr. Vail would mind about
+not having custard as much as she did about not having strawberry
+shortcake. She decided that when she was grown up and had little girls
+of her own she'd never send them to bed early on strawberry shortcake
+night.
+
+She heard her father drive into the yard, heralded by Cæsar's deep bark.
+Cæsar had gone with the doctor on his day's round. Patricia knew how he
+was running about now, looking for her. She hoped Sarah would forget and
+leave the screen door open. Cæsar would be sure to come upstairs then.
+She rather thought Daddy would delay his coming until after supper.
+
+Sarah was taking in supper now; she could hear the dishes rattling.
+She was very hungry; that hasty raid on the pantry had not been very
+satisfactory. If Custard had felt that way she didn't much blame him for
+eating up Miss Susan's custard. Probably no one had ever taught him that
+it was wrong to take what didn't belong to him.
+
+There! Sarah was bringing up her supper now!
+
+Patricia sat up in bed; even bread and milk appeared highly desirable at
+that moment.
+
+But there was more than bread and milk on the tray Sarah carried.
+Patricia stared at the generous square of strawberry shortcake,
+plentifully supplied with cream, in wondering silence.
+
+Sarah brought a small table to the side of the bed. "Miss Julia, she
+done send some message 'bout this 'ere cake, Miss P'tricia; but, law
+o' mercy, I'se clean forgot the most 'portant word. Hit were something
+'bout you-uns having had a fat-fat-"
+
+"Fatiguing day?" Patricia suggested, taking little anticipatory pickings
+at the corners of the shortcake.
+
+Sarah nodded her turbaned head. "Where's you-un been all day, Miss
+P'tricia?" she enquired, severely.
+
+"If you don't mind, Sarah--I'm very hungry and tired--I won't go into
+that at present. I had something very important to see to."
+
+"Humph!" Sarah grunted. "Nice doings, worrying your pore aunt near to
+'straction--the doctor, he ain't come home to dinner--to hear 'bout your
+carryings-on. What you think he's goin' say--when Miss Julia tells him?"
+
+Patricia was absorbed in eating bread and milk. "It must be dreadful to
+be really starved, Sarah," she observed.
+
+"Where you get your dinner, Miss P'tricia?"
+
+"I didn't have any," Patricia answered.
+
+"My sakes!" Further speech failed Sarah. She turned away.
+
+Patricia's next visitor was old Cæsar. Standing by the bed, he asked as
+plainly as dog may what in the world she was doing there at that time
+of day? He accepted solemnly his share of the good things going, then
+stretched himself out on the floor beside the bed, to mount guard--but
+not until he had told her as forcibly as he could that the summer
+evening was unusually fine, and that there were several little affairs
+in the garden requiring their joint supervision.
+
+"But I can't go, Cæsar," Patricia told him. She was always sure that her
+dumb friends understood quite well all she said to them. "There comes
+Daddy now."
+
+"It doesn't seem to be solitary confinement, Patricia," Dr. Kirby said,
+as he came in and seated himself on the side of the bed.
+
+Patricia stretched out a welcoming hand. "It's hours and hours since
+I've seen you, Daddy."
+
+Dr. Kirby took the outstretched hand gravely. "From your aunt's account,
+there would appear to have been hours and hours in which she did not see
+you, Patricia?"
+
+"I'm afraid I was gone a long while, Daddy; but I came home just as soon
+as I got things straightened out.
+
+"Suppose you give me the particulars, Patricia."
+
+And moving so as to rest her head on her father's knee, Patricia told
+in detail the story of her day's experiences. She had the comforting
+conviction that when Daddy knew all he would not be very displeased
+with her.
+
+More than once, during that recital, the doctor's mouth twitched under
+his mustache, and he turned rather suddenly to look out of the window.
+
+"But, Pat," he exclaimed, as she finished, "what made it so imperative
+for you to find that tramp dog a home?"
+
+Patricia's gray eyes were very earnest. "Some one had to do it, Daddy."
+
+The doctor smoothed back the soft, thick curls. "But, Pat, I cannot have
+you burdening yourself with the responsibility of finding homes for all
+the stray animals that cross your path."
+
+"He was so miserable, Daddy--outside; and so really nice--inside.
+I don't believe he liked being a tramp dog."
+
+The doctor stooped and kissed her; it was not easy to be severe with
+Patricia. "Still, dear, it must not happen again; you run too great
+a risk; stray dogs are not always very dependable as to temper."
+
+"It's going to be mighty hard not to, Daddy."
+
+"And Patricia, where are my scissors, and salve, and soap?"
+
+"I'm afraid--down by the brook; so's the towel. I was glad I'd watched
+you bandage Caesar's paw that time."
+
+"That is all very well; but, Patricia, you are not to meddle with any of
+the office things again without permission. And now, about this matter
+of breaking bounds to-day?"
+
+Patricia looked up quickly. "You--you'll 'take the intention into
+consideration,' Daddy?"
+
+The doctor smiled. "Yes, but," his face grew grave again, "I must also
+take into consideration the fact that this is by no means the first time
+you have gone wandering off, causing your aunt a great deal of anxiety."
+
+"I can't think why she will worry so. I always come back all right."
+
+"That is not the point. It must be only the yard for the rest of the
+week, Patricia."
+
+Patricia drew a long breath. "Well," she said, slowly, "I _am_ glad
+it's Thursday night 'stead of Monday morning."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Patricia sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. What had wakened her?
+
+A second series of short, sharp little barks sent her hurrying to the
+window. On the path below, a bit of frayed rope dangling from his neck,
+stood Custard.
+
+When the doctor came downstairs, twenty minutes later, he found Patricia
+on the back steps, with Custard in her lap, busily placing a fresh
+bandage on the hurt paw. "Daddy," she cried, lifting her face for his
+morning greeting, "wasn't it too lovely of him to hunt me up. Isn't he
+the most grateful dog ever was?"
+
+The doctor patted the dog's rough head, then stooped to examine
+Patricia's work. "Not a bad job for an eleven-year-old, Pat."
+
+"I could do it better, only I had to make a strip from a piece I found
+in Aunt Julia's scrap-bag," Patricia explained.
+
+"Patricia!" Miss Kirby exclaimed from the doorway, "your dress is only
+half buttoned, and your hair is--_Patricia Kirby_, have you gone
+and hunted up another dog!"
+
+"It's the same one, Aunt Julia. He has improved a lot, hasn't he? If
+you'd seen how glad he was to see me! I suppose he'll have to be sent
+back. Cæsar likes him pretty well; he didn't growl at him once when I
+introduced them to each other."
+
+"It's a question whether _sending_ back will do any good," the
+doctor said. He was watching the two on the steps.
+
+Patricia stroked the bandaged paw gently. "I can't take him--I can't go
+out of the yard, can I, Daddy?"
+
+"Decidedly not."
+
+"Couldn't you take him in the gig with you, Patrick?" Miss Kirby felt
+that she was playing a losing game.
+
+"Going quite in the opposite direction."
+
+"And Jim?"
+
+"Goes with me." The doctor was still studying the two on the steps.
+
+"If he stays one day we are doomed!" Miss Kirby declared.
+
+"That only leaves you and Sarah, doesn't it, Aunt Julia?" Patricia
+asked, cheerfully.
+
+Miss Kirby was not without a sense of humor. "I am afraid Sarah is out
+of the question," she said; "and if he waits for me to take him he will
+stay here--altogether."
+
+Patricia was quick to catch the longed-for concession in her aunt's
+voice. Dropping Custard, she ran to hug Miss Kirby. "Oh, you darling!
+But, Daddy," she turned anxiously, "oh, do you suppose Mr. Carr will
+mind _very_ much?"
+
+"I rather think he will be able to bear the disappointment," the doctor
+answered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE GINGHAM APRON PARTY
+
+
+Fortunately, the ground under the big apple tree was soft and springy,
+and Patricia was used to both low and lofty tumbling; so when she
+landed, a little surprised heap, in the tangled grass, she lay still
+just long enough for the small black dog, nosing anxiously about her, to
+get in one or two licks of her sunburnt, bewildered face; then she sat
+up.
+
+"My, Custard, that was a stunner! I reckon if Daddy was here he'd say,
+'what a fall was there, my countrymen!'" Custard wagged agreeingly, and
+sniffed inquiringly at the strip of pink leg showing through the long
+jagged tear in one of his small mistress's tan stockings.
+
+Patricia scrambled to her feet and began taking stock. There was another
+tear in the short skirt of her blue gingham frock, and one in one of the
+sleeves.
+
+"Goodness! What will Aunt Julia say!" Patricia said ruefully; then
+remembered suddenly what Aunt Julia had said, no longer ago than
+yesterday morning, after a similar catastrophe.
+
+"And if Aunt Julia isn't a 'Mede 'n' Persian,' she might almost as well
+be one--when it comes to unsaying things," Patricia told herself, as she
+started for the house.
+
+Half-way up the back garden path, she came to an abrupt halt. "Custard,"
+she gasped, "it's party day!"
+
+As if Custard did not know that! He had never been to a party, but he
+was mighty glad to have been invited to this one. The pantry, always an
+enchanted spot to him, smelled even more delicious than usual. He had
+quite lost count of the number of times that Sarah had run him out of it
+this morning, with more haste than dignity.
+
+Patricia sat down in an empty wheelbarrow to consider matters, not
+noticing that Jim had been using it that morning to bring fresh mold
+for Miss Kirby's flower beds.
+
+"I didn't want to give a party anyhow." Patricia stared gravely out
+across the sunny drying-ground. Privately, she considered the average
+party a great waste of valuable time. Least of all had she wanted to
+give an "honor party" for Susy Vail. Susy was the rector's grandchild,
+and was on a visit here.
+
+Patricia hadn't much use for Susy Vail. She was a city girl, she was
+quiet and shy, and she would be sure to come to the party in a stiff
+white dress and blue ribbons. Patricia was positive as to the blue
+ribbons.
+
+"I've a good mind to run off to the woods and stay all day, Custard,"
+Patricia said, getting up; "they can have the party without us."
+
+Custard barked a prompt disapproval of this scheme. Maybe the party
+could do without him, but he was quite sure he could not do without
+the party.
+
+"Come on," Patricia told him, starting back down the path.
+
+She had got as far as the gate leading into the meadow, when a new idea
+came to her. Swinging slowly back and forth on the gate, she considered
+this idea; her gray eyes dancing, as its possibilities opened up before
+her mental vision.
+
+"And if Susy Vail hasn't a gingham apron, I'll lend her one; she seems
+the sort of girl not to have one," Patricia confided to Custard, as they
+once more made their way towards the house.
+
+If only the coast were clear!
+
+Sarah was on the back piazza, pitting cherries, but Sarah was easily
+managed.
+
+"My sakes, Miss P'tricia!" Sarah lifted her plump hands in horror,
+"whatever is you-un been up to now?"
+
+"Where's Aunt Julia, Sarah?"
+
+"Done left for Gar's Hollow just five minutes ago, your pa sent Jim back
+for her in the gig. What you say, Miss P'tricia?"
+
+For under her breath, Patrica was saying jubilantly:
+"It's--providential!"
+
+"N-nothing--that is, I was only thinking out loud," she told Sarah.
+
+"Don't you go worrying 'bout dat ere party, honey; hit'll come off all
+right."
+
+"I think it will--now," Patricia answered; her tone so full of some
+hidden enjoyment that Sarah glanced at her suspiciously.
+
+"Miss Julia, she done left word for you-un to do everything like you
+know she'd want you to, Miss P'tricia."
+
+Patricia selected a pair of earrings from the finest of Sarah's bowl of
+cherries. "Don't you worry, Sarah."
+
+"You ain't 'xplained yet how you come to be in such a disrepec'ble
+condition, Miss P'tricia. If the rag man was to see you, he'd just up
+and toss you into his cart--he shore would."
+
+"Have I got a clean gingham apron, Sarah?" Patricia was a past-mistress
+in the art of ignoring what she considered inconvenient, or personal,
+remarks.
+
+"Looks to me like you's got more clean gingham aprons than you's got
+manners," Sarah said severely.
+
+Patricia went indoors to the telephone, shutting the door behind her
+as she went. Sarah was too fat and too heavy on her feet to get out of
+a chair, once comfortably settled in it, unless the call were really
+urgent.
+
+Patricia first called up Mrs. Hardy. Quite unconsciously--being on her
+dignity and feeling, besides, very important--she spoke more slowly than
+was usual, and with more than a trace of her aunt's formality.
+
+Back over the line came a prompt: "Why, good morning, Miss Kirby!"
+
+Patricia's eyes sparkled and the demon of mischief, always lurking in
+her neighborhood, immediately put idea number two into her head. Her
+imitation of her aunt's voice and manner this time was perfect. "Good
+morning, Mrs. Hardy, I just called you up to let you know that the
+little party we are giving this afternoon is to be a gingham apron
+party."
+
+"A w-what?" Mrs. Hardy questioned.
+
+"Miss Kirby" gave herself vigorous mental treatment for a moment or
+so--one giggle and the game was up. As if Aunt Julia ever giggled!
+
+"A gingham apron party," she repeated; "it is Patricia's suggestion, so
+that the children may have a nice jolly time."
+
+"That sounds exactly like Patricia," Mrs. Hardy commented, laughing.
+"I'll tell Nell; I'm sure she will approve."
+
+"Miss Kirby" said thank you, then she hung up the receiver; after which,
+seizing Custard, she hugged him ecstatically. "I really am 'Miss Kirby,'
+you know," she explained. "Daddy's only got me--and I didn't say a word
+that wasn't perfectly true. And Mr. Baker, out at Long Farm, always
+calls me that. Now, I'll have to finish 'phoning."
+
+Mrs. Lane and Mrs. Blake were next informed as to the kind of party
+under way for that afternoon; then came Mrs. Vail, with her Patricia
+made a break. "And if Susy hasn't any gingham--" she began.
+
+"If Susy hasn't what?" Mrs. Vail interrupted. "Why, of course--"
+
+"I only thought--I mean," Patricia felt herself floundering--and Aunt
+Julia never floundered. "Then we may look for Susy," she said hastily.
+
+"Why, certainly," Mrs. Vail answered.
+
+"That is well. Good-by."
+
+"Miss Kirby" hung up the receiver hastily.
+
+"I think she almost suspected--something, Custard; I reckon she's the
+suspiciony kind--Susy Vail looks the kind of girl to have a suspiciony
+mother. But the rest didn't." Patricia danced the interested Custard
+down the hall.
+
+As she reappeared on the back piazza, Sarah asked sternly: "What you
+been up to now, Miss P'tricia? You've been doing a heap of talking at
+dat ere 'phone."
+
+"I had some very important business to transact," Patricia answered
+loftily, the mantle of her aunt's manner still enveloping her. "I guess
+I'll go put my apron on now."
+
+Sarah sniffed indignantly, "You needn't tell me dere ain't some
+foolishness afoot," she declared.
+
+"What time was you-un 'spectin' the comin' cer'mony to commence?" she
+asked, when Patricia came in to her solitary dinner. Neither Miss Kirby
+nor the doctor would be back before late afternoon.
+
+"Aunt Julia said half-past three to seven; I suppose they'll begin
+coming 'long about three."
+
+That note of hidden jubilation in her voice worried Sarah. She had not
+known Patricia for all of her eleven years for nothing. "Honey, what you
+cog'tating?" she coaxed; as she brought Patricia a generous slice of
+fresh cherry pie.
+
+"I'm thinking about--my party. It's going to be a--a--corker, Sarah!
+You'll see!"
+
+Sarah groaned, both in spirit and outwardly. "Honey," she pleaded,
+leaning on the back of a chair and studying her charge anxiously;
+"Honey, dat Miss Susy's a stranger in dis yere part--why, she's come
+clare from Phil'delphy. I'm told the chillerns down in Phil'delphy has
+beau-ti-ful manners."
+
+"I dare say," Patricia did not appear greatly interested.
+
+"And Miss Julia, she done plan dis yere party jest for her."
+
+"I know--I didn't ask her to--I--"
+
+"Honey, you wouldn't--you shore wouldn't do anything to--to disbobulate
+your aunt's plans?"
+
+"May I have another piece of pie, Sarah, please?"
+
+Sarah cast a pair of imploring eyes ceilingwards. "Of all the
+ignoringest young uns! I isn't discoursing 'bout pie, Miss P'tricia."
+
+"But it's mighty good pie, Sarah! Will there be cherry pie among the
+refreshments this afternoon?"
+
+"Miss P'tricia! And the cherry juice all a dripping down, like's not,
+on you-uns clean white dresses," Sarah protested. However, she brought
+Patricia a second piece, which was the important thing at the moment;
+the future might very well be allowed to take care of itself.
+
+Later, as she did up her dinner work, Sarah cast more than one anxious
+glance out of the window to where Patricia lay on the back lawn, under
+the shade of the big cherry tree. Patricia's very quietness was
+alarming.
+
+Was it too much cherry pie? Or was she plotting something.
+
+"Honey," Sarah came out on the piazza, "it's getting time for you to get
+dressed for the festiv'ties."
+
+Patricia, tickling one of Custard's long ears with a blade of grass,
+smiled serenely. "But I am dressed, Sarah."
+
+Sarah sat down heavily on the piazza bench; "I knowed it! I jest
+'spicioned you-un was shore up to something!"
+
+Patricia rolled over on her back, stretching her wiry little frame out
+lazily.
+
+"You come right 'long into dis yere house, Miss P'tricia!" Sarah rose
+commandingly.
+
+"But what for?" Patricia questioned.
+
+"What for? If you wasn't a white child, Miss P'tricia, I'd shore say you
+was onery. I's going be 'bliged to disport you to your pa, if you
+continues such disbehavior."
+
+Patricia scrambled to her feet, and came slowly over to the edge of the
+lawn. Then, lifting her apron, she asked quietly: "Is my frock torn,
+Sarah, or isn't it?"
+
+"You knows it is, Miss P'tricia!"
+
+Patricia stretched out one slender leg. "Is my stocking torn, or isn't
+it?"
+
+Sarah groaned.
+
+Wheeling suddenly round, and still holding up her apron, Patricia
+demanded: "Is my frock dirty, or isn't it?"
+
+"Miss P'tricia, you's shore possessed to-day!"
+
+"Aunt Julia said yesterday morning, that the very next time I got myself
+torn or dirty, needlessly, I must put a clean gingham apron on and go
+that way for the rest of the day."
+
+"But, honey--you know Miss Julia never 'tended you to come to your own
+party in any such fixings! A gingham apron at a party! You come 'long
+upstairs with me, Miss P'tricia; I'll resume all the 'sponsibility."
+
+"Aunt Julia said 'the very next time'; this is the very next time."
+
+"She done lay out your dress 'fore she went, honey--so crisp and nice
+and all the pretty pink ribbons," Sarah spoke coaxingly.
+
+"Aunt Julia didn't know--I hadn't tumbled out of the apple tree then."
+
+"I'se going phonegraph your aunt right off!" Sarah declared.
+
+Patricia caught her breath. Then she remembered. "But they haven't any
+'phone at Gar's Hollow!"
+
+Sarah wrung her hands. "And all them little ladies in white dresses, and
+the hostess o' the 'casion looking like 'straction!"
+
+"I always _feel_ like distraction when I'm all stiff and starchy
+and uncomfortable," Patricia said; "I'd rather look it than feel it."
+
+"Oh, I ain't overlooking that you're powerful reconciled to going to
+your own party dressed like you is now, Miss P'tricia! Anyhow, you're
+going to have a good wash-up and your hair combed; Miss Julia ain't laid
+down no commands against that."
+
+"W-well," Patricia slowly conceded, "only I'll see to it myself, Sarah."
+
+Patricia's thick mop of brown curls was of the tangly order; and when
+things had gone wrong, Sarah's touch was not always of the gentlest.
+
+An hour later, Sarah, from her post of vantage on the side porch, saw
+six little girls coming up the path. There were no boys invited. Miss
+Kirby thought it so much nicer for little girls to play quietly by
+themselves.
+
+A moment, Sarah stared at them in amazement; then her fat sides shook
+with laughter. "I shore might've knowed it! So that's what she was so
+busy phonegraphing 'bout! That chile shore weren't born yesterday.
+Gingham aprons, every last one o' them!"
+
+Some of the six wore sunbonnets, the rest plain garden hats; and all
+wore stout serviceable shoes and stockings. Never had those six little
+girls gone to a party before in such unparty-like costumes.
+
+Patricia came dancing to meet them, bareheaded as usual. "Let's go down
+to the barn right off," she proposed. "Goodness, how funny you do look!"
+she giggled.
+
+"So do you," Nell Hardy retorted; then the seven stood still a moment to
+survey one another.
+
+"Oh!" Mable Lane cried, "whatever put such an idea into your head, Pat?"
+
+"I--I happened to think of it, that was all," Patricia answered vaguely.
+"Come on--we'll play hide and seek, and no going out of the barn."
+
+"Are--are there any horses there?" Susy asked.
+
+Patricia shook her head. "Not today; Daddy's got Sam and Dick's gone to
+pasture."
+
+They played hide and seek all over the delightful big dusty old barn;
+until Patricia, trying to reach goal by a short cut down from the loft,
+came to an abrupt halt in her descent, caught on a projecting beam.
+
+"Go back!" Ruth Martin advised; but Patricia, wriggling herself free,
+dropped in a laughing heap on the barn floor.
+
+"But you've torn your apron, Pat!" Nell exclaimed.
+
+Patricia glanced up at the bit of blue gingham hanging from a nail in
+the beam.
+
+"Look's like this was my busy day," she observed; "I'll go put another
+on."
+
+"I put it on over the first," she explained, on her return. "You see,
+Aunt Julia said--I mean, I thought it would be--fun; and, anyhow, it
+saved time, it takes a lot of time to unbutton these aprons. Let's go
+down to the brook and wade." She glanced at Susy, who was looking rather
+doubtful. "Aren't you allowed to wade in brooks?"
+
+"I--don't know," Susy began, then her mild little face took on a look of
+sudden resolution, "but I'm going to."
+
+Patricia smiled in prompt friendliness. "Mostly, when I'm not sure
+I just take the chance," she encouraged.
+
+Sitting on the edge of the brook, the seven took off shoes and
+stockings. "It's the queerest, nicest party," Bessy Martin declared.
+
+It was a gay little brook, running between a broad, sunny meadow and the
+old Kirby apple orchard, broad enough in places to make the crossing of
+it on stepping stones delightfully uncertain, and again narrowing to a
+mere thread. To Patricia, it was like some live thing, one of the
+dearest and most intimate of playmates.
+
+"Let's play Follow my Leader," Nell suggested, and they drew lots to see
+who should be first leader.
+
+It fell to Kitty Hall, next to Susy the quietest of the seven; the lead
+she set them was a very mild affair, limited to the shallowest and
+narrowest parts of the brook.
+
+But with Patricia's turn, matters took a change for the better, or
+worse, according to the point of view. Patricia hopped and skipped, and
+did everything except walk demurely on two feet, out of the safe,
+pleasant shallows straight for the "pool," which was quite knee deep at
+this time of year.
+
+Once there, she turned to view her followers, and it wouldn't have been
+Patricia, if she hadn't slipped and, with a little shriek of surprise,
+sat right down in the pool.
+
+There was a moment's hesitation, then Nell boldly followed suit; one by
+one, ending with Susy, the other five dropped down in the cool rippling
+water, which seemed to laugh, as if it saw the joke.
+
+"Oh!" Patricia cried, "I never meant--" She was on her feet as quickly
+as possible. Susy was just the kind to go and catch cold, why she had
+begun to shiver and shake already.
+
+The next few moments were strenuous ones for Patricia's followers. Never
+had she led them such a chase, through all the hottest, sunniest parts
+of the big meadow.
+
+"We've got to run, so as not to catch cold," she panted; and run
+they did, their wet skirts flapping against their bare legs, hats and
+sunbonnets sent scattering in every direction. While Custard, regarding
+it as a game gotten up for his especial benefit, urged them on, barking
+and leaping about them, taking little pretend nips at the seven sets of
+bare toes, choosing Susy's the oftenest, because she always squealed
+the loudest.
+
+At last the seven dropped down breathless in the middle of the meadow.
+Patricia felt of Susy's skirts anxiously. "They're 'most dry; let's--"
+She turned over on her face, and the six followed suit once more.
+
+"The sun feels good, doesn't it," Susy said, she was on one side of
+Patricia. "I'm having a be-au-ti-ful time!"
+
+Patricia raised herself on her elbows, and, chin in hand, surveyed Susy
+closely. "Truly true?"
+
+"Truly true," Susy insisted.
+
+Patricia smiled approvingly; and, when she liked, Patricia's smile could
+be very approving indeed. "I guess maybe I'm going to like knowing you,"
+she said.
+
+Susy's little pink and white face had lost its look of peaceful
+placidity, her yellow curls their smoothness. Wet, bedraggled, but
+happier than ever before in her life, and joyfully conscious that she
+had for once boldly strayed from the narrow path of harmless routine,
+she smiled back at Patricia.
+
+"I guess we're all dry now," Patricia said presently. "It seems to me as
+if it must be pretty near supper time."
+
+Nell spread out her limp skirts. "Pretty looking set, we are, to go to
+supper!"
+
+But Patricia was thinking. "A gingham apron party supper ought to be
+different," she said slowly; "Nell, let's you and me go get the
+refreshments and bring them out here."
+
+It was a glorious suggestion. Six pairs of eyes opened wide with
+delight.
+
+"B-but Sarah--" Mabel asked. Mabel had a knack of asking such questions.
+
+"Oh, I reckon Sarah'll ask a heap of questions--Sarah's mighty
+inquisitive at times," Patricia answered. "I rather think the best way
+will be just to go ahead and not bother her about it."
+
+"But how?" Mabel insisted.
+
+"You leave that to Nell and me--we'll manage. The rest of you must wait
+here; keep Custard with you. Oh, dear! I thought you were beautifully
+dry, Susy Vail; what did you go sneeze for? Well, you'll just have to
+keep moving, that's all. You see that she does, Mabel."
+
+Patricia's commands seldom fell on deaf ears and Mabel promptly insisted
+on a game of tag; while Patricia herself, accompanied by Nell Hardy,
+started on a brisk run across the meadow.
+
+At the garden gate, Patricia called a halt. "Duck," she ordered,
+dropping on the grass. From half-way up the path, came Sarah's voice:
+"Oh, Miss P'tricia! Miss P'tricia!"
+
+"She'll go back presently, if she doesn't hear us," Patricia whispered
+with elaborate caution; "then we must get to the house as quickly and as
+quietly as possible and secure the re--the booty. Oh, go away!" she
+added sternly, as Custard came sniffing about them.
+
+But Custard only wriggled and danced about and over them, urging them as
+eloquently as he could to get up and continue their way indoors. Wasn't
+the pantry indoors? Custard could have told his mistress long ago that
+it was quite supper time.
+
+At half-past six, the doctor and Miss Kirby drove into the yard.
+As the gig drew up before the side door, Sarah, voluble and indignant,
+appeared. From the mass of information she hurled upon them, one fact
+only was quite clear--Patricia was missing.
+
+She was so often missing, that the announcement failed to excite any
+great apprehension in the mind of either her father or her aunt.
+
+"But the party--" Miss Kirby began.
+
+"She done take the party with her!" Sarah wailed.
+
+Miss Kirby looked more indignant than surprised; to have come home and
+found that nothing untowards had happened would have been the surprising
+thing.
+
+"I ain't laid my eyes on her since them six gingham aprons came
+gavorting up the walk!" Sarah proclaimed dramatically. "That young-un's
+a limb, for shore!"
+
+Miss Kirby sat down on the piazza bench. "Gingham aprons, Sarah," she
+repeated. "Patrick, what can she mean?"
+
+The doctor shook his head, smiling, "That remains to be discovered."
+
+"For the love o' goodness, Miss Julia!" Sarah implored; "the nexest time
+you sets out to give a party for that there young-un, I hopes and prays
+you stays home to sup'intend the obsequies youself!"
+
+The doctor turned to send Sam on to the barn.
+
+"Gingham aprons," Miss Kirby murmured.
+
+"Ain't Miss P'tricia done 'tire herself in one for the 'casion!" Sarah
+exclaimed; "and ain't she done tell all the others over that 'phone
+to do the very same--I ain't never held with thet there 'phone,
+nohow--'tain't nothin' better'n devilment, anyhow. My sakes, such
+doings, Marse Doctor! You and Miss Julia just come cast your glance
+over this supper table!"
+
+They followed her into the dining-room.
+
+"It certainly looks very pretty," the doctor said, glancing at the
+table.
+
+Sarah groaned. "Where's them plates o' sandwiches gone? I ask you that!
+Where's them plates o' biscuits gone? I ask you that! Where's the little
+cakes, what I iced so pretty, gone? I ask you that! Ain't I done fix
+them all in place and then I goes out to call them--ginham aprons--to
+come in,--and I done galivant all over the place and all up and down the
+street and I ain't seen the least speck o' one o' them--but when I comes
+indoors--the party done vanish! And that ain't all--the cherry pie I
+done make for you's and Miss Julia's supper done vanish too. But they
+ain't got the ice cream--I reckon the freezer was too heavy."
+
+"That at least is something to be thankful for," the doctor said, "there
+would probably have been--consequences--had they secured both the cherry
+pie and the ice cream."
+
+"And the table looking so stylish," Sarah mourned, "with the flowers and
+all the fixings. Where's that plate o' chicken gone? I ask you that!"
+
+"Patrick," Miss Kirby said, "you really must go look that child up! such
+behavior is--"
+
+"I'm going," the doctor assured her, and as he went Miss Kirby saw him
+put his handkerchief to his eyes more than once.
+
+Through the garden he went, through the orchard. Half-way across the
+meadow beyond the orchard he came upon Custard dining at second table,
+and too busy to do more than wag a welcome.
+
+A few yards further on stood an old apple tree, and from the top-most
+branch came, in Patricia's clear notes:
+
+  "'If I could find a higher tree
+  Farther and farther I should see,
+  To where the grown-up river slips
+  Into the sea among the ships.'"
+
+
+The doctor stood still, making a trumpet of his hands. "Ship ahoy!" he
+called.
+
+The next instant seven girls came wriggling and scrambling down from the
+various branches. "Oh! Daddy," Patricia cried joyously, "we're having
+the jolliest time--we're pirates! I'm captain--
+
+  "'My name is Captain Kidd,
+  And most wickedly I did,
+  As I sailed, as I sailed!'"
+
+
+"And, according to report, before you sailed, young lady. Suppose you
+make explanation regarding certain late extremely piratical
+proceedings."
+
+"You mean about the supper, Daddy? You see, we didn't feel very
+partified--at least, we thought we didn't look exactly--"
+
+As she hesitated, the doctor, glancing from one to another of the seven,
+nodded comprehendingly. "I quite agree with you, Pat; you do not look
+very--partified."
+
+They were so dusty, so disheveled; all but Patricia had shoes
+on--Custard had made off with both of Susy's, and Patricia had most
+willingly offered hers--the opportunity to go barefoot was too good to
+be lost; Nell had only one stocking, Kitty none at all, Ruth was wearing
+Patricia's, Custard had certainly made the most of his chance to carry
+off things that afternoon.
+
+"But we've had a be-au-ti-ful time," Susy said, slipping a hand into
+the doctor's. She quite forgot that he was a comparative stranger,
+remembering only that he was Patricia's father--Patricia, who had
+invited her to this most wonderful of parties, where one had been so
+busy having fun that there had been no time for feeling shy and strange.
+
+Dr. Kirby smiled down at the little guest of honor. "Upon my word, I
+believe you have," he said.
+
+"Aunt Julia says," Patricia possessed herself of his other hand, "that
+to feel sure that one's guests have honestly enjoyed themselves is to
+know that one's party has been a success. So I reckon mine's been a
+perfectly tremendous success."
+
+"Suppose you come up to the house--all of you--and see if you can
+reassure Aunt Julia and--Sarah," the doctor suggested.
+
+Patricia sighed. "I--I sort of wish Aunt Julia--looked at things the way
+we do, Daddy."
+
+They went on up to the house. On the back steps, Miss Kirby was waiting;
+in the kitchen doorway stood Sarah.
+
+"Patricia Kirby!" Aunt Julia exclaimed. "Well of all the--"
+
+"Miss P'tricia," Sarah broke in wrathfully, "where's that cherry pie I
+done made for Marse Doctor's supper?"
+
+Patricia slowly drew up her uppermost apron. "It's here--most of it;
+Custard got the rest. I--I stumbled and fell--into it. You see, we were
+playing pirate--and we were smuggling."
+
+The doctor, much to his sister's indignation, sat down suddenly on one
+of the garden benches. "Oh, Pat, Pat!" he gasped.
+
+"Patricia Kirby, how many gingham aprons have you on?" Miss Kirby
+demanded.
+
+"Three, Aunt Julia; you said I must wear the first one all the
+afternoon--and I tore it--and then the pie sort of stained the second;
+I got kind of interested to see how many it would take to get me through
+the afternoon. I had to make it a gingham apron party, Aunt Julia, on
+account of what you said yesterday. You see, I got pretty well torn and
+dirty this morning--and, of course, I needn't have climbed that tree."
+
+"Casabianca," the doctor murmured; Miss Kirby was past murmuring
+anything; all her efforts were directed towards at least a semblance
+of self-control.
+
+"I shore told you, that young-un was a limb," Sarah muttered.
+
+"Sarah was very anxious to fix me all up properly, Aunt Julia," Patricia
+went on, "but of course, after you had said--and I thought you'd feel
+better if the rest wore gingham aprons too. Sarah was very kind about it
+though," with a smile in her direction.
+
+"You go 'long, Miss P'tricia," Sarah protested.
+
+Miss Kirby bit her lip. "That is all very well, Patricia, but--"
+
+"We've had such fun, haven't we, girls?" Captain Kidd appealed to her
+fellow pirates.
+
+"Oh, we have," they chorused back.
+
+"And having supper out in the meadow when we hadn't expected it was the
+best part," Nell added.
+
+"What would you suggest?" Miss Kirby turned to her brother.
+
+His smile told her that he knew quite well that she was shifting upon
+him the responsibility of deciding. As a strict disciplinarian--in
+theory--it would never do for her to countenance such unlawful
+proceedings. He rose to the occasion promptly. "Soap and water for these
+highly reprehensible young folks, after that--the ice cream--seeing that
+the cherry pie came to a timely end. And for us--supper."
+
+"Isn't Daddy the dearest?" Patricia demanded, as she led her guests
+upstairs. "Daddy's always so understandified."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE WAY OF A GRANDMOTHER
+
+
+Patricia sat on the back steps carefully arranging purple and white
+asters in an old blue and white punchbowl, the pride of her Aunt Julia's
+heart.
+
+"It's the 'Washington bowl,' Custard," she explained to the small curly
+black dog, watching her intently. "Daddy says it's called that because
+it is just as easy to prove that Washington never did have punch from it
+as that he did." Patricia paused to rearrange one particularly wobbly
+aster, too short as to stem and too big as to head. "Anyhow, it's one
+of the very nicest things we've got."
+
+Custard sighed restlessly; to spend this breezy October afternoon in
+fussing over flowers, when just beyond the gate a whole world waited to
+be explored, seemed to him a most un-Patricia-like wasting of time.
+
+Then as Patricia rose slowly to her feet, the bowl of flowers in her
+hands, he sprang up at her with a sharp little bark of delight.
+
+"Down!" she warned sharply. "Custard Kirby, if you make me drop this
+punchbowl I don't know what Aunt Julia _will_ say!"
+
+It seemed to Patricia as if that journey upstairs to the spare bedroom
+never would be made in safety; but it was accomplished at last, and her
+burden placed right in the center of the low reading-table, standing at
+one side of the south window.
+
+With a long breath of relief, Patricia sat down on the edge of the bed,
+looking about the big pleasant room with approving eyes. It was exactly
+the sort of room she should like to have when she got be a grandmother.
+There were fresh muslin curtains at the windows, the fine old-fashioned
+mahogany furniture shone from its recent polishing; on the broad hearth
+a light fire was laid ready for the lighting, and at one corner of the
+fireplace stood a big chintz-covered armchair. Of course there was a
+footstool beside it. Patricia had seen to the footstool herself, hunting
+it out up garret that morning. She had wondered why Daddy's eyes
+twinkled at sight of it--Daddy would tell her nothing about grandmother,
+she must wait and see. And Patricia so hated waiting for anything, from
+surprises to scoldings.
+
+"Yes, it certainly does look grandmothery, Custard," she said; "and
+the flowers help a lot. I know she'll love asters; they're such an
+old-ladyish flower. Mind, sir, you're not to go rushing at her! And the
+very first time you run off with any of her things you're going to get
+your ears boxed."
+
+Custard wagged tentatively; boxing his ears appeared to him to belong to
+Miss Kirby's special department.
+
+"Miss P'tricia!" Sarah stood in the doorway, indignation in the very
+points of her knotted turban--"Miss P'tricia, ain't yo' never be'n tole
+not to sit on beds? 'Tic'larly beds all ready fo' comp'ny!"
+
+Patricia slipped hurriedly to her feet; but by this time Sarah had
+caught sight of something else. "Land sakes, Miss P'tricia! Ef yo' isn't
+gone an' tuk Miss Julia's punchbowl--what she don't 'low no one but
+herse'f to tech!"
+
+Patricia put an arm around Sarah's waist, or rather, around as much of
+it as she could encompass. "Aunt Julia wasn't in--and I wanted the very
+nicest bowl I could think of. It is so perfectly lovely to have a
+grandmother coming!"
+
+There was a world of unconscious longing in Patricia's voice; no one,
+not even Daddy, knew quite what the coming of her grandmother meant to
+the little motherless girl. And a grandmother she had not seen since
+babyhood. The coming weeks seemed to Patricia full of untold
+possibilities.
+
+"It do look pretty," Sarah admitted, as she went to smooth out the bed
+covers. "'Pears like it was time yo' was gettin' your dress changed,
+honey. Yo' best let me giv yo' hair a brush; seems like yo' never did
+get the kinks out."
+
+Patricia submitted with most unaccustomed patience to the finishing
+touches Sarah insisted on giving her toilet. "I reckon yo'll do now,
+honey," Sarah said at last.
+
+"Only half an hour more and she'll be here, Custard," Patricia said to
+the dog, sniffing inquiringly at the tips of her best shoes; "Daddy's
+to meet the five-thirty train."
+
+Patricia settled herself circumspectly in the hammock, smoothing out
+her crisp white skirts. "Oh, I do wonder what she'll be like, really
+I haven't even a photograph--grandmother doesn't like being
+photographed--and I haven't seen her since I was three years old.
+Custard, do you suppose she'll have an ear trumpet, like the Barkers'
+grandmother? It's very embarrassing talking into an ear trumpet.
+I rather hope she's short and--stoutish. I've been thinking over all
+the people I know, and it seems to me that the short, stout ones are
+mostly more good-natured than the other kinds."
+
+Custard wagged agreeingly; he was short, and not his worst enemy could
+accuse him of being thin. So far this coming of a grandmother did not
+appeal to Custard; never before had he been refused a share of the
+hammock; and those one or two preliminary nips he had taken at the toes
+of Patricia's shiny shoes had been promptly squelched. To be talked to
+and confided in was all very well, but a game of tag in the meadow
+behind the house would have been a great deal more fun. Nor was Custard
+quite sure what a grandmother was; he hoped it was something good to
+eat.
+
+Patricia had never known such a long half hour; she made one or two
+trips down to the gate, walking carefully on the edge of the grass, so
+as not to get her shoes dusty. It was very odd that Aunt Julia didn't
+come home--Good, she was coming now.
+
+"Isn't the train late?" Patricia demanded, the moment her aunt was
+within earshot.
+
+Miss Kirby smiled. "It isn't due yet, Patricia, for five minutes." She
+didn't look in the least excited, going calmly up the garden path to the
+house.
+
+But then it wasn't _her_ grandmother who was coming; besides,
+Patricia's gray eyes danced mischievously, she didn't know about the
+punchbowl.
+
+Patricia decided to wait down by the gate--explanations were such
+tiresome things.
+
+Then, in a few moments, far down the quiet village street she caught
+sight of a familiar gig, duly attended by old Cæsar, the pointer.
+
+The gig was quite close now. Patricia's heart gave a great jump, then
+seemed to stand quite still.
+
+She hadn't come!
+
+There was a lady in the gig with Daddy; but--
+
+Patricia turned sharply, and regardless of her shoes ran swiftly back up
+the driveway and through the garden to the meadow beyond; never stopping
+until she dropped, a little breathless heap, beside the brook.
+
+Custard barked excitedly, thinking it some new move in this grandmother
+game; then suddenly he poked his cold black nose in under the tossed
+thatch of Patricia's brown curls. For Patricia was crying--and doing it
+quite as earnestly and as thoroughly as she did most things.
+
+At last she sat up, dabbing her eyes.
+
+"She didn't come! And we were all ready--and now it can't be just the
+same--when she does come. Custard, do you suppose it's a--a judgment
+on me, for taking the punchbowl?"
+
+Custard looked sober.
+
+"I'll go put it right back. Oh, dear, I do hope that other person hasn't
+stayed to supper!"
+
+Patricia went back to the house, forlorn, bedraggled; very different
+from the Patricia whom Sarah had sent downstairs not an hour before,
+imploring her to "try and keep smarted up for once."
+
+On the back porch she met her father.
+
+"Patricia," he asked, "what does this mean? Why did you run away when
+you saw your grandmother coming?"
+
+Patricia gasped. "But, Daddy, she didn't come! I didn't see her! Oh, do
+you mean, was that--I expected she'd have on a bonnet tied under her
+chin--and a shawl--and glasses." Patricia was half crying again, her
+head on her father's shoulder.
+
+It was hard to relinquish the picture of the grandmother she had been
+carrying in her mind for the past fortnight; a sort of composite picture
+of all the grandmothers she knew in Belham.
+
+And the doctor, understanding, comforted her, sending her to freshen
+herself up again for supper, with the promise that it would all come
+right--she would see.
+
+On the upper landing Patricia came face to face with grandmother; a
+grandmother who was tall and slender and dressed in some delicate gray
+material that rustled softly when she walked, and gave forth a faint
+scent of violets. There was very little gray in the dark wavy hair,
+that framed a face altogether different from the placid wrinkled one
+of Patricia's imaginings; but when Mrs. Cory said, "O Patricia!" and
+held out her arms, Patricia went to her at once.
+
+They sat down on the broad window seat to get acquainted; Patricia hoped
+grandmother would not see she had been crying and how tumbled her clean
+dress was. Though Mrs. Cory saw, she said nothing, she had the gift of
+knowing what questions not to ask; only asking instead, "Patricia dear,
+who put that delightful bowl of flowers in my room?"
+
+Patricia's color deepened. "I did--grandmother; I thought you would
+like them--they were," Patricia caught herself up, doubting now the
+appropriateness of those "old-ladyish" flowers.
+
+Fortunately Custard appeared at that moment, wagging ingratiatingly; and
+grandmother at once responded to his overtures with a friendliness that
+warmed not only the heart of Custard but of Custard's small mistress.
+
+Patricia went to bed that night with her thoughts rather in a whirl.
+"I suppose," she decided finally, "that she is one of those 'up-to-date
+grandmothers' one reads about; anyhow, she's a dear and I love her, and
+oh, Aunt Julia did behave beautifully about the punchbowl--she seemed to
+appreciate what a delicate situation it was--and I'll never, never take
+it again without asking."
+
+On the whole, this "up-to-date grandmother" proved a most charming
+possession; a grandmother who took long walks with one, who played
+croquet with one, who planned delightful trips in town to shops and even
+to matinees. And how delightful to know that one was the object of both
+envy and interest to the other girls; to be able to show the tiniest of
+enameled watches, straight from Paris; to have a grandmother who had
+actually been in Egypt, and had seen the king and queen of England.
+Patricia held her head very high in these days.
+
+Yet at times there was an odd, barely defined feeling of something like
+regret at the bottom of Patricia's heart.
+
+This new grandmother was the best of chums and companions, but somehow
+it was hard to realize that she was really a _grandmother_. And
+before Patricia's inward gaze would pass the picture of a little
+white-capped old lady, quietly knitting at one corner of the fireplace;
+an old lady whose big Dutch pocket held an unfailing supply of ginger
+nuts and peppermint drops, whose stories were all of those far-off days
+when "I was a little girl."
+
+But only at times; as a rule these days were too full for Patricia to
+find time for inner visions.
+
+"You're the luckiest girl, Patricia Kirby," Patricia's particular chum,
+Nell Hardy, declared one morning on the way to school. "I think Mrs.
+Cory's perfectly lovely; she always acts as if she was ever so glad to
+see you."
+
+Patricia swung her strap of books thoughtfully. "Daddy says she has a
+beautiful manner. I'm going to be just like her."
+
+Nell's quick glance was hardly flattering. "When?"
+
+"Anyhow, she's _my_ grandmother!" Patricia retorted; she shook out
+her short skirts, if only she could have silk linings. Clothes were
+beginning to take on new meanings for Patricia.
+
+"We'd better hurry," Nell said, "or we'll be late."
+
+"Grandmother never really hurries."
+
+"Maybe she did when she was going to school; there's the bell now!"
+
+"Bet I'll be there first," Patricia said, darting ahead.
+
+But she wasn't; it seemed as if all the babies and dogs in town chose
+that particular moment to get right in her path, avoiding with equal
+skill Nell's eager rush. What with picking up a baby here and stopping
+to speak to one there--Patricia never could get by babies--Patricia
+reached the schoolhouse just too late to join her line and had to wait
+outside until the opening exercises were over.
+
+It was by no means the first time; and Miss Carrol looked very grave as
+Patricia slipped into her place a little later, trying to ignore Nell's
+bob of triumph.
+
+It was after supper that evening that the doctor called Patricia into
+the office. "Patricia," he said, as she came to stand before him, "I met
+Miss Carrol this afternoon."
+
+"Yes, Daddy." Patricia's thoughts flew rapidly backward; had she been
+doing anything very dreadful?
+
+"She tells me that you have been tardy very frequently of late,
+Patricia."
+
+"Y-yes, Daddy."
+
+"And yet you usually appear to start in good season?"
+
+"Yes, Daddy; it--it doesn't seem to be the _starting_ early.
+It's--such a lot of things always do seem to happen on the way."
+
+"What kind of things, Patricia?"
+
+"Well, you see, Daddy, there are such a lot of babies all along, they
+just expect to be noticed; and sometimes I go for some of the girls and
+they've something to do and I wait to help; and sometimes I go an errand
+for old Mrs. Daly--you know she hasn't any one to go at home. If you
+were with me you'd understand, Daddy."
+
+The doctor smiled. "Oh, I understand all right, Patricia; still, this
+being late for school has got to stop. Suppose every one in the room
+came just a little late?"
+
+"They don't," Patricia said; "most of the girls hate it."
+
+"And you must learn to hate it too; as a means to that end, if it
+happens again this week it must be only the yard on Saturday, Patricia."
+
+"Daddy!" Patricia made swift calculation on the tips of her fingers; it
+was Monday night--twice four made eight--eight pitfalls to be avoided or
+else--Not once since her coming had grandmother failed to take Patricia
+somewhere on Saturday afternoon.
+
+All of this was in Patricia's gray eyes, as she lifted them appealingly
+to her father. "Daddy, if you _could_ make it something else?"
+
+"Are you going to give up the fight beforehand, Pat?"
+
+"But you see, Daddy," Patricia quoted gravely, "I 'know my limitations.'
+And besides, it isn't just me--grandmother'll be so disappointed; you
+know we always go somewhere together Saturday afternoon."
+
+"Which means a double reason for coming up to the mark, Patricia," the
+doctor answered; and Patricia, with a little sigh, turned away.
+
+She and Custard were alone in the sitting-room a little later, when Mrs.
+Cory came in. Grandmother glanced at the sober face. "Is anything wrong,
+dear?" she asked.
+
+"I'm positive I can't make it," Patricia said forlornly.
+
+"Make what?"
+
+And Patricia explained.
+
+"Of course you can, dear," grandmother said cheerily; "and indeed you
+must; I've got a very special reason for wanting you to--I'm not going
+to tell you what it is, however, until Saturday morning at breakfast."
+
+"Over four days to wait! Grandmother, mayn't I have just the first
+letter?"
+
+Grandmother shook her head.
+
+The next morning at breakfast she announced that she felt the need of
+more regular exercise, and she thought she should take a short walk
+every morning.
+
+"Ah!" Dr. Kirby said, "about what time?"
+
+"I should think--about half past eight," Mrs. Cory answered.
+
+"A short walk _before_ breakfast is considered more beneficial by some."
+
+Miss Kirby looked interested. "There are a good many pretty walks about
+Belham," she said.
+
+When Patricia came down the path, her strap of books over her shoulder,
+and a get-there-early-or-die expression on her face, Mrs. Cory was just
+turning out of the gate.
+
+"Are you going in my direction, grandmother?" Patricia asked; and
+grandmother replied that she was.
+
+Later, sauntering slowly homewards, Mrs. Cory met the doctor. He drew
+rein. "Well?" he asked.
+
+She laughed softly. "Patrick, if you'd been with us! It was like making
+a royal progress. There were exactly six babies, and I quite lost count
+of the dogs, not to mention several old ladies, all waiting to pass the
+time of day with Patricia. My only wonder is that she ever gets to
+school at all. Patrick, I don't believe you realize what a dear child
+she is."
+
+"Don't I!"
+
+Mrs. Cory stood a moment looking down the pleasant tree-bordered street.
+She had not been in Belham before since the death of Patricia's mother,
+more than eight years ago, having been abroad most of the time. Now she
+found herself regretting this long absence. She had been missing a good
+deal--she would like to have had some share in Patricia's life all these
+years.
+
+"I was beautifully early this morning," Patricia announced proudly at
+the table that noon.
+
+"And you will be this afternoon?" grandmother asked.
+
+"I'm not so apt to be late afternoons," Patricia answered; "I suppose
+it's just happened that way."
+
+The next morning after breakfast, Patricia lingered. "Are you going my
+way _this_ morning, grandmother?"
+
+"Yes, dear," Mrs. Cory answered.
+
+Patricia caught the smile in her father's eyes and wondered.
+
+Half-way to school she suddenly stopped. "Grandmother, you're doing it
+on purpose--to _make_ me get there early!"
+
+Mrs. Cory smiled. "You see I didn't want to lose my treat, Patricia."
+
+When Friday noon came Patricia had not one tardy mark for those four
+days; and on that same Friday noon she met her Waterloo.
+
+It was the Dixon baby who caused her downfall.
+
+He was one of Patricia's most ardent admirers; and when he saw
+her coming that noon he made as straight for her as his very shaky
+two-year-old legs would allow. Of course he tumbled down and scratched
+his snubby little nose; and of course Patricia stopped to pet and
+comfort him, carrying him back to the house. "Mrs. Dixon," she called
+from the gate, "oh, Mrs. Dixon!"
+
+But Mrs. Dixon had just stepped over to a neighbor's. Patricia tried to
+put her charge down, but he stoutly refused to be put.
+
+"You'll be late, Patricia," Nell warned, coming up.
+
+"Danny won't let me leave him; and I don't know where his mother is,"
+Patricia almost wailed.
+
+"Mercy, put him down and come on!" Nell advised. "He's a little
+nuisance."
+
+"You don't know Danny's powers for hanging on," Patricia said; "besides,
+he did hurt himself."
+
+Five minutes after school had opened Patricia made her appearance.
+
+"Patricia," Miss Carrol said, "I had begun to hope that you were not
+going to end the week as you began it."
+
+Patricia took her place without answering.
+
+Miss Kirby and Mrs. Cory had gone in town that afternoon, not to return
+until the late train, and it so happened that the doctor did not come
+home to supper; so there was no one but Sarah to notice the depths into
+which Patricia was plunged. For Patricia never did anything by halves.
+
+"Is yo' sick, honey?" Sarah asked anxiously, when Patricia refused a
+second piece of chocolate cake.
+
+Patricia shook her head. "I'm just disgusted with life."
+
+"Land sakes!" Sarah exclaimed; "and only this noon looked like yo' was
+walkin' on air!"
+
+Patricia went to bed early that night; even Custard's powers to comfort
+had proved inadequate. To-morrow stretched ahead a long, blank, dreary
+waste.
+
+She was a little late to breakfast the next morning; as she slipped into
+place, after kissing him good-morning, the doctor glanced at her rather
+closely. She was a most subdued Patricia.
+
+And then grandmother came in, also a little late. "Patricia," she said,
+almost at once, "after breakfast I want you to run over and ask Mrs.
+Hardy if Nell may go in town with you and me to-day--to the circus."
+
+Patricia caught her breath--so that was the "special reason!"
+
+Then she pushed her chair back. "I--can't go!" she cried; and was
+halfway upstairs before any of the others could speak.
+
+Mrs. Cory turned to Miss Kirby. "What can be the matter?"
+
+Miss Kirby shook her head. "Do you know what it means, Patrick?"
+
+The doctor looked guilty. "I am afraid it means--that Patricia has been
+late to school again."
+
+"But I thought," grandmother began, then stopped; as soon as she had
+finished her breakfast she went up to Patricia's room.
+
+Coming down a few moments after, she went straight to the office.
+
+"Patrick," she said, "I have been finding out how Patricia came to be
+late; and remember, please, that Patricia herself has given me only the
+barest facts, with no thought of making out a case for herself, but
+reading between the lines--" and then the doctor was given the
+opportunity to also read between the lines.
+
+He listened gravely. "I know," he said at last, "it was a very
+Patricia-like action; still I am afraid I must stand by my word."
+
+"Patrick, I think I shall claim my prerogative."
+
+"Your what?"
+
+"Prerogative--as a grandmother. From time immemorial it has been the
+right of the grandmother to come to the rescue of the grandchildren."
+
+"But Patricia knows--"
+
+"It is my chance, you see,"--Mrs. Cory had been told why Patricia had
+run away that first night,--"my chance to prove to Patricia that even
+if I don't wear a cap and spectacles and all the paraphernalia of the
+good old-fashioned grandmother, at heart I really am one--just as
+soft-hearted and unreasonable as any one of them."
+
+"But--"
+
+"Patrick, didn't _your_ grandmother ever get _you_ out of a
+tight place?"
+
+The doctor looked thoughtfully out at the leaf-covered lawn; it was
+going to be a perfect fall day. "Yes," he said, "she did, more than
+once--bless her--in the most reprehensible way."
+
+"The way of a grandmother the world over," Mrs. Cory commented softly.
+
+"And upon my word I don't believe it did me any harm!" the doctor went
+through to the foot of the stairs. "O Pat!" he called.
+
+Patricia came promptly, bravely blinking back the tears.
+
+"You mustn't lay it up against _me_, Pat," the doctor said; "it's
+all your grandmother's doing. She simply insists on taking you to that
+circus today."
+
+"Daddy!" Patricia's arms were about his neck instantly; "Daddy, I
+_will_ try--ever 'n' ever so hard! You'll see!"
+
+The doctor laughed. "Wish I were going too, Pat. In my young days it was
+_after_ the circus that one appreciated most the advantages of
+owning a grandmother."
+
+"Where is grandmother, Daddy?"
+
+"In the office."
+
+Patricia flew to the office. "Oh," she cried, her arms around her
+grandmother's neck this time, "you're the very grandmotheriest
+grandmother that ever could be!"
+
+And then and there vanished forever from Patricia's heart that picture
+of a placid, wrinkled little old lady, knitting quietly at one corner of
+the fireplace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PATRICIA'S CHRISTMAS FAMILY
+
+
+"There!" Patricia stepped back, with a sigh of satisfaction. "It's all
+ready for the presents. Custard Kirby," she bent to pat the small curly
+black dog, stretched lazily out on the hearth-rug, "on your honor, have
+you ever seen a prettier Christmas-tree? Good! There's Daddy!"
+
+Patricia ran to open the front door. "Come and admire, Daddy," she
+urged.
+
+Dr. Kirby went with her to the library; in the center of the broad
+square room stood the tree, its slender tip just escaping the ceiling.
+
+"And I trimmed it nearly all myself!" Patricia explained, proudly. "Aunt
+Julia had to go out. Maybe you don't think I've been busy to-day, Daddy!
+I don't know but what it is a good thing that Christmas doesn't come
+more than once a year."
+
+"I should be bankrupt if it did," the doctor said, pulling one of
+Custard's long ears. "An only daughter is rather an expensive luxury."
+
+"As if I were anything more than a plain every-day necessity! And not
+such an incapable after all, am I, Daddy?"
+
+"Not when it comes to Christmas-trees."
+
+"Daddy, see, it's beginning to snow!"
+
+"We're going to have a white Christmas, all right," the doctor said;
+then, as the telephone rang sharply, he went to answer it.
+
+Patricia heard him give a sudden exclamation, ask one or two rapid
+questions; then he hung up the receiver and came back to the library
+door.
+
+"Patricia," he said, "there has been a bad accident down at the
+curve--the eastern express--they are bringing the injured up here to the
+hotel. 'Phone your aunt for me; and remember, _you_ are not to
+leave the house."
+
+"O Daddy!" Patricia followed him into the office; but all he could tell
+her was that it seemed to be a pretty bad affair, and that he was likely
+to be away from home some hours.
+
+"A sad Christmas eve for a good many, dear," he said, kissing her
+good-by.
+
+Patricia watched him, as he drove off a few moments later, through the
+fast falling snow. Christmas eve--and down there at the curve! Patricia
+choked back a sudden sob, as she went to telephone to her aunt, who was
+down at the church, helping with the Christmas decorations.
+
+Miss Kirby decided instantly to go right down to the hotel, where help
+would be needed. And _she_ also warned Patricia that she was not to
+leave home.
+
+"But oh, I want to go, Custard!" the girl protested; "I know I could
+help." She closed the library door; the sight of the Christmas-tree,
+its gay ornaments glittering in the firelight, hurt her.
+
+Patricia went to curl herself up on one of the sitting-room
+window-seats. Jim had gone with her father; Sarah was down at the gate
+talking over the accident with the maid from next door. Presently,
+across the street, a familiar figure came into view, through the
+gathering twilight. Patricia hurried to the door. "O Nell!" she called.
+
+Nell Hardy came running over. "Patricia, you've heard?"
+
+"Yes; they sent for Daddy. Aunt Julia's gone down to the hotel."
+
+"So's Mama; she wouldn't let me go with her. O Patricia! If it had been
+the local!"
+
+"Don't, Nell! Come on in and stay; I'm under orders not to leave the
+house."
+
+They went into the sitting-room, where Patricia brightened up the fire
+and lit the big lamp, with its crimson shade. Then she came to sit
+beside Nell on the broad old lounge. "Nell, aren't you wild to help too?
+If only Daddy hadn't--Oh, I know--" The next moment Patricia was out in
+the hall at the telephone.
+
+Nell waited wonderingly.
+
+"Come on, Nell!" Patricia stood in the open doorway, her eyes dancing.
+"Five of them coming!"
+
+"What are you talking about, Pat?"
+
+"Children." Patricia was leading the way upstairs. "I got Mrs. Brown,
+down at the hotel, on the 'phone. I wish you could have heard her!"
+
+"Children! I should say so, Miss Patricia! Five of them crying in my own
+sitting-room at this minute. No, not hurt; frightened out of their wits,
+and their own people too hurt to look after them. And when I asked if
+I might have them up here, Nell, I wish you could have heard her. She's
+sending them right up in one of the hotel rigs."
+
+"But, Patricia--"
+
+"There aren't any buts in this affair. We'll take Aunt Julia's room and
+mine. It won't do to turn Daddy out of his, and I must have
+communicating ones."
+
+"But your aunt--" Nell began again.
+
+"Oh, Aunt Julia'll understand." Patricia was kneeling before the deep
+fireplace in her aunt's room, piling it generously with wood from the
+box in the corner.
+
+"Miss P'tricia, what yo' up ter?" Sarah demanded, unexpectedly, from the
+doorway. "Yo' know Miss Julia don' like a fire in her room nights--an'
+de house like summer now, wid de furnuss!"
+
+"Aunt Julia isn't sleeping here tonight," Patricia answered, calmly;
+"and I particularly want the room cheerful; you know, there's nothing
+like an open fire for making things cheerful."
+
+"Miss P'tricia, what yo' be'n doin'?"
+
+And Patricia explained.
+
+Sarah rolled her black eyes ceiling-wards. "Who ever heerd tell o' sich
+doin's! I'd jus' like ter know who done gib yo' commission ter do this,
+Miss P'tricia! An' whatever is yo' goin' do wid five strange young uns?"
+
+"Make them happy and comfortable, I hope," Patricia laughed. "There they
+are now. Start a fire in my room, please, Sarah, and make up a bed on my
+lounge. Come on, Nell," and Patricia was out of the room and downstairs
+in a flash.
+
+Before the steps stood the carriage from the hotel, and from within it
+five white, frightened little faces looked anxiously out.
+
+Patricia made straight for the youngest one, a two-year-old girl. "You
+poor baby!" she cried, softly.
+
+Heedless, impulsive, Patricia had at least the gift of winning her way
+right to a child's heart; and without a moment's hesitation the child
+put a pair of clinging little arms about her neck.
+
+She and Nell took the five into the warm, bright sitting-room, where
+they took off hats and coats and gently rubbed the cold little hands.
+"Why, you're not much more than babies, any of you!" Patricia glanced
+pityingly from one to another of her protégés.
+
+"I'm seven," the oldest answered. "I'm Norma Howard; she's my little
+sister Totty." She pointed to the baby on Patricia's lap. "She keeps
+crying for Mama--Mama was hurt," Norma hid her face against Patricia.
+
+Patricia slipped an arm about her. "I shouldn't wonder if my Daddy were
+looking after her right now. He's the best doctor in the whole world!"
+She turned to the two little boys, staring up at her from the depths of
+the doctor's big chair: "And are you brothers?"
+
+"No'm," the larger one responded; "we've only just 'come 'quainted. He's
+only five; I'm five 'an half. I'm Archibald Sears; his name's Tommy--I
+want my mother!"
+
+Tommy's blue eyes filled. "So do I," he cried.
+
+Totty took up the wail; and the little four-year-old girl on Nell's lap
+promptly followed suit.
+
+"What shall we do?" Nell asked, imploringly.
+
+But at that moment Sarah appeared. She took Tommy up in her strong,
+motherly arms, soothing him in practised fashion. "There, there, honey!
+Yo's goin' have yo' mother pretty soon. What yo' wants now's yo' supper,
+ain't it, honey? I reckon ain't no one had de sense ter gib yo' chillens
+a mite ter eat."
+
+Tommy tucked his head down on Sarah's broad shoulder with a pathetic
+little sigh of comfort. In the home which at this moment seemed very far
+away to Tommy was an old colored mammy. He refused to let Sarah put him
+down, so she took him with her while she got ready the five bowls of
+warm bread and milk, which she declared the best possible supper for all
+the children under the circumstances.
+
+"But whatever put such a notion in yo' head, Miss P'tricia, is more'n
+I kin figger out," she declared a few moments later, guiding the sleepy
+Tommy's spoon in its journey from bowl to mouth. "What yo' reckon yo'
+pa's goin' say?"
+
+"I think," Patricia glanced about the table, "that just at present Daddy
+would say--bed."
+
+"H'm," Sarah grunted, "yo' knows what I means. Well, it's sure got ter
+be a bath for them all 'fore it kin be bed; so we'd best get started."
+
+She headed the little procession upstairs, Tommy in her arms, Patricia
+bringing up the rear with Totty.
+
+"If it hadn't come about in such a dreadful way, wouldn't it be
+perfectly lovely?" Patricia said. "Think of it, Nell--_five_
+children to spend Christmas with one!"
+
+Nell laughed. "Your Christmas isn't over yet, Pat; it won't be all
+smooth running."
+
+"You can't scare me. Nell, we'll hang up their stockings for them. They
+must have their Christmas."
+
+"What yo' goin' do fo' night things fo' dem, Miss P'tricia?" Sarah
+asked, suddenly; "'pears like ain't none o' 'em come much laden down wid
+luggage."
+
+"N-no," Patricia answered; "probably their things weren't very
+get-atable. We'll have to take some of my gowns, Sarah."
+
+Whereupon Archibald lifted up his voice in swift protestation; he didn't
+want to wear a girl's things; he wanted to go home; he wanted to sleep
+in his own bed; he wanted his mother!
+
+At that all-compelling word four other voices rose in instantaneous
+lamentation, even Norma catching the general infection.
+
+"Sarah, can't you do something?" Patricia implored. "Nell, what does
+your mother do when your brothers cry like this?"
+
+"They--don't cry like this," Nell answered, trying desperately to quiet
+Lydia.
+
+"Mebbe next time, Miss P'tricia," Sarah's tone was strictly of the
+"I-told-you-so" order, "yo' won't go 'vitin' a whole tribe o' young uns,
+widout resultin' any one."
+
+Patricia, walking the room with the screaming Totty, came to a sudden
+halt before Archibald, lying face down on the floor. "If you'll stop
+crying I'll let Custard come up," she said.
+
+"Who's Custard?" Archibald rolled over on his back to consider the
+matter.
+
+"My dog."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Downstairs--in the kitchen."
+
+"Does he like boys?"
+
+"Not when they cry."
+
+Archibald rubbed his eyes. "I'm not crying now."
+
+But at that moment, Custard, who considered that he had been kept in the
+background quite long enough, came upstairs on his own account. As Sarah
+said, he seemed "ter sense the situation," for he trotted about making
+friends, lapping the tears from Tommy's face, and standing up on his
+hind legs to let Totty pat his head.
+
+Sarah promptly took advantage of the lull to whisk the boys off to the
+bath-room; half an hour later, all five children, well wrapped in shawls
+and blankets, were gathered about the fire in Patricia's room for the
+hanging of the Christmas stockings.
+
+That ceremony over, Sarah pounced on Tommy and Archibald, carrying them
+off to bed in Miss Kirby's room. "An' mercy knows what Miss Julia done
+say when she find yo' here," she muttered, tucking them in snugly.
+
+Archibald sat up in bed. "I want--Custard!"
+
+"Yo' go 'long ter sleep, young sir," Sarah expostulated. "What yo' think
+Marse Santa Clause goin' say ter such goin's-on?"
+
+"I want Custard!"
+
+"Let him have him, Sarah!" Patricia exclaimed.
+
+"Miss P'tricia! 'Low that onery dog on yo' aunt's bed!"
+
+Patricia let the insult to her pet pass.
+
+"_On_ it, _in_ it, _under_ it, if it'll keep him quiet!"
+
+Sarah lifted Custard in far from respectful fashion, dropping him, an
+astonished, but entirely acquiescent heap, between Archibald and Tommy.
+
+Lydia, already asleep, was disposed of in Patricia's bed, and Norma and
+Totty settled comfortably on the wide lounge.
+
+"An' now, honey," Sarah said, "I's goin' get you and Miss Nell yo'
+supper."
+
+They went downstairs, where Sarah made Patricia and Nell comfortable at
+a small table drawn up before the sitting-room fire.
+
+"But what are you going to fill those stockings with, Pat?" Nell asked,
+after Sarah had left them alone.
+
+"I can manage all right for the girls; I've loads of toys stowed away up
+garret. I've always had heaps of things given me, but if I could get
+out-of-doors, and had something alive to play with, I'd let the other
+things go every time. I am a bit puzzled about Archibald's and Tommy's."
+
+"I'll run home and get some of the little boys' toys," Nell offered.
+When supper was over, while Patricia went, as she called it, "shopping
+up garret," Nell made a hurried trip home and back.
+
+"There," she exclaimed, coming in breathless, her head and shoulders
+white with snow, "will these do?" She laid a toy engine, a trumpet, a
+tin sword, and a small box of lead soldiers on the table.
+
+"Beautifully!" Patricia was placing a small jointed doll in the top of
+Norma's stocking. "This is going to be about the realest Christmas I've
+ever had."
+
+"It's going to be a mighty sad one for a lot of people."
+
+All the fun and laughter vanished from Patricia's gray eyes. She looked
+about the pleasant, homelike room, with its trimmings of evergreen and
+holly, and a swift, sharp, realizing sense of what was going on down at
+the hotel came to her. For a moment the girl's lips quivered and the
+hand that held Tommy's empty stocking trembled. "But, Nell," she said
+slowly, "I am sure--oh, I know they would want their children to have
+their Christmas. It would be too dreadful, afterwards--if they could
+remember nothing but--sadness and--sorrow. O Nell, I wonder if there
+were any children hurt?"
+
+"I don't know," Nell answered. "Let's--not talk about it, Patricia.
+Shall I put the trumpet in Archibald's stocking?"
+
+"I suppose so, he's larger than Tommy. I don't know what Aunt Julia will
+do if he wakes up early and starts to blowing it. Poor Aunt Julia! She's
+got a lot of surprises coming her way." Patricia stuffed out the toe of
+Lydia's stocking with the regulation nuts and raisins. "There," she
+said, a moment later, "I reckon these are ready to hang up again."
+
+They tiptoed upstairs softly; the children were all sleeping quietly,
+and even Custard barely opened the corner of one eye at Patricia's
+coming.
+
+Custard was having the time of his life. Hitherto, beds had been
+strictly forbidden ground with Custard; and just what could have brought
+about this most delightful state of affairs was quite beyond his powers
+of imagination, but he was wisely wasting no time in idle speculation.
+
+Patricia stroked him a bit dubiously. "I am afraid Aunt Julia will rebel
+at this, old fellow; but Archibald's got fast hold of you, and I simply
+can't risk waking him up."
+
+"I must go now, Pat," Nell said, as they went downstairs again; "I told
+Papa I'd be back soon."
+
+"Somehow," she added, as she and Patricia stood a moment on the front
+steps, "I can't make it seem like Christmas eve--not even with your five
+stockings, Pat."
+
+Patricia looked out at the white whirl of snow; the street seemed
+deserted, but here and there, where a blind had been left undrawn,
+a light shone out.
+
+Then, from the house next door, came the sound of a Christmas carol:
+
+  "Hark! the herald angels sing
+  Glory to the new-born King."
+
+
+Clearly, joyously, through the still, snow-laden air, sounded the
+words--
+
+  "Risen with healing in His wings,
+  Light and life to all He brings.
+  Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
+  Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!"
+
+
+Patricia drew a long breath. "But it _is_ Christmas eve, Nell. And,
+O Nell, at least _we_ didn't have any one there--on the express."
+
+"N-no," Nell said gravely, "still--"
+
+"Maybe it won't be exactly a 'merry Christmas'," Patricia began--"Nell,
+listen!"
+
+From upstairs came a prolonged wail.
+
+"Totty!" Patricia cried.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was more than an hour later when the doctor and Miss Kirby drove
+slowly up the snow-covered drive. "I am afraid Patricia has had rather
+a lonely Christmas eve," Miss Kirby said.
+
+"It looks as if she had gone to bed," her brother answered; "the door
+would have been open by this time, if she were on hand."
+
+Miss Kirby went directly upstairs to take off her things; in the upper
+hall she caught the flicker of firelight through her own and Patricia's
+half-opened doors; and although ordinarily she did not care for a fire
+in her room at night, the knowledge that there was one awaiting her now
+brought a sense of comfort. Probably Patricia had thought she would be
+cold and tired--Patricia was really very considerate at times.
+
+Three minutes later Miss Kirby was standing in the middle of her room,
+staring with wide, amazed eyes at her very much occupied bed.
+
+Two children and a _dog_!
+
+Involuntary, she lowered the light, so as not to awaken the sleepers.
+Two children and a _dog_! Could it be the effect of over-wrought
+nerves? Then she recognized Custard.
+
+Custard was blinking sleepily up at her, but he did not move. He may
+have realized the desirability of not disturbing his companions, or he
+may have concluded that possession was nine-tenths of the law; with a
+little audacious sigh of comfort, he tucked his head down and dropped
+off to sleep again.
+
+Miss Kirby turned towards Patricia's room. A moment after, the doctor
+heard her calling to him softly from the landing.
+
+"Anything wrong?" he asked.
+
+"Come and see!" Miss Kirby was almost hysterical.
+
+"Patricia isn't--?"
+
+"Come and see!" Miss Kirby led the way to her room, pointing
+dramatically to the bed.
+
+The doctor surveyed the trio within it. "Upon my--" his lips twitched.
+"No one from around here! Evidently, Patricia has--"
+
+"Suppose you look in Patricia's room," Miss Kirby suggested.
+
+Going to the door, the doctor gave one brief, comprehensive glance; then
+he turned: "And how many in my room?"
+
+Miss Kirby gasped. "I'll go see."
+
+"None," she reported, "and none in the spare-room. Patrick, these must
+be children from--the hotel. Oh dear, was there ever such a girl!"
+
+The doctor looked about him, more slowly this time, seeing Lydia in the
+bed, Norma on the lounge; seeing the little, flushed contented faces;
+seeing the stockings hanging ready for the morning from the mantelpiece;
+seeing, and here his glance rested longest, Patricia in a low chair
+before the fire, Totty in her arms, both fast asleep; noting the tired
+droop of the dark head against the baby's yellow one.
+
+He might have known Patricia would never be content to sit idle, when
+just at hand was so much of pain and suffering to be relieved.
+
+"Isn't it exactly like Patricia?" Miss Kirby sighed, wearily.
+
+"Yes," the doctor's voice was very gentle, "I think it is--exactly like
+Patricia." Crossing the room, he carefully loosened Patricia's grasp,
+taking Totty from her.
+
+Patricia stirred and opened her eyes. "Daddy! Oh, I am glad you're back!
+But, please, please, be very careful not to wake Totty; I'm so afraid
+she'll get to crying again."
+
+The doctor laid Totty beside Norma. "Suppose you come downstairs, Pat,
+and explain this invasion of the premises to your aunt and me," he said,
+holding out his hand to her.
+
+Sitting on the arm of her father's chair, Patricia told her story.
+
+"Have--you been in your room, Aunt Julia?" she asked.
+
+"I have, Patricia."
+
+"I am sorry about Custard, Aunt Julia; but Archibald wouldn't be
+comforted without him; he wanted his--mother."
+
+Miss Kirby thought of the long dining-room down at the hotel, turned
+into a hospital ward; where on this Christmas eve more than one mother
+was lying very near the borders of the undiscovered country.
+
+"And I had to take your room, Aunt Julia," Patricia went on, "so as to
+have two communicating ones. I hope you don't mind much?"
+
+And Miss Kirby had not the heart to admit how much, in her present
+weariness of mind and body, she did care.
+
+The doctor patted Patricia's cheek. "I thought Mrs. Brown was keeping
+those children wonderfully out of the way. I wish their poor mothers
+could have known how well they were being cared for."
+
+Patricia drew a quick breath of pleasure. "And we'll keep them over
+Christmas, Daddy?"
+
+"That depends--upon various things. By the way, where do you sleep
+to-night, Pat?"
+
+"Oh, I'll go into the spare-room, with Aunt Julia," Patricia responded,
+cheerfully.
+
+Miss Kirby stifled a sigh; and hoped that Patricia's activities would
+not recommence too early the next morning.
+
+It was not Patricia who woke Miss Kirby the next morning.
+
+Custard, waking early, and finding himself in such unaccustomed
+surroundings, decided to look for his young mistress. Having been
+permitted on one bed seemed to Custard sufficient warrant for getting on
+another. Miss Kirby woke with a start to find a little wriggling object
+standing between herself and Patricia, while a small moist tongue did
+active and alternate service on both their faces.
+
+Her shriek of dismay awoke Patricia.
+
+"Aunt Julia!" Patricia was shaking with laughter, "I'll tell Daddy--how
+you woke me up, playing with Custard!"
+
+"He's the most--" Miss Kirby dived beneath the bed-clothes. "Take him
+away, Patricia!"
+
+From across the hall came the shrill blast of a trumpet. Custard,
+his forefeet firmly planted on Miss Kirby's chest, his head cocked
+enquiringly, promptly barked a defiant response.
+
+The next moment the spare-room seemed full of children, all, like
+Custard, in search of Patricia, and making, at sight of her, as swift an
+onslaught in her direction as the extreme length of their nightgowns
+would permit.
+
+So, after all, Christmas morning began merrily for them, at least.
+
+The doctor, coming home later from an early visit to the hotel, stopped
+outside Patricia's open door. "Merry Christmas, Pat! Got your hands
+full?"
+
+Patricia was kneeling on the floor, buttoning Tommy's shoes. "Merry
+Christmas, Daddy," she answered, gaily; "I certainly have."
+
+Norma came slowly up to the doctor; she remembered him from last night;
+for in all the hurry and confusion of the moment he had found time for a
+few comforting words to the frightened, bewildered children. "Have--have
+you made Mama better?" she asked, wistfully.
+
+The doctor sat down, taking her on his knee. "What is your mother's
+name, dear?"
+
+"Mrs. Howard."
+
+The doctor brushed the child's soft curls; and Patricia, seeing the
+gravity of his eyes, caught her breath. "Your mother was resting very
+quietly when I left her just now, dear," he said, gently; then he turned
+to Archibald. "Did you find that trumpet in your stocking, young man?"
+
+Archibald nodded. "I want my--"
+
+"I found this!" Lydia held up one of Patricia's many dolls. They all
+crowded about him, claiming his attention, Totty demanding to be taken
+up.
+
+"Got your hands full, Daddy?" Patricia laughed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+About the candle-lighted tree Patricia's small guests circled
+admiringly. It _had_ been a merry Christmas for the little
+travel-wrecked strangers; and now, with the tree, had come the
+culminating point of this long happy day.
+
+"Isn't it pretty?" Norma came to lean against Patricia. "I wish Mama
+could see it."
+
+"You must remember to tell her all about it," Patricia answered.
+
+"Will I see her to-morrow?" Norma asked longingly.
+
+"Perhaps," Patricia said; and when presently her father had to leave
+them, to go down to the hotel, she went with him to the door. "Daddy,
+you'll be back soon?"
+
+"As soon as possible, dear."
+
+"And--you think--with good news for them--all?"
+
+"I hope so, dear."
+
+Patricia went back to the library with sober face. "But at least," she
+thought, taking Totty on her lap, "they'll have had their Christmas."
+
+It was far from soon before the doctor returned. Patricia's charges were
+in bed and asleep. Custard, who had been looking forward to bedtime all
+day, had retired to his basket--a disillusioned dog. To-night Archibald
+was finding all the solace needed in a gaily painted Noah's Ark. Miss
+Kirby was lying down in the sitting-room,--she had not found it a day
+of unbroken calm,--so that Patricia was alone in the library when her
+father returned.
+
+He drew her down beside him on the lounge. "It _is_ good news for
+them all, Patricia, I think Norma and Totty may see their mother
+to-morrow. I have brought you a great deal of love, Patricia, from more
+than one mother; love and gratitude."
+
+"Oh, I am glad they're all better!" Patricia said. "Daddy, I've been
+thinking; I don't see how we're ever going to get along after this
+without a Christmas family."
+
+The doctor bent to kiss her. "What I've been thinking is what your
+'family' would have done for their Christmas without you. I'm proud
+of you, Pat."
+
+"O Daddy!" Patricia's eyes were shining.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13895 ***
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13895 ***</div>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Patricia, by Emilia Elliott</h1>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<br>
+<br><br><br>
+
+<h1>
+    PATRICIA
+</h1>
+<center><b>
+BY EMILIA ELLIOTT
+</b>
+<center>
+<small>
+1910
+</small>
+</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr>
+<br><br>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;">
+It is a deep regret to the publishers that Miss Emilia Elliott, the
+creator of the charming character of Patricia, did not live to see this
+book in print, nor to enjoy the welcome that they are confident it will
+be accorded.
+</p>
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr>
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CONTENTS
+</h2>
+
+<p class="toc">CHAPTER</p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0001">
+  I. PATRICIA'S FATIGUING DAY.
+</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0002">
+ II. THE GINGHAM APRON PARTY
+</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0003">
+III. THE WAY OF A GRANDMOTHER
+</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0004">
+ IV. PATRICIA'S CHRISTMAS FAMILY
+</a></p>
+<a name="2H_TOC"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+<hr>
+
+
+<a name="2HCH0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER I
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    PATRICIA'S FATIGUING DAY
+</h3>
+<p>
+Patricia sat on the back fence, almost hidden by the low-spreading
+branches of an old apple-tree. Below her, on the grass, lay a small,
+curly, black dog, his brown, trustful eyes fixed confidently on
+Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really, you know," the child said, gravely, "it's a very perplexing
+situation. Aunt Julia needn't have been so inhospitable. Why didn't
+I wait until Daddy got home! Daddy's so much more&mdash;convincible. But
+it's no use now; Daddy never goes back on Aunt Julia."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia slipped from the fence. "I rather think you and I'd better go
+down to the back meadow to talk things over; it's getting pretty near
+sewing-time."
+</p>
+<p>
+Out in the meadow, flat on her back in the long grass, Patricia set
+herself to the task of solving this perplexing situation.
+</p>
+<p>
+Half an hour earlier she had appeared back from one of her desultory
+rambles, accompanied by this most forlorn of all forlorn dogs,
+explaining that she had met him on the road, and he had followed
+her home.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was no unusual occurrence, but when Patricia added that he didn't
+seem to belong to anybody, and she thought she would keep him, Miss
+Kirby promptly and firmly protested.
+</p>
+<p>
+To Patricia's pleading, that he was poor and lame and homeless, that
+Cæsar, the pointer, was the only dog they had now, and he was too old
+to play much, Miss Kirby had proved adamant. Patricia might give her
+foundling a good meal, but keep him she <i>could not</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+Whereupon, Patricia, having given the wanderer what was in reality
+several meals condensed into one, had retired with him to think things
+over.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It really seems as if you'd been meant for me," she told him now;
+"I found you. I can't see why Aunt Julia won't look at things in a
+proper light. I'm afraid she hurt your feelings. Aunt Julia generally
+means pretty well, but she's apt to speak out sort of quick. We Kirbys
+mostly do. I wonder what your name is?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The dog stretched comfortably out in the warm grass, quite as happy and
+contented as if he had been everything he wasn't, sat up suddenly, with
+a short little bark, as if trying to give the desired information.
+</p>
+<p>
+Rolling over, Patricia, her chin in her hands, surveyed him carefully.
+"You aren't very handsome just now; but then, I know lots of people who
+aren't very good looking. I don't see why that saying Aunt Julia is so
+fond of&mdash;about 'Handsome is as handsome does'&mdash;shouldn't apply to dogs
+as well as people. All the same, you are a very mixed numbery sort of
+a dog: you've got one and three-quarters ears, three and one-half
+legs,&mdash;at least you don't use that front paw very much,&mdash;and half a
+tail; and your hair is rather&mdash;patchy. But inside, I'm sure you're all
+right. And you have <i>beautiful</i> eyes; <i>they're</i> all there, too."
+</p>
+<p>
+The dog blinked back at her soberly, wagging his abbreviated tail in
+apologetic fashion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You've simply got to have a home," Patricia went on; "and it's up to me
+to find you one. But I think you'll have to have a bath first, and your
+paw bandaged."
+</p>
+<p>
+Jumping up, Patricia darted back to the house, and around to the side
+door, leading to her father's office. Presently, she reappeared with a
+cake of antiseptic soap, a box of salve, a roll of bandage, a pair of
+scissors, and a bath-towel; with these gathered up in the skirt of her
+frock she led the way down to the brook, followed by a most unsuspecting
+small dog.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ten minutes later that same small dog&mdash;decidedly sadder and wetter, if
+not wiser&mdash;lay shivering on the sunny bank, while Patricia rubbed him
+vigorously with one of her aunt's largest bath-towels.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the cut paw was salved and bandaged, and the most hopelessly
+tangled knots of curls cut away. After which, Patricia, sitting back on
+heels, studied her charge approvingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If Aunt Julia could see you <i>now</i>! Why didn't I do all this first?
+But&mdash;well, Aunt Julia's made up her mind; and she isn't exactly the
+changey kind. I wonder if you'd like it at the Millers'? They've got a
+lot of children, but they're ever so nice children! They've three dogs
+now, so one more oughtn't to count&mdash;and you'd have plenty of company."
+</p>
+<p>
+The dog, whose only present anxiety was to feel dry once more, merely
+rolled over on his back by way of answer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, but you mustn't!" Patricia protested. "You'll get all dirty again.
+I know it's horrid to feel too clean, but, you see, it's so necessary to
+make a good first impression! I reckon it was the first impression that
+made all the trouble with Aunt Julia this morning. Come on, we'll start
+right off; it's a pretty long walk to the Millers'."
+</p>
+<p>
+They went 'cross-lots, stopping for more than one romp by the way, one
+quite as light-hearted and irresponsible as the other; though behind
+Patricia lay more than one neglected task, and before her companion
+stretched a possibly homeless future.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a nearly perfect June day, the blue sky overhead just flecked
+with soft, fleecy white clouds, and with enough breeze stirring to lift
+Patricia's short brown curls and fan her sunburned cheeks.
+</p>
+<p>
+Out on the highroad the wild roses were in bloom, and the air was full
+of soft summer sounds; the very birds hopping lightly about from fence
+to fence had a holiday air&mdash;and to Patricia there was something very
+friendly in the inquisitive cock of their pert little heads, as they
+stopped now and then to inspect her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh!" she cried, joyously, reaching up on tiptoe to gather a spray of
+wild roses just above her head, "aren't we having the loveliest time,
+Dog?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Her companion wagged agreeingly; he was, at any rate. The hot sun on his
+back felt exceedingly good; he began to entertain hopes of actually
+feeling really and thoroughly dry again&mdash;some time.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's the Millers' house&mdash;the brown one, beyond the curve," Patricia
+told him. And as it was the only house in sight, he had no trouble in
+locating it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm sure you'll be happy there," Patricia added. "It's funny there
+aren't any children, or dogs, about. There's Mrs. Miller."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Miller was hanging out a wash. "Patricia Kirby!" She pushed back
+her sunbonnet, the better to survey the child. "Where is your hat?
+You're redder'n one of my big pinies!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia put her hand up to her head. "Maybe I left it in the meadow;
+I'm not sure I've had it on at all this morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well!" Mrs. Miller's tone was emphatic. "The children and the dogs've
+all gone off picnicking," she added. "I suppose you've come to see
+them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"N-no," Patricia answered. "I came to bring you a&mdash;present, Mrs. Miller.
+The nicest&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+She stopped abruptly, as Mrs. Miller rushed by her, with a shriek,
+waving her apron frantically.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the grass spread out to bleach, lay one of Mrs. Miller's best
+tablecloths; and in the middle of the cloth Mrs. Miller's present was
+rolling and twisting his damp, dusty little self, uttering all the while
+short, sharp little barks of satisfaction.
+</p>
+<p>
+But he was on his feet before any one could reach him, and with one
+corner of the cloth caught in his mouth, had run gayly away.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Head that dog off, Patricia!" Mrs. Miller screamed. "What dog is it,
+anyway&mdash;mischievous, good-for-nothing little scamp? He doesn't belong
+about here! Ten to one, he followed you in. I never knew such a child
+for taking up with stray dogs!"
+</p>
+<p>
+After several strenuous moments the cloth was rescued. "Is it hurt very
+much?" Patricia asked, anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Miller held it up; one of the corners was torn and frayed rather
+badly, and the whole cloth was covered with grass-stains and dirt.
+"You can see for yourself," she said wrathfully; "and it a <i>new</i>
+cloth&mdash;never used yet!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But it'll wash, won't it?" Patricia suggested. "And the torn part won't
+show when it's on the table; and it won't show when it's folded up in
+the drawer." She stooped to lay a restraining hand on the wrongdoer, who
+already had an eye on various other articles scattered about the grass.
+"I wouldn't have thought he could run so, with a lame paw, would you,
+Mrs. Miller?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The sooner he runs out of my sight, the better for him," Mrs Miller
+declared, warmly. "If he don't get started mighty quick I'll help him
+along a bit with a broom handle."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia drew herself up. "I&mdash;I think I'll be going."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, Patricia," Mrs. Miller called after her, "what was that about a
+present? Something your aunt sent?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, Aunt Julia didn't send him. I brought you a&mdash;a dog, Mrs. Miller."
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>That</i> little nuisance! Well, well, of all&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia waited to hear no more; not until she was some distance up the
+road did she turn to her charge, limping ostentatiously in the rear.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That was another bad first impression, Dog! It wasn't my fault this
+time. Really, I'm very much ashamed of you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dog sat down, holding up a bandaged paw. His whole dejected little body
+expressed penitence of the deepest dye.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia softened. "I'm not so sure whether, after all, you would have
+liked it at the Millers'. I'm a good deal disappointed in Mrs. Miller,
+myself."
+</p>
+<p>
+She sat down on the grass beside the road to rearrange the loosened
+bandage. "Puppies will be puppies, I suppose. Daddy says you must always
+take the intention into consideration&mdash;and I don't suppose you
+<i>intended</i> to be bad. It's dreadfully easy to be bad, without
+intending to. I certainly hope it won't be washing-day at the next
+place. The idea of having Thursday for a wash-day, anyhow! Dear me,
+where is the next place?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The dog crawled into her lap, trying to lick her face. He was not
+in the least anxious to decide upon any "next place." Sitting there in
+Patricia's lap, in the shade of a wide-spreading maple, seemed a very
+agreeable method of passing the time.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," Patricia said, stroking the little black head, "we'll try
+Miss Jane. You don't know Miss Jane. She's awfully nice. She and her
+sister haven't any dog but they've got a cat; you wouldn't mind
+that&mdash;she's a very intelligent cat; Miss Jane says so."
+</p>
+<p>
+To reach Miss Jane's it was necessary to leave the highroad for a
+narrow, winding lane. A quarter of a mile further on they came to the
+little white house. Patricia thought it very lonely looking, but perhaps
+her companion might think otherwise. "And I do think," she said,
+gravely, "that it's very good of me to bring them such a nice dog&mdash;to
+keep the tramps off."
+</p>
+<p>
+A large gray cat, sunning herself on one of the gate-posts, was the only
+sign of life about the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+But not for long. The next moment an exceedingly astonished, irate cat
+was taking an unusual amount of exercise in the prim little garden,
+urged cheerily on by a small, curly dog, whose three legs seemed quite
+as effective as most dogs' four. While down the path from the house
+came Miss Jane and Miss Susan, also stout, elderly, and unaddicted to
+overmuch exercise, anxious for their cat, anxious for their garden,
+most of all anxious to get this strange intruder off the premises.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go away, little girl, and take that horrid dog with you," Miss Jane
+commanded, shaking a stick she had picked up.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's eyes flashed. "I'm not '<i>little girl</i>.' I'm <i>Patricia Kirby</i>!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Pa-tri-cia Kir-by! Upon my word!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's bare curls were blown and tangled; her face, hot and dusty;
+her blue gingham frock, fresh that morning, between water and dust was a
+sight to behold. She bore very little resemblance to the Patricia Kirby
+Miss Jane was accustomed to see in church on Sunday, or sometimes
+driving about with Dr. Kirby.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whatever are you doing alone so far from home, Patricia?" Miss Susan
+asked, coming up. The cat had retired to the shelter of a tall tree,
+from a branch of which she glared down on her pursuer, who lay hot and
+panting on the ground below.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia pointed to the dog. "Why, I came on purpose to bring you
+him&mdash;for a present, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Jane gasped.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's a very nice dog," Patricia went on. "I'd love to keep him for
+myself; only Aunt Julia&mdash;Aunt Julia seemed to think one dog was enough.
+I don't think Aunt Julia is particularly&mdash;enthusiastic, about dogs. You
+would like him, wouldn't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Not dust, heat, nor weariness could hide the persuasive charm of
+Patricia's quick upward smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+Before that smile Miss Jane, who was very soft-hearted, wavered; but
+Miss Susan shook her head resolutely. "Augusta would never hear of it
+for one moment!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is Augusta your cook?" Patricia asked. Cooks were that way sometimes;
+even Sarah had her moments of revolt&mdash;so far as Patricia was concerned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Augusta is our cat," Miss Jane explained. She felt grateful to Susan,
+and sorry for Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia sighed; she had recognized the finality in Miss Susan's tone.
+"Do you know of any one who would like a dog," she asked, "a very nice
+dog?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You might try the Millers'," Miss Jane suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I&mdash;I don't believe Mrs. Miller would care for him," Patricia answered,
+hurriedly. She turned to go. "Why, where is he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps he's waiting outside in the road for you." Miss Susan was not
+ordinarily so inhospitable, but the minister was coming to supper that
+evening; and, like Martha of old, Miss Susan was burdened with many
+cares.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia sighed again; the road outside the low white fence seemed
+suddenly very long and sunny. She was tired and discouraged; above all,
+she was hungry.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Before you go, Patricia," Miss Jane said, kindly, "come round to the
+kitchen and have a glass of cool milk and a cookie."
+</p>
+<p>
+The kitchen door had been left open in the excited rush of a few moments
+before. As the three neared it now, Miss Susan darted forward, with very
+much the same shriek of horrified dismay as Mrs. Miller had uttered not
+long since.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mounted on a chair, his feet firmly planted on the kitchen-table was
+a small black dog, just finishing the contents of a large glass dish
+standing at the edge of the table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's my custard," Miss Susan wailed, "and the minister coming to
+supper!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The "very nice dog" turned round, licking his chops contentedly. It
+almost seemed as if he winked at Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next instant, skilfully dodging Miss Susan, he had retired to the
+side yard, to finish licking his chops. Truly, it was a red-letter day
+for him. He wagged affably at the eloquent Miss Susan; surely he had
+paid her the highest compliment in his power.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I am so sorry," Patricia declared. "He must have been very
+hungry&mdash;I couldn't have given him nearly enough breakfast." Then she
+brightened. "After all, Miss Susan, I don't suppose he's ever had
+custard before; and I know Dr. Vail has&mdash;lots of times."
+</p>
+<p>
+Which view of the case did not in the least appeal to the indignant
+maker of the custard.
+</p>
+<p>
+Seeing which, Patricia concluded that the best thing to do was to take
+her charge away as quickly as possible. And in the confusion milk and
+cookies were quite forgotten.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really, you know," Patricia admonished, once they were outside the
+gate, "you're not behaving at all well! Tearing table-cloths, chasing
+cats, and eating up custards aren't at all good dog manners."
+</p>
+<p>
+The culprit, quick to detect the disapproval in Patricia's voice,
+thought it time to limp again.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is your paw very bad?" Patricia asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+The dog assured her that it was.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know what we're going to do next," Patricia told him. And
+once back on the main road, she came to a standstill. She couldn't take
+her protégé home; even less could she desert him. She sat down by the
+roadside to consider the matter&mdash;to consider various other matters, as
+well. Even with Patricias there comes the moment of reckoning.
+</p>
+<p>
+Aunt Julia had said that the next time she evaded sewing-lesson she must
+go to bed at five o'clock. Patricia stretched out her tired little legs;
+at the present moment that particular form of punishment did not appear
+very unendurable. Just now, however, it seemed doubtful if she would be
+at home by five o'clock.
+</p>
+<p>
+Also, Daddy had said that the next time she broke bounds in this way
+he should be obliged to punish her. Patricia fanned herself with a
+decidedly dingy pocket-handkerchief; she wished Daddy had
+said&mdash;<i>how</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm not saying you're not a very nice dog," Patricia patted her
+companion, curled up on the folds of her short skirts; "still, if
+I hadn't met you this morning&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+The dog blinked sleepily, licking her hand. Perhaps he was thinking of
+a poor, forlorn little animal who had until that morning been hunted and
+driven, half starved, never caressed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder," Patricia said, anxiously, "if Mr. Carr wouldn't like you?
+We'll go see, at any rate."
+</p>
+<p>
+Up the hill they trudged, to where, in his little cabin, lived old Carr,
+the cobbler.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was at his bench as usual, and he paused, needle in air, at sight of
+his visitors.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia was growing desperate; she went straight to the heart of her
+errand.
+</p>
+<p>
+She and Carr were great friends, and the latter was immensely
+interested. Over his spectacles he surveyed the pair. Patricia's gray
+eyes had lost their confidence; they were almost as unconsciously
+pathetic as the dog's brown ones.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," Carr said, slowly, "there's no denying a dog's company; and
+since old Sampson died&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia beamed. "Then you will take him? And you won't mind if he's
+rather&mdash;lively? You see, he's so very young. Maybe, I'd better tell you
+everything." And sitting down on one end of the workbench, Patricia made
+full confession of her charge's misdoings. "But I think he's sorry," she
+ended, hopefully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure, Miss," Carr assented; "especially as to the custard&mdash;that there
+wasn't more. What's his name, Miss?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know. I've called him just Dog."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I reckon he won't care what he's called, so long as you don't call him
+too late for dinner," Carr remarked. "How about Custard? It'd keep his
+sin afore him." He took a piece of rope from the floor. "I'd best tie
+him for a bit at first."
+</p>
+<p>
+It was half-past four when Patricia reached home. Sarah was upstairs and
+Aunt Julia busy with callers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Making a hasty raid on the pantry, Patricia slipped quietly up the back
+way to her own room. Aunt Julia had said it must be bed; and there was
+no particular use in waiting to be sent.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was just getting into bed, after a hurried bath, when Miss Kirby,
+having learned from certain unmistakable evidence that Patricia had
+returned, came upstairs.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia!" she exclaimed, her voice expressing almost as much relief as
+displeasure, "where have you been?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia moved restlessly. "I've been&mdash;everywhere!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sarah has ransacked the entire neighborhood." Displeasure was fast
+becoming the dominant note in Miss Kirby's voice now that Patricia was
+safe in bed before her. "Of course you understand," she began.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia raised a small, flushed face. "Please, Aunt Julia, I'm in
+bed&mdash;and you didn't have to send me. I've had a most <i>fatiguing</i>
+day; and I'm dreadfully afraid that if you start in to talk to me the
+'Kirby temper''ll make me say something back."
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby sat down, surveying her niece in silence for a moment.
+Patricia had frankly stated a quite undeniable fact; and she had no
+desire to put the matter to the test. "Very well," she said, presently,
+"we will wait until to-morrow morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But that would be ever so much worse," Patricia pleaded. "I do so hate
+waiting for things. I thought&mdash;maybe&mdash;if I went straight to bed&mdash;you'd
+skip the&mdash;talk part, this time. I'm very tired; finding a home for a dog
+takes it out of you a lot. People 'round here don't seem very anxious to
+have dogs. And&mdash;I went considerably beyond bounds&mdash;so I've got Daddy to
+settle with yet. All the same, I did find him a home, Aunt Julia&mdash;I
+haven't got that on my mind."
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby rose, and going over to the bed bent and kissed the tired,
+wistful face. Patricia had a fashion of exciting sympathy at the wrong
+time, in a way that was perilous to discipline. "For this time, then,
+Patricia," she said. "Now I must go downstairs."
+</p>
+<p>
+Left to herself, Patricia suddenly remembered that there was to be
+strawberry shortcake for supper. Oh, dear, if only Custard had chosen
+any other day to drift across her path! A sent-to-bed bed-supper meant
+simply bread and milk. Patricia wondered if Dr. Vail would mind about
+not having custard as much as she did about not having strawberry
+shortcake. She decided that when she was grown up and had little girls
+of her own she'd never send them to bed early on strawberry shortcake
+night.
+</p>
+<p>
+She heard her father drive into the yard, heralded by Cæsar's deep bark.
+Cæsar had gone with the doctor on his day's round. Patricia knew how he
+was running about now, looking for her. She hoped Sarah would forget and
+leave the screen door open. Cæsar would be sure to come upstairs then.
+She rather thought Daddy would delay his coming until after supper.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah was taking in supper now; she could hear the dishes rattling.
+She was very hungry; that hasty raid on the pantry had not been very
+satisfactory. If Custard had felt that way she didn't much blame him for
+eating up Miss Susan's custard. Probably no one had ever taught him that
+it was wrong to take what didn't belong to him.
+</p>
+<p>
+There! Sarah was bringing up her supper now!
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia sat up in bed; even bread and milk appeared highly desirable at
+that moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+But there was more than bread and milk on the tray Sarah carried.
+Patricia stared at the generous square of strawberry shortcake,
+plentifully supplied with cream, in wondering silence.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah brought a small table to the side of the bed. "Miss Julia, she
+done send some message 'bout this 'ere cake, Miss P'tricia; but, law
+o' mercy, I'se clean forgot the most 'portant word. Hit were something
+'bout you-uns having had a fat-fat-"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fatiguing day?" Patricia suggested, taking little anticipatory pickings
+at the corners of the shortcake.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah nodded her turbaned head. "Where's you-un been all day, Miss
+P'tricia?" she enquired, severely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you don't mind, Sarah&mdash;I'm very hungry and tired&mdash;I won't go into
+that at present. I had something very important to see to."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Humph!" Sarah grunted. "Nice doings, worrying your pore aunt near to
+'straction&mdash;the doctor, he ain't come home to dinner&mdash;to hear 'bout your
+carryings-on. What you think he's goin' say&mdash;when Miss Julia tells him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia was absorbed in eating bread and milk. "It must be dreadful to
+be really starved, Sarah," she observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where you get your dinner, Miss P'tricia?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I didn't have any," Patricia answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My sakes!" Further speech failed Sarah. She turned away.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's next visitor was old Cæsar. Standing by the bed, he asked as
+plainly as dog may what in the world she was doing there at that time
+of day? He accepted solemnly his share of the good things going, then
+stretched himself out on the floor beside the bed, to mount guard&mdash;but
+not until he had told her as forcibly as he could that the summer
+evening was unusually fine, and that there were several little affairs
+in the garden requiring their joint supervision.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I can't go, Cæsar," Patricia told him. She was always sure that her
+dumb friends understood quite well all she said to them. "There comes
+Daddy now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It doesn't seem to be solitary confinement, Patricia," Dr. Kirby said,
+as he came in and seated himself on the side of the bed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia stretched out a welcoming hand. "It's hours and hours since
+I've seen you, Daddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dr. Kirby took the outstretched hand gravely. "From your aunt's account,
+there would appear to have been hours and hours in which she did not see
+you, Patricia?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm afraid I was gone a long while, Daddy; but I came home just as soon
+as I got things straightened out.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose you give me the particulars, Patricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+And moving so as to rest her head on her father's knee, Patricia told
+in detail the story of her day's experiences. She had the comforting
+conviction that when Daddy knew all he would not be very displeased
+with her.
+</p>
+<p>
+More than once, during that recital, the doctor's mouth twitched under
+his mustache, and he turned rather suddenly to look out of the window.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, Pat," he exclaimed, as she finished, "what made it so imperative
+for you to find that tramp dog a home?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's gray eyes were very earnest. "Some one had to do it, Daddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor smoothed back the soft, thick curls. "But, Pat, I cannot have
+you burdening yourself with the responsibility of finding homes for all
+the stray animals that cross your path."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He was so miserable, Daddy&mdash;outside; and so really nice&mdash;inside.
+I don't believe he liked being a tramp dog."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor stooped and kissed her; it was not easy to be severe with
+Patricia. "Still, dear, it must not happen again; you run too great
+a risk; stray dogs are not always very dependable as to temper."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's going to be mighty hard not to, Daddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And Patricia, where are my scissors, and salve, and soap?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm afraid&mdash;down by the brook; so's the towel. I was glad I'd watched
+you bandage Caesar's paw that time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is all very well; but, Patricia, you are not to meddle with any of
+the office things again without permission. And now, about this matter
+of breaking bounds to-day?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia looked up quickly. "You&mdash;you'll 'take the intention into
+consideration,' Daddy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor smiled. "Yes, but," his face grew grave again, "I must also
+take into consideration the fact that this is by no means the first time
+you have gone wandering off, causing your aunt a great deal of anxiety."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can't think why she will worry so. I always come back all right."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is not the point. It must be only the yard for the rest of the
+week, Patricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia drew a long breath. "Well," she said, slowly, "I <i>am</i> glad
+it's Thursday night 'stead of Monday morning."
+</p>
+<hr>
+<p>
+Patricia sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. What had wakened her?
+</p>
+<p>
+A second series of short, sharp little barks sent her hurrying to the
+window. On the path below, a bit of frayed rope dangling from his neck,
+stood Custard.
+</p>
+<p>
+When the doctor came downstairs, twenty minutes later, he found Patricia
+on the back steps, with Custard in her lap, busily placing a fresh
+bandage on the hurt paw. "Daddy," she cried, lifting her face for his
+morning greeting, "wasn't it too lovely of him to hunt me up. Isn't he
+the most grateful dog ever was?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor patted the dog's rough head, then stooped to examine
+Patricia's work. "Not a bad job for an eleven-year-old, Pat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I could do it better, only I had to make a strip from a piece I found
+in Aunt Julia's scrap-bag," Patricia explained.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia!" Miss Kirby exclaimed from the doorway, "your dress is only
+half buttoned, and your hair is&mdash;<i>Patricia Kirby</i>, have you gone
+and hunted up another dog!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's the same one, Aunt Julia. He has improved a lot, hasn't he? If
+you'd seen how glad he was to see me! I suppose he'll have to be sent
+back. Cæsar likes him pretty well; he didn't growl at him once when I
+introduced them to each other."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a question whether <i>sending</i> back will do any good," the
+doctor said. He was watching the two on the steps.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia stroked the bandaged paw gently. "I can't take him&mdash;I can't go
+out of the yard, can I, Daddy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Decidedly not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Couldn't you take him in the gig with you, Patrick?" Miss Kirby felt
+that she was playing a losing game.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Going quite in the opposite direction."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And Jim?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Goes with me." The doctor was still studying the two on the steps.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If he stays one day we are doomed!" Miss Kirby declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That only leaves you and Sarah, doesn't it, Aunt Julia?" Patricia
+asked, cheerfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby was not without a sense of humor. "I am afraid Sarah is out
+of the question," she said; "and if he waits for me to take him he will
+stay here&mdash;altogether."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia was quick to catch the longed-for concession in her aunt's
+voice. Dropping Custard, she ran to hug Miss Kirby. "Oh, you darling!
+But, Daddy," she turned anxiously, "oh, do you suppose Mr. Carr will
+mind <i>very</i> much?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I rather think he will be able to bear the disappointment," the doctor
+answered.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER II
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    THE GINGHAM APRON PARTY
+</h3>
+<p>
+Fortunately, the ground under the big apple tree was soft and springy,
+and Patricia was used to both low and lofty tumbling; so when she
+landed, a little surprised heap, in the tangled grass, she lay still
+just long enough for the small black dog, nosing anxiously about her, to
+get in one or two licks of her sunburnt, bewildered face; then she sat
+up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My, Custard, that was a stunner! I reckon if Daddy was here he'd say,
+'what a fall was there, my countrymen!'" Custard wagged agreeingly, and
+sniffed inquiringly at the strip of pink leg showing through the long
+jagged tear in one of his small mistress's tan stockings.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia scrambled to her feet and began taking stock. There was another
+tear in the short skirt of her blue gingham frock, and one in one of the
+sleeves.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Goodness! What will Aunt Julia say!" Patricia said ruefully; then
+remembered suddenly what Aunt Julia had said, no longer ago than
+yesterday morning, after a similar catastrophe.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And if Aunt Julia isn't a 'Mede 'n' Persian,' she might almost as well
+be one&mdash;when it comes to unsaying things," Patricia told herself, as she
+started for the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+Half-way up the back garden path, she came to an abrupt halt. "Custard,"
+she gasped, "it's party day!"
+</p>
+<p>
+As if Custard did not know that! He had never been to a party, but he
+was mighty glad to have been invited to this one. The pantry, always an
+enchanted spot to him, smelled even more delicious than usual. He had
+quite lost count of the number of times that Sarah had run him out of it
+this morning, with more haste than dignity.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia sat down in an empty wheelbarrow to consider matters, not
+noticing that Jim had been using it that morning to bring fresh mold
+for Miss Kirby's flower beds.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I didn't want to give a party anyhow." Patricia stared gravely out
+across the sunny drying-ground. Privately, she considered the average
+party a great waste of valuable time. Least of all had she wanted to
+give an "honor party" for Susy Vail. Susy was the rector's grandchild,
+and was on a visit here.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia hadn't much use for Susy Vail. She was a city girl, she was
+quiet and shy, and she would be sure to come to the party in a stiff
+white dress and blue ribbons. Patricia was positive as to the blue
+ribbons.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've a good mind to run off to the woods and stay all day, Custard,"
+Patricia said, getting up; "they can have the party without us."
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard barked a prompt disapproval of this scheme. Maybe the party
+could do without him, but he was quite sure he could not do without
+the party.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come on," Patricia told him, starting back down the path.
+</p>
+<p>
+She had got as far as the gate leading into the meadow, when a new idea
+came to her. Swinging slowly back and forth on the gate, she considered
+this idea; her gray eyes dancing, as its possibilities opened up before
+her mental vision.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And if Susy Vail hasn't a gingham apron, I'll lend her one; she seems
+the sort of girl not to have one," Patricia confided to Custard, as they
+once more made their way towards the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+If only the coast were clear!
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah was on the back piazza, pitting cherries, but Sarah was easily
+managed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My sakes, Miss P'tricia!" Sarah lifted her plump hands in horror,
+"whatever is you-un been up to now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where's Aunt Julia, Sarah?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Done left for Gar's Hollow just five minutes ago, your pa sent Jim back
+for her in the gig. What you say, Miss P'tricia?"
+</p>
+<p>
+For under her breath, Patrica was saying jubilantly:
+"It's&mdash;providential!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"N-nothing&mdash;that is, I was only thinking out loud," she told Sarah.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't you go worrying 'bout dat ere party, honey; hit'll come off all
+right."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think it will&mdash;now," Patricia answered; her tone so full of some
+hidden enjoyment that Sarah glanced at her suspiciously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss Julia, she done left word for you-un to do everything like you
+know she'd want you to, Miss P'tricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia selected a pair of earrings from the finest of Sarah's bowl of
+cherries. "Don't you worry, Sarah."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You ain't 'xplained yet how you come to be in such a disrepec'ble
+condition, Miss P'tricia. If the rag man was to see you, he'd just up
+and toss you into his cart&mdash;he shore would."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have I got a clean gingham apron, Sarah?" Patricia was a past-mistress
+in the art of ignoring what she considered inconvenient, or personal,
+remarks.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Looks to me like you's got more clean gingham aprons than you's got
+manners," Sarah said severely.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia went indoors to the telephone, shutting the door behind her
+as she went. Sarah was too fat and too heavy on her feet to get out of
+a chair, once comfortably settled in it, unless the call were really
+urgent.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia first called up Mrs. Hardy. Quite unconsciously&mdash;being on her
+dignity and feeling, besides, very important&mdash;she spoke more slowly than
+was usual, and with more than a trace of her aunt's formality.
+</p>
+<p>
+Back over the line came a prompt: "Why, good morning, Miss Kirby!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's eyes sparkled and the demon of mischief, always lurking in
+her neighborhood, immediately put idea number two into her head. Her
+imitation of her aunt's voice and manner this time was perfect. "Good
+morning, Mrs. Hardy, I just called you up to let you know that the
+little party we are giving this afternoon is to be a gingham apron
+party."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A w-what?" Mrs. Hardy questioned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss Kirby" gave herself vigorous mental treatment for a moment or
+so&mdash;one giggle and the game was up. As if Aunt Julia ever giggled!
+</p>
+<p>
+"A gingham apron party," she repeated; "it is Patricia's suggestion, so
+that the children may have a nice jolly time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That sounds exactly like Patricia," Mrs. Hardy commented, laughing.
+"I'll tell Nell; I'm sure she will approve."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss Kirby" said thank you, then she hung up the receiver; after which,
+seizing Custard, she hugged him ecstatically. "I really am 'Miss Kirby,'
+you know," she explained. "Daddy's only got me&mdash;and I didn't say a word
+that wasn't perfectly true. And Mr. Baker, out at Long Farm, always
+calls me that. Now, I'll have to finish 'phoning."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Lane and Mrs. Blake were next informed as to the kind of party
+under way for that afternoon; then came Mrs. Vail, with her Patricia
+made a break. "And if Susy hasn't any gingham&mdash;" she began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If Susy hasn't what?" Mrs. Vail interrupted. "Why, of course&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I only thought&mdash;I mean," Patricia felt herself floundering&mdash;and Aunt
+Julia never floundered. "Then we may look for Susy," she said hastily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, certainly," Mrs. Vail answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is well. Good-by."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss Kirby" hung up the receiver hastily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think she almost suspected&mdash;something, Custard; I reckon she's the
+suspiciony kind&mdash;Susy Vail looks the kind of girl to have a suspiciony
+mother. But the rest didn't." Patricia danced the interested Custard
+down the hall.
+</p>
+<p>
+As she reappeared on the back piazza, Sarah asked sternly: "What you
+been up to now, Miss P'tricia? You've been doing a heap of talking at
+dat ere 'phone."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I had some very important business to transact," Patricia answered
+loftily, the mantle of her aunt's manner still enveloping her. "I guess
+I'll go put my apron on now."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah sniffed indignantly, "You needn't tell me dere ain't some
+foolishness afoot," she declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What time was you-un 'spectin' the comin' cer'mony to commence?" she
+asked, when Patricia came in to her solitary dinner. Neither Miss Kirby
+nor the doctor would be back before late afternoon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia said half-past three to seven; I suppose they'll begin
+coming 'long about three."
+</p>
+<p>
+That note of hidden jubilation in her voice worried Sarah. She had not
+known Patricia for all of her eleven years for nothing. "Honey, what you
+cog'tating?" she coaxed; as she brought Patricia a generous slice of
+fresh cherry pie.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm thinking about&mdash;my party. It's going to be a&mdash;a&mdash;corker, Sarah!
+You'll see!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah groaned, both in spirit and outwardly. "Honey," she pleaded,
+leaning on the back of a chair and studying her charge anxiously;
+"Honey, dat Miss Susy's a stranger in dis yere part&mdash;why, she's come
+clare from Phil'delphy. I'm told the chillerns down in Phil'delphy has
+beau-ti-ful manners."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I dare say," Patricia did not appear greatly interested.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And Miss Julia, she done plan dis yere party jest for her."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know&mdash;I didn't ask her to&mdash;I&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Honey, you wouldn't&mdash;you shore wouldn't do anything to&mdash;to disbobulate
+your aunt's plans?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"May I have another piece of pie, Sarah, please?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah cast a pair of imploring eyes ceilingwards. "Of all the
+ignoringest young uns! I isn't discoursing 'bout pie, Miss P'tricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But it's mighty good pie, Sarah! Will there be cherry pie among the
+refreshments this afternoon?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia! And the cherry juice all a dripping down, like's not,
+on you-uns clean white dresses," Sarah protested. However, she brought
+Patricia a second piece, which was the important thing at the moment;
+the future might very well be allowed to take care of itself.
+</p>
+<p>
+Later, as she did up her dinner work, Sarah cast more than one anxious
+glance out of the window to where Patricia lay on the back lawn, under
+the shade of the big cherry tree. Patricia's very quietness was
+alarming.
+</p>
+<p>
+Was it too much cherry pie? Or was she plotting something.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Honey," Sarah came out on the piazza, "it's getting time for you to get
+dressed for the festiv'ties."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia, tickling one of Custard's long ears with a blade of grass,
+smiled serenely. "But I am dressed, Sarah."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah sat down heavily on the piazza bench; "I knowed it! I jest
+'spicioned you-un was shore up to something!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia rolled over on her back, stretching her wiry little frame out
+lazily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You come right 'long into dis yere house, Miss P'tricia!" Sarah rose
+commandingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But what for?" Patricia questioned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What for? If you wasn't a white child, Miss P'tricia, I'd shore say you
+was onery. I's going be 'bliged to disport you to your pa, if you
+continues such disbehavior."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia scrambled to her feet, and came slowly over to the edge of the
+lawn. Then, lifting her apron, she asked quietly: "Is my frock torn,
+Sarah, or isn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You knows it is, Miss P'tricia!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia stretched out one slender leg. "Is my stocking torn, or isn't
+it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah groaned.
+</p>
+<p>
+Wheeling suddenly round, and still holding up her apron, Patricia
+demanded: "Is my frock dirty, or isn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia, you's shore possessed to-day!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia said yesterday morning, that the very next time I got myself
+torn or dirty, needlessly, I must put a clean gingham apron on and go
+that way for the rest of the day."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, honey&mdash;you know Miss Julia never 'tended you to come to your own
+party in any such fixings! A gingham apron at a party! You come 'long
+upstairs with me, Miss P'tricia; I'll resume all the 'sponsibility."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia said 'the very next time'; this is the very next time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"She done lay out your dress 'fore she went, honey&mdash;so crisp and nice
+and all the pretty pink ribbons," Sarah spoke coaxingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia didn't know&mdash;I hadn't tumbled out of the apple tree then."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'se going phonegraph your aunt right off!" Sarah declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia caught her breath. Then she remembered. "But they haven't any
+'phone at Gar's Hollow!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah wrung her hands. "And all them little ladies in white dresses, and
+the hostess o' the 'casion looking like 'straction!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I always <i>feel</i> like distraction when I'm all stiff and starchy
+and uncomfortable," Patricia said; "I'd rather look it than feel it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I ain't overlooking that you're powerful reconciled to going to
+your own party dressed like you is now, Miss P'tricia! Anyhow, you're
+going to have a good wash-up and your hair combed; Miss Julia ain't laid
+down no commands against that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"W-well," Patricia slowly conceded, "only I'll see to it myself, Sarah."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's thick mop of brown curls was of the tangly order; and when
+things had gone wrong, Sarah's touch was not always of the gentlest.
+</p>
+<p>
+An hour later, Sarah, from her post of vantage on the side porch, saw
+six little girls coming up the path. There were no boys invited. Miss
+Kirby thought it so much nicer for little girls to play quietly by
+themselves.
+</p>
+<p>
+A moment, Sarah stared at them in amazement; then her fat sides shook
+with laughter. "I shore might've knowed it! So that's what she was so
+busy phonegraphing 'bout! That chile shore weren't born yesterday.
+Gingham aprons, every last one o' them!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Some of the six wore sunbonnets, the rest plain garden hats; and all
+wore stout serviceable shoes and stockings. Never had those six little
+girls gone to a party before in such unparty-like costumes.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia came dancing to meet them, bareheaded as usual. "Let's go down
+to the barn right off," she proposed. "Goodness, how funny you do look!"
+she giggled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So do you," Nell Hardy retorted; then the seven stood still a moment to
+survey one another.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh!" Mable Lane cried, "whatever put such an idea into your head, Pat?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I&mdash;I happened to think of it, that was all," Patricia answered vaguely.
+"Come on&mdash;we'll play hide and seek, and no going out of the barn."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are&mdash;are there any horses there?" Susy asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia shook her head. "Not today; Daddy's got Sam and Dick's gone to
+pasture."
+</p>
+<p>
+They played hide and seek all over the delightful big dusty old barn;
+until Patricia, trying to reach goal by a short cut down from the loft,
+came to an abrupt halt in her descent, caught on a projecting beam.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go back!" Ruth Martin advised; but Patricia, wriggling herself free,
+dropped in a laughing heap on the barn floor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you've torn your apron, Pat!" Nell exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia glanced up at the bit of blue gingham hanging from a nail in
+the beam.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look's like this was my busy day," she observed; "I'll go put another
+on."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I put it on over the first," she explained, on her return. "You see,
+Aunt Julia said&mdash;I mean, I thought it would be&mdash;fun; and, anyhow, it
+saved time, it takes a lot of time to unbutton these aprons. Let's go
+down to the brook and wade." She glanced at Susy, who was looking rather
+doubtful. "Aren't you allowed to wade in brooks?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I&mdash;don't know," Susy began, then her mild little face took on a look of
+sudden resolution, "but I'm going to."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia smiled in prompt friendliness. "Mostly, when I'm not sure
+I just take the chance," she encouraged.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sitting on the edge of the brook, the seven took off shoes and
+stockings. "It's the queerest, nicest party," Bessy Martin declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a gay little brook, running between a broad, sunny meadow and the
+old Kirby apple orchard, broad enough in places to make the crossing of
+it on stepping stones delightfully uncertain, and again narrowing to a
+mere thread. To Patricia, it was like some live thing, one of the
+dearest and most intimate of playmates.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let's play Follow my Leader," Nell suggested, and they drew lots to see
+who should be first leader.
+</p>
+<p>
+It fell to Kitty Hall, next to Susy the quietest of the seven; the lead
+she set them was a very mild affair, limited to the shallowest and
+narrowest parts of the brook.
+</p>
+<p>
+But with Patricia's turn, matters took a change for the better, or
+worse, according to the point of view. Patricia hopped and skipped, and
+did everything except walk demurely on two feet, out of the safe,
+pleasant shallows straight for the "pool," which was quite knee deep at
+this time of year.
+</p>
+<p>
+Once there, she turned to view her followers, and it wouldn't have been
+Patricia, if she hadn't slipped and, with a little shriek of surprise,
+sat right down in the pool.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a moment's hesitation, then Nell boldly followed suit; one by
+one, ending with Susy, the other five dropped down in the cool rippling
+water, which seemed to laugh, as if it saw the joke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh!" Patricia cried, "I never meant&mdash;" She was on her feet as quickly
+as possible. Susy was just the kind to go and catch cold, why she had
+begun to shiver and shake already.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next few moments were strenuous ones for Patricia's followers. Never
+had she led them such a chase, through all the hottest, sunniest parts
+of the big meadow.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've got to run, so as not to catch cold," she panted; and run
+they did, their wet skirts flapping against their bare legs, hats and
+sunbonnets sent scattering in every direction. While Custard, regarding
+it as a game gotten up for his especial benefit, urged them on, barking
+and leaping about them, taking little pretend nips at the seven sets of
+bare toes, choosing Susy's the oftenest, because she always squealed
+the loudest.
+</p>
+<p>
+At last the seven dropped down breathless in the middle of the meadow.
+Patricia felt of Susy's skirts anxiously. "They're 'most dry; let's&mdash;"
+She turned over on her face, and the six followed suit once more.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The sun feels good, doesn't it," Susy said, she was on one side of
+Patricia. "I'm having a be-au-ti-ful time!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia raised herself on her elbows, and, chin in hand, surveyed Susy
+closely. "Truly true?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Truly true," Susy insisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia smiled approvingly; and, when she liked, Patricia's smile could
+be very approving indeed. "I guess maybe I'm going to like knowing you,"
+she said.
+</p>
+<p>
+Susy's little pink and white face had lost its look of peaceful
+placidity, her yellow curls their smoothness. Wet, bedraggled, but
+happier than ever before in her life, and joyfully conscious that she
+had for once boldly strayed from the narrow path of harmless routine,
+she smiled back at Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I guess we're all dry now," Patricia said presently. "It seems to me as
+if it must be pretty near supper time."
+</p>
+<p>
+Nell spread out her limp skirts. "Pretty looking set, we are, to go to
+supper!"
+</p>
+<p>
+But Patricia was thinking. "A gingham apron party supper ought to be
+different," she said slowly; "Nell, let's you and me go get the
+refreshments and bring them out here."
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a glorious suggestion. Six pairs of eyes opened wide with
+delight.
+</p>
+<p>
+"B-but Sarah&mdash;" Mabel asked. Mabel had a knack of asking such questions.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I reckon Sarah'll ask a heap of questions&mdash;Sarah's mighty
+inquisitive at times," Patricia answered. "I rather think the best way
+will be just to go ahead and not bother her about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how?" Mabel insisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You leave that to Nell and me&mdash;we'll manage. The rest of you must wait
+here; keep Custard with you. Oh, dear! I thought you were beautifully
+dry, Susy Vail; what did you go sneeze for? Well, you'll just have to
+keep moving, that's all. You see that she does, Mabel."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's commands seldom fell on deaf ears and Mabel promptly insisted
+on a game of tag; while Patricia herself, accompanied by Nell Hardy,
+started on a brisk run across the meadow.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the garden gate, Patricia called a halt. "Duck," she ordered,
+dropping on the grass. From half-way up the path, came Sarah's voice:
+"Oh, Miss P'tricia! Miss P'tricia!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"She'll go back presently, if she doesn't hear us," Patricia whispered
+with elaborate caution; "then we must get to the house as quickly and as
+quietly as possible and secure the re&mdash;the booty. Oh, go away!" she
+added sternly, as Custard came sniffing about them.
+</p>
+<p>
+But Custard only wriggled and danced about and over them, urging them as
+eloquently as he could to get up and continue their way indoors. Wasn't
+the pantry indoors? Custard could have told his mistress long ago that
+it was quite supper time.
+</p>
+<p>
+At half-past six, the doctor and Miss Kirby drove into the yard.
+As the gig drew up before the side door, Sarah, voluble and indignant,
+appeared. From the mass of information she hurled upon them, one fact
+only was quite clear&mdash;Patricia was missing.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was so often missing, that the announcement failed to excite any
+great apprehension in the mind of either her father or her aunt.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But the party&mdash;" Miss Kirby began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She done take the party with her!" Sarah wailed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby looked more indignant than surprised; to have come home and
+found that nothing untowards had happened would have been the surprising
+thing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I ain't laid my eyes on her since them six gingham aprons came
+gavorting up the walk!" Sarah proclaimed dramatically. "That young-un's
+a limb, for shore!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby sat down on the piazza bench. "Gingham aprons, Sarah," she
+repeated. "Patrick, what can she mean?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor shook his head, smiling, "That remains to be discovered."
+</p>
+<p>
+"For the love o' goodness, Miss Julia!" Sarah implored; "the nexest time
+you sets out to give a party for that there young-un, I hopes and prays
+you stays home to sup'intend the obsequies youself!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor turned to send Sam on to the barn.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gingham aprons," Miss Kirby murmured.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ain't Miss P'tricia done 'tire herself in one for the 'casion!" Sarah
+exclaimed; "and ain't she done tell all the others over that 'phone
+to do the very same&mdash;I ain't never held with thet there 'phone,
+nohow&mdash;'tain't nothin' better'n devilment, anyhow. My sakes, such
+doings, Marse Doctor! You and Miss Julia just come cast your glance
+over this supper table!"
+</p>
+<p>
+They followed her into the dining-room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It certainly looks very pretty," the doctor said, glancing at the
+table.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah groaned. "Where's them plates o' sandwiches gone? I ask you that!
+Where's them plates o' biscuits gone? I ask you that! Where's the little
+cakes, what I iced so pretty, gone? I ask you that! Ain't I done fix
+them all in place and then I goes out to call them&mdash;ginham aprons&mdash;to
+come in,&mdash;and I done galivant all over the place and all up and down the
+street and I ain't seen the least speck o' one o' them&mdash;but when I comes
+indoors&mdash;the party done vanish! And that ain't all&mdash;the cherry pie I
+done make for you's and Miss Julia's supper done vanish too. But they
+ain't got the ice cream&mdash;I reckon the freezer was too heavy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That at least is something to be thankful for," the doctor said, "there
+would probably have been&mdash;consequences&mdash;had they secured both the cherry
+pie and the ice cream."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And the table looking so stylish," Sarah mourned, "with the flowers and
+all the fixings. Where's that plate o' chicken gone? I ask you that!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patrick," Miss Kirby said, "you really must go look that child up! such
+behavior is&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm going," the doctor assured her, and as he went Miss Kirby saw him
+put his handkerchief to his eyes more than once.
+</p>
+<p>
+Through the garden he went, through the orchard. Half-way across the
+meadow beyond the orchard he came upon Custard dining at second table,
+and too busy to do more than wag a welcome.
+</p>
+<p>
+A few yards further on stood an old apple tree, and from the top-most
+branch came, in Patricia's clear notes:
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>  "'If I could find a higher tree</p>
+<p>  Farther and farther I should see,</p>
+<p>  To where the grown-up river slips</p>
+<p>  Into the sea among the ships.'"</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+The doctor stood still, making a trumpet of his hands. "Ship ahoy!" he
+called.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next instant seven girls came wriggling and scrambling down from the
+various branches. "Oh! Daddy," Patricia cried joyously, "we're having
+the jolliest time&mdash;we're pirates! I'm captain&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>  "'My name is Captain Kidd,</p>
+<p>  And most wickedly I did,</p>
+<p>  As I sailed, as I sailed!'"</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+"And, according to report, before you sailed, young lady. Suppose you
+make explanation regarding certain late extremely piratical
+proceedings."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean about the supper, Daddy? You see, we didn't feel very
+partified&mdash;at least, we thought we didn't look exactly&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+As she hesitated, the doctor, glancing from one to another of the seven,
+nodded comprehendingly. "I quite agree with you, Pat; you do not look
+very&mdash;partified."
+</p>
+<p>
+They were so dusty, so disheveled; all but Patricia had shoes
+on&mdash;Custard had made off with both of Susy's, and Patricia had most
+willingly offered hers&mdash;the opportunity to go barefoot was too good to
+be lost; Nell had only one stocking, Kitty none at all, Ruth was wearing
+Patricia's, Custard had certainly made the most of his chance to carry
+off things that afternoon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But we've had a be-au-ti-ful time," Susy said, slipping a hand into
+the doctor's. She quite forgot that he was a comparative stranger,
+remembering only that he was Patricia's father&mdash;Patricia, who had
+invited her to this most wonderful of parties, where one had been so
+busy having fun that there had been no time for feeling shy and strange.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dr. Kirby smiled down at the little guest of honor. "Upon my word, I
+believe you have," he said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia says," Patricia possessed herself of his other hand, "that
+to feel sure that one's guests have honestly enjoyed themselves is to
+know that one's party has been a success. So I reckon mine's been a
+perfectly tremendous success."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose you come up to the house&mdash;all of you&mdash;and see if you can
+reassure Aunt Julia and&mdash;Sarah," the doctor suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia sighed. "I&mdash;I sort of wish Aunt Julia&mdash;looked at things the way
+we do, Daddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+They went on up to the house. On the back steps, Miss Kirby was waiting;
+in the kitchen doorway stood Sarah.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia Kirby!" Aunt Julia exclaimed. "Well of all the&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia," Sarah broke in wrathfully, "where's that cherry pie I
+done made for Marse Doctor's supper?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia slowly drew up her uppermost apron. "It's here&mdash;most of it;
+Custard got the rest. I&mdash;I stumbled and fell&mdash;into it. You see, we were
+playing pirate&mdash;and we were smuggling."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor, much to his sister's indignation, sat down suddenly on one
+of the garden benches. "Oh, Pat, Pat!" he gasped.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia Kirby, how many gingham aprons have you on?" Miss Kirby
+demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Three, Aunt Julia; you said I must wear the first one all the
+afternoon&mdash;and I tore it&mdash;and then the pie sort of stained the second;
+I got kind of interested to see how many it would take to get me through
+the afternoon. I had to make it a gingham apron party, Aunt Julia, on
+account of what you said yesterday. You see, I got pretty well torn and
+dirty this morning&mdash;and, of course, I needn't have climbed that tree."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Casabianca," the doctor murmured; Miss Kirby was past murmuring
+anything; all her efforts were directed towards at least a semblance
+of self-control.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shore told you, that young-un was a limb," Sarah muttered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sarah was very anxious to fix me all up properly, Aunt Julia," Patricia
+went on, "but of course, after you had said&mdash;and I thought you'd feel
+better if the rest wore gingham aprons too. Sarah was very kind about it
+though," with a smile in her direction.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You go 'long, Miss P'tricia," Sarah protested.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby bit her lip. "That is all very well, Patricia, but&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've had such fun, haven't we, girls?" Captain Kidd appealed to her
+fellow pirates.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, we have," they chorused back.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And having supper out in the meadow when we hadn't expected it was the
+best part," Nell added.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What would you suggest?" Miss Kirby turned to her brother.
+</p>
+<p>
+His smile told her that he knew quite well that she was shifting upon
+him the responsibility of deciding. As a strict disciplinarian&mdash;in
+theory&mdash;it would never do for her to countenance such unlawful
+proceedings. He rose to the occasion promptly. "Soap and water for these
+highly reprehensible young folks, after that&mdash;the ice cream&mdash;seeing that
+the cherry pie came to a timely end. And for us&mdash;supper."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't Daddy the dearest?" Patricia demanded, as she led her guests
+upstairs. "Daddy's always so understandified."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER III
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    THE WAY OF A GRANDMOTHER
+</h3>
+<p>
+Patricia sat on the back steps carefully arranging purple and white
+asters in an old blue and white punchbowl, the pride of her Aunt Julia's
+heart.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's the 'Washington bowl,' Custard," she explained to the small curly
+black dog, watching her intently. "Daddy says it's called that because
+it is just as easy to prove that Washington never did have punch from it
+as that he did." Patricia paused to rearrange one particularly wobbly
+aster, too short as to stem and too big as to head. "Anyhow, it's one
+of the very nicest things we've got."
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard sighed restlessly; to spend this breezy October afternoon in
+fussing over flowers, when just beyond the gate a whole world waited to
+be explored, seemed to him a most un-Patricia-like wasting of time.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then as Patricia rose slowly to her feet, the bowl of flowers in her
+hands, he sprang up at her with a sharp little bark of delight.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Down!" she warned sharply. "Custard Kirby, if you make me drop this
+punchbowl I don't know what Aunt Julia <i>will</i> say!"
+</p>
+<p>
+It seemed to Patricia as if that journey upstairs to the spare bedroom
+never would be made in safety; but it was accomplished at last, and her
+burden placed right in the center of the low reading-table, standing at
+one side of the south window.
+</p>
+<p>
+With a long breath of relief, Patricia sat down on the edge of the bed,
+looking about the big pleasant room with approving eyes. It was exactly
+the sort of room she should like to have when she got be a grandmother.
+There were fresh muslin curtains at the windows, the fine old-fashioned
+mahogany furniture shone from its recent polishing; on the broad hearth
+a light fire was laid ready for the lighting, and at one corner of the
+fireplace stood a big chintz-covered armchair. Of course there was a
+footstool beside it. Patricia had seen to the footstool herself, hunting
+it out up garret that morning. She had wondered why Daddy's eyes
+twinkled at sight of it&mdash;Daddy would tell her nothing about grandmother,
+she must wait and see. And Patricia so hated waiting for anything, from
+surprises to scoldings.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it certainly does look grandmothery, Custard," she said; "and
+the flowers help a lot. I know she'll love asters; they're such an
+old-ladyish flower. Mind, sir, you're not to go rushing at her! And the
+very first time you run off with any of her things you're going to get
+your ears boxed."
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard wagged tentatively; boxing his ears appeared to him to belong to
+Miss Kirby's special department.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia!" Sarah stood in the doorway, indignation in the very
+points of her knotted turban&mdash;"Miss P'tricia, ain't yo' never be'n tole
+not to sit on beds? 'Tic'larly beds all ready fo' comp'ny!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia slipped hurriedly to her feet; but by this time Sarah had
+caught sight of something else. "Land sakes, Miss P'tricia! Ef yo' isn't
+gone an' tuk Miss Julia's punchbowl&mdash;what she don't 'low no one but
+herse'f to tech!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia put an arm around Sarah's waist, or rather, around as much of
+it as she could encompass. "Aunt Julia wasn't in&mdash;and I wanted the very
+nicest bowl I could think of. It is so perfectly lovely to have a
+grandmother coming!"
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a world of unconscious longing in Patricia's voice; no one,
+not even Daddy, knew quite what the coming of her grandmother meant to
+the little motherless girl. And a grandmother she had not seen since
+babyhood. The coming weeks seemed to Patricia full of untold
+possibilities.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It do look pretty," Sarah admitted, as she went to smooth out the bed
+covers. "'Pears like it was time yo' was gettin' your dress changed,
+honey. Yo' best let me giv yo' hair a brush; seems like yo' never did
+get the kinks out."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia submitted with most unaccustomed patience to the finishing
+touches Sarah insisted on giving her toilet. "I reckon yo'll do now,
+honey," Sarah said at last.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Only half an hour more and she'll be here, Custard," Patricia said to
+the dog, sniffing inquiringly at the tips of her best shoes; "Daddy's
+to meet the five-thirty train."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia settled herself circumspectly in the hammock, smoothing out
+her crisp white skirts. "Oh, I do wonder what she'll be like, really
+I haven't even a photograph&mdash;grandmother doesn't like being
+photographed&mdash;and I haven't seen her since I was three years old.
+Custard, do you suppose she'll have an ear trumpet, like the Barkers'
+grandmother? It's very embarrassing talking into an ear trumpet.
+I rather hope she's short and&mdash;stoutish. I've been thinking over all
+the people I know, and it seems to me that the short, stout ones are
+mostly more good-natured than the other kinds."
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard wagged agreeingly; he was short, and not his worst enemy could
+accuse him of being thin. So far this coming of a grandmother did not
+appeal to Custard; never before had he been refused a share of the
+hammock; and those one or two preliminary nips he had taken at the toes
+of Patricia's shiny shoes had been promptly squelched. To be talked to
+and confided in was all very well, but a game of tag in the meadow
+behind the house would have been a great deal more fun. Nor was Custard
+quite sure what a grandmother was; he hoped it was something good to
+eat.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia had never known such a long half hour; she made one or two
+trips down to the gate, walking carefully on the edge of the grass, so
+as not to get her shoes dusty. It was very odd that Aunt Julia didn't
+come home&mdash;Good, she was coming now.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't the train late?" Patricia demanded, the moment her aunt was
+within earshot.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby smiled. "It isn't due yet, Patricia, for five minutes." She
+didn't look in the least excited, going calmly up the garden path to the
+house.
+</p>
+<p>
+But then it wasn't <i>her</i> grandmother who was coming; besides,
+Patricia's gray eyes danced mischievously, she didn't know about the
+punchbowl.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia decided to wait down by the gate&mdash;explanations were such
+tiresome things.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, in a few moments, far down the quiet village street she caught
+sight of a familiar gig, duly attended by old Cæsar, the pointer.
+</p>
+<p>
+The gig was quite close now. Patricia's heart gave a great jump, then
+seemed to stand quite still.
+</p>
+<p>
+She hadn't come!
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a lady in the gig with Daddy; but&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia turned sharply, and regardless of her shoes ran swiftly back up
+the driveway and through the garden to the meadow beyond; never stopping
+until she dropped, a little breathless heap, beside the brook.
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard barked excitedly, thinking it some new move in this grandmother
+game; then suddenly he poked his cold black nose in under the tossed
+thatch of Patricia's brown curls. For Patricia was crying&mdash;and doing it
+quite as earnestly and as thoroughly as she did most things.
+</p>
+<p>
+At last she sat up, dabbing her eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She didn't come! And we were all ready&mdash;and now it can't be just the
+same&mdash;when she does come. Custard, do you suppose it's a&mdash;a judgment
+on me, for taking the punchbowl?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard looked sober.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll go put it right back. Oh, dear, I do hope that other person hasn't
+stayed to supper!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia went back to the house, forlorn, bedraggled; very different
+from the Patricia whom Sarah had sent downstairs not an hour before,
+imploring her to "try and keep smarted up for once."
+</p>
+<p>
+On the back porch she met her father.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia," he asked, "what does this mean? Why did you run away when
+you saw your grandmother coming?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia gasped. "But, Daddy, she didn't come! I didn't see her! Oh, do
+you mean, was that&mdash;I expected she'd have on a bonnet tied under her
+chin&mdash;and a shawl&mdash;and glasses." Patricia was half crying again, her
+head on her father's shoulder.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was hard to relinquish the picture of the grandmother she had been
+carrying in her mind for the past fortnight; a sort of composite picture
+of all the grandmothers she knew in Belham.
+</p>
+<p>
+And the doctor, understanding, comforted her, sending her to freshen
+herself up again for supper, with the promise that it would all come
+right&mdash;she would see.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the upper landing Patricia came face to face with grandmother; a
+grandmother who was tall and slender and dressed in some delicate gray
+material that rustled softly when she walked, and gave forth a faint
+scent of violets. There was very little gray in the dark wavy hair,
+that framed a face altogether different from the placid wrinkled one
+of Patricia's imaginings; but when Mrs. Cory said, "O Patricia!" and
+held out her arms, Patricia went to her at once.
+</p>
+<p>
+They sat down on the broad window seat to get acquainted; Patricia hoped
+grandmother would not see she had been crying and how tumbled her clean
+dress was. Though Mrs. Cory saw, she said nothing, she had the gift of
+knowing what questions not to ask; only asking instead, "Patricia dear,
+who put that delightful bowl of flowers in my room?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's color deepened. "I did&mdash;grandmother; I thought you would
+like them&mdash;they were," Patricia caught herself up, doubting now the
+appropriateness of those "old-ladyish" flowers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Fortunately Custard appeared at that moment, wagging ingratiatingly; and
+grandmother at once responded to his overtures with a friendliness that
+warmed not only the heart of Custard but of Custard's small mistress.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia went to bed that night with her thoughts rather in a whirl.
+"I suppose," she decided finally, "that she is one of those 'up-to-date
+grandmothers' one reads about; anyhow, she's a dear and I love her, and
+oh, Aunt Julia did behave beautifully about the punchbowl&mdash;she seemed to
+appreciate what a delicate situation it was&mdash;and I'll never, never take
+it again without asking."
+</p>
+<p>
+On the whole, this "up-to-date grandmother" proved a most charming
+possession; a grandmother who took long walks with one, who played
+croquet with one, who planned delightful trips in town to shops and even
+to matinees. And how delightful to know that one was the object of both
+envy and interest to the other girls; to be able to show the tiniest of
+enameled watches, straight from Paris; to have a grandmother who had
+actually been in Egypt, and had seen the king and queen of England.
+Patricia held her head very high in these days.
+</p>
+<p>
+Yet at times there was an odd, barely defined feeling of something like
+regret at the bottom of Patricia's heart.
+</p>
+<p>
+This new grandmother was the best of chums and companions, but somehow
+it was hard to realize that she was really a <i>grandmother</i>. And
+before Patricia's inward gaze would pass the picture of a little
+white-capped old lady, quietly knitting at one corner of the fireplace;
+an old lady whose big Dutch pocket held an unfailing supply of ginger
+nuts and peppermint drops, whose stories were all of those far-off days
+when "I was a little girl."
+</p>
+<p>
+But only at times; as a rule these days were too full for Patricia to
+find time for inner visions.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're the luckiest girl, Patricia Kirby," Patricia's particular chum,
+Nell Hardy, declared one morning on the way to school. "I think Mrs.
+Cory's perfectly lovely; she always acts as if she was ever so glad to
+see you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia swung her strap of books thoughtfully. "Daddy says she has a
+beautiful manner. I'm going to be just like her."
+</p>
+<p>
+Nell's quick glance was hardly flattering. "When?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Anyhow, she's <i>my</i> grandmother!" Patricia retorted; she shook out
+her short skirts, if only she could have silk linings. Clothes were
+beginning to take on new meanings for Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'd better hurry," Nell said, "or we'll be late."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Grandmother never really hurries."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maybe she did when she was going to school; there's the bell now!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bet I'll be there first," Patricia said, darting ahead.
+</p>
+<p>
+But she wasn't; it seemed as if all the babies and dogs in town chose
+that particular moment to get right in her path, avoiding with equal
+skill Nell's eager rush. What with picking up a baby here and stopping
+to speak to one there&mdash;Patricia never could get by babies&mdash;Patricia
+reached the schoolhouse just too late to join her line and had to wait
+outside until the opening exercises were over.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was by no means the first time; and Miss Carrol looked very grave as
+Patricia slipped into her place a little later, trying to ignore Nell's
+bob of triumph.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was after supper that evening that the doctor called Patricia into
+the office. "Patricia," he said, as she came to stand before him, "I met
+Miss Carrol this afternoon."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, Daddy." Patricia's thoughts flew rapidly backward; had she been
+doing anything very dreadful?
+</p>
+<p>
+"She tells me that you have been tardy very frequently of late,
+Patricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Y-yes, Daddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And yet you usually appear to start in good season?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, Daddy; it&mdash;it doesn't seem to be the <i>starting</i> early.
+It's&mdash;such a lot of things always do seem to happen on the way."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What kind of things, Patricia?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, you see, Daddy, there are such a lot of babies all along, they
+just expect to be noticed; and sometimes I go for some of the girls and
+they've something to do and I wait to help; and sometimes I go an errand
+for old Mrs. Daly&mdash;you know she hasn't any one to go at home. If you
+were with me you'd understand, Daddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor smiled. "Oh, I understand all right, Patricia; still, this
+being late for school has got to stop. Suppose every one in the room
+came just a little late?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They don't," Patricia said; "most of the girls hate it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And you must learn to hate it too; as a means to that end, if it
+happens again this week it must be only the yard on Saturday, Patricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Daddy!" Patricia made swift calculation on the tips of her fingers; it
+was Monday night&mdash;twice four made eight&mdash;eight pitfalls to be avoided or
+else&mdash;Not once since her coming had grandmother failed to take Patricia
+somewhere on Saturday afternoon.
+</p>
+<p>
+All of this was in Patricia's gray eyes, as she lifted them appealingly
+to her father. "Daddy, if you <i>could</i> make it something else?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you going to give up the fight beforehand, Pat?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you see, Daddy," Patricia quoted gravely, "I 'know my limitations.'
+And besides, it isn't just me&mdash;grandmother'll be so disappointed; you
+know we always go somewhere together Saturday afternoon."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Which means a double reason for coming up to the mark, Patricia," the
+doctor answered; and Patricia, with a little sigh, turned away.
+</p>
+<p>
+She and Custard were alone in the sitting-room a little later, when Mrs.
+Cory came in. Grandmother glanced at the sober face. "Is anything wrong,
+dear?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm positive I can't make it," Patricia said forlornly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Make what?"
+</p>
+<p>
+And Patricia explained.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course you can, dear," grandmother said cheerily; "and indeed you
+must; I've got a very special reason for wanting you to&mdash;I'm not going
+to tell you what it is, however, until Saturday morning at breakfast."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Over four days to wait! Grandmother, mayn't I have just the first
+letter?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Grandmother shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next morning at breakfast she announced that she felt the need of
+more regular exercise, and she thought she should take a short walk
+every morning.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah!" Dr. Kirby said, "about what time?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should think&mdash;about half past eight," Mrs. Cory answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A short walk <i>before</i> breakfast is considered more beneficial by some."
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby looked interested. "There are a good many pretty walks about
+Belham," she said.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Patricia came down the path, her strap of books over her shoulder,
+and a get-there-early-or-die expression on her face, Mrs. Cory was just
+turning out of the gate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you going in my direction, grandmother?" Patricia asked; and
+grandmother replied that she was.
+</p>
+<p>
+Later, sauntering slowly homewards, Mrs. Cory met the doctor. He drew
+rein. "Well?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+She laughed softly. "Patrick, if you'd been with us! It was like making
+a royal progress. There were exactly six babies, and I quite lost count
+of the dogs, not to mention several old ladies, all waiting to pass the
+time of day with Patricia. My only wonder is that she ever gets to
+school at all. Patrick, I don't believe you realize what a dear child
+she is."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't I!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Cory stood a moment looking down the pleasant tree-bordered street.
+She had not been in Belham before since the death of Patricia's mother,
+more than eight years ago, having been abroad most of the time. Now she
+found herself regretting this long absence. She had been missing a good
+deal&mdash;she would like to have had some share in Patricia's life all these
+years.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was beautifully early this morning," Patricia announced proudly at
+the table that noon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And you will be this afternoon?" grandmother asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm not so apt to be late afternoons," Patricia answered; "I suppose
+it's just happened that way."
+</p>
+<p>
+The next morning after breakfast, Patricia lingered. "Are you going my
+way <i>this</i> morning, grandmother?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, dear," Mrs. Cory answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia caught the smile in her father's eyes and wondered.
+</p>
+<p>
+Half-way to school she suddenly stopped. "Grandmother, you're doing it
+on purpose&mdash;to <i>make</i> me get there early!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Cory smiled. "You see I didn't want to lose my treat, Patricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+When Friday noon came Patricia had not one tardy mark for those four
+days; and on that same Friday noon she met her Waterloo.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was the Dixon baby who caused her downfall.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was one of Patricia's most ardent admirers; and when he saw
+her coming that noon he made as straight for her as his very shaky
+two-year-old legs would allow. Of course he tumbled down and scratched
+his snubby little nose; and of course Patricia stopped to pet and
+comfort him, carrying him back to the house. "Mrs. Dixon," she called
+from the gate, "oh, Mrs. Dixon!"
+</p>
+<p>
+But Mrs. Dixon had just stepped over to a neighbor's. Patricia tried to
+put her charge down, but he stoutly refused to be put.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll be late, Patricia," Nell warned, coming up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Danny won't let me leave him; and I don't know where his mother is,"
+Patricia almost wailed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mercy, put him down and come on!" Nell advised. "He's a little
+nuisance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't know Danny's powers for hanging on," Patricia said; "besides,
+he did hurt himself."
+</p>
+<p>
+Five minutes after school had opened Patricia made her appearance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia," Miss Carrol said, "I had begun to hope that you were not
+going to end the week as you began it."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia took her place without answering.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby and Mrs. Cory had gone in town that afternoon, not to return
+until the late train, and it so happened that the doctor did not come
+home to supper; so there was no one but Sarah to notice the depths into
+which Patricia was plunged. For Patricia never did anything by halves.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is yo' sick, honey?" Sarah asked anxiously, when Patricia refused a
+second piece of chocolate cake.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia shook her head. "I'm just disgusted with life."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Land sakes!" Sarah exclaimed; "and only this noon looked like yo' was
+walkin' on air!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia went to bed early that night; even Custard's powers to comfort
+had proved inadequate. To-morrow stretched ahead a long, blank, dreary
+waste.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was a little late to breakfast the next morning; as she slipped into
+place, after kissing him good-morning, the doctor glanced at her rather
+closely. She was a most subdued Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+And then grandmother came in, also a little late. "Patricia," she said,
+almost at once, "after breakfast I want you to run over and ask Mrs.
+Hardy if Nell may go in town with you and me to-day&mdash;to the circus."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia caught her breath&mdash;so that was the "special reason!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Then she pushed her chair back. "I&mdash;can't go!" she cried; and was
+halfway upstairs before any of the others could speak.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Cory turned to Miss Kirby. "What can be the matter?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby shook her head. "Do you know what it means, Patrick?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor looked guilty. "I am afraid it means&mdash;that Patricia has been
+late to school again."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I thought," grandmother began, then stopped; as soon as she had
+finished her breakfast she went up to Patricia's room.
+</p>
+<p>
+Coming down a few moments after, she went straight to the office.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patrick," she said, "I have been finding out how Patricia came to be
+late; and remember, please, that Patricia herself has given me only the
+barest facts, with no thought of making out a case for herself, but
+reading between the lines&mdash;" and then the doctor was given the
+opportunity to also read between the lines.
+</p>
+<p>
+He listened gravely. "I know," he said at last, "it was a very
+Patricia-like action; still I am afraid I must stand by my word."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patrick, I think I shall claim my prerogative."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your what?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Prerogative&mdash;as a grandmother. From time immemorial it has been the
+right of the grandmother to come to the rescue of the grandchildren."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But Patricia knows&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is my chance, you see,"&mdash;Mrs. Cory had been told why Patricia had
+run away that first night,&mdash;"my chance to prove to Patricia that even
+if I don't wear a cap and spectacles and all the paraphernalia of the
+good old-fashioned grandmother, at heart I really am one&mdash;just as
+soft-hearted and unreasonable as any one of them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patrick, didn't <i>your</i> grandmother ever get <i>you</i> out of a
+tight place?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor looked thoughtfully out at the leaf-covered lawn; it was
+going to be a perfect fall day. "Yes," he said, "she did, more than
+once&mdash;bless her&mdash;in the most reprehensible way."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The way of a grandmother the world over," Mrs. Cory commented softly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And upon my word I don't believe it did me any harm!" the doctor went
+through to the foot of the stairs. "O Pat!" he called.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia came promptly, bravely blinking back the tears.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mustn't lay it up against <i>me</i>, Pat," the doctor said; "it's
+all your grandmother's doing. She simply insists on taking you to that
+circus today."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Daddy!" Patricia's arms were about his neck instantly; "Daddy, I
+<i>will</i> try&mdash;ever 'n' ever so hard! You'll see!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor laughed. "Wish I were going too, Pat. In my young days it was
+<i>after</i> the circus that one appreciated most the advantages of
+owning a grandmother."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is grandmother, Daddy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"In the office."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia flew to the office. "Oh," she cried, her arms around her
+grandmother's neck this time, "you're the very grandmotheriest
+grandmother that ever could be!"
+</p>
+<p>
+And then and there vanished forever from Patricia's heart that picture
+of a placid, wrinkled little old lady, knitting quietly at one corner of
+the fireplace.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER IV
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    PATRICIA'S CHRISTMAS FAMILY
+</h3>
+<p>
+"There!" Patricia stepped back, with a sigh of satisfaction. "It's all
+ready for the presents. Custard Kirby," she bent to pat the small curly
+black dog, stretched lazily out on the hearth-rug, "on your honor, have
+you ever seen a prettier Christmas-tree? Good! There's Daddy!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia ran to open the front door. "Come and admire, Daddy," she
+urged.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dr. Kirby went with her to the library; in the center of the broad
+square room stood the tree, its slender tip just escaping the ceiling.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I trimmed it nearly all myself!" Patricia explained, proudly. "Aunt
+Julia had to go out. Maybe you don't think I've been busy to-day, Daddy!
+I don't know but what it is a good thing that Christmas doesn't come
+more than once a year."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should be bankrupt if it did," the doctor said, pulling one of
+Custard's long ears. "An only daughter is rather an expensive luxury."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As if I were anything more than a plain every-day necessity! And not
+such an incapable after all, am I, Daddy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not when it comes to Christmas-trees."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Daddy, see, it's beginning to snow!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We're going to have a white Christmas, all right," the doctor said;
+then, as the telephone rang sharply, he went to answer it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia heard him give a sudden exclamation, ask one or two rapid
+questions; then he hung up the receiver and came back to the library
+door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia," he said, "there has been a bad accident down at the
+curve&mdash;the eastern express&mdash;they are bringing the injured up here to the
+hotel. 'Phone your aunt for me; and remember, <i>you</i> are not to
+leave the house."
+</p>
+<p>
+"O Daddy!" Patricia followed him into the office; but all he could tell
+her was that it seemed to be a pretty bad affair, and that he was likely
+to be away from home some hours.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A sad Christmas eve for a good many, dear," he said, kissing her
+good-by.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia watched him, as he drove off a few moments later, through the
+fast falling snow. Christmas eve&mdash;and down there at the curve! Patricia
+choked back a sudden sob, as she went to telephone to her aunt, who was
+down at the church, helping with the Christmas decorations.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby decided instantly to go right down to the hotel, where help
+would be needed. And <i>she</i> also warned Patricia that she was not to
+leave home.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But oh, I want to go, Custard!" the girl protested; "I know I could
+help." She closed the library door; the sight of the Christmas-tree,
+its gay ornaments glittering in the firelight, hurt her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia went to curl herself up on one of the sitting-room
+window-seats. Jim had gone with her father; Sarah was down at the gate
+talking over the accident with the maid from next door. Presently,
+across the street, a familiar figure came into view, through the
+gathering twilight. Patricia hurried to the door. "O Nell!" she called.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nell Hardy came running over. "Patricia, you've heard?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; they sent for Daddy. Aunt Julia's gone down to the hotel."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So's Mama; she wouldn't let me go with her. O Patricia! If it had been
+the local!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't, Nell! Come on in and stay; I'm under orders not to leave the
+house."
+</p>
+<p>
+They went into the sitting-room, where Patricia brightened up the fire
+and lit the big lamp, with its crimson shade. Then she came to sit
+beside Nell on the broad old lounge. "Nell, aren't you wild to help too?
+If only Daddy hadn't&mdash;Oh, I know&mdash;" The next moment Patricia was out in
+the hall at the telephone.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nell waited wonderingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come on, Nell!" Patricia stood in the open doorway, her eyes dancing.
+"Five of them coming!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What are you talking about, Pat?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Children." Patricia was leading the way upstairs. "I got Mrs. Brown,
+down at the hotel, on the 'phone. I wish you could have heard her!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Children! I should say so, Miss Patricia! Five of them crying in my own
+sitting-room at this minute. No, not hurt; frightened out of their wits,
+and their own people too hurt to look after them. And when I asked if
+I might have them up here, Nell, I wish you could have heard her. She's
+sending them right up in one of the hotel rigs."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, Patricia&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"There aren't any buts in this affair. We'll take Aunt Julia's room and
+mine. It won't do to turn Daddy out of his, and I must have
+communicating ones."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But your aunt&mdash;" Nell began again.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, Aunt Julia'll understand." Patricia was kneeling before the deep
+fireplace in her aunt's room, piling it generously with wood from the
+box in the corner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia, what yo' up ter?" Sarah demanded, unexpectedly, from the
+doorway. "Yo' know Miss Julia don' like a fire in her room nights&mdash;an'
+de house like summer now, wid de furnuss!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia isn't sleeping here tonight," Patricia answered, calmly;
+"and I particularly want the room cheerful; you know, there's nothing
+like an open fire for making things cheerful."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia, what yo' be'n doin'?"
+</p>
+<p>
+And Patricia explained.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah rolled her black eyes ceiling-wards. "Who ever heerd tell o' sich
+doin's! I'd jus' like ter know who done gib yo' commission ter do this,
+Miss P'tricia! An' whatever is yo' goin' do wid five strange young uns?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Make them happy and comfortable, I hope," Patricia laughed. "There they
+are now. Start a fire in my room, please, Sarah, and make up a bed on my
+lounge. Come on, Nell," and Patricia was out of the room and downstairs
+in a flash.
+</p>
+<p>
+Before the steps stood the carriage from the hotel, and from within it
+five white, frightened little faces looked anxiously out.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia made straight for the youngest one, a two-year-old girl. "You
+poor baby!" she cried, softly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Heedless, impulsive, Patricia had at least the gift of winning her way
+right to a child's heart; and without a moment's hesitation the child
+put a pair of clinging little arms about her neck.
+</p>
+<p>
+She and Nell took the five into the warm, bright sitting-room, where
+they took off hats and coats and gently rubbed the cold little hands.
+"Why, you're not much more than babies, any of you!" Patricia glanced
+pityingly from one to another of her protégés.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm seven," the oldest answered. "I'm Norma Howard; she's my little
+sister Totty." She pointed to the baby on Patricia's lap. "She keeps
+crying for Mama&mdash;Mama was hurt," Norma hid her face against Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia slipped an arm about her. "I shouldn't wonder if my Daddy were
+looking after her right now. He's the best doctor in the whole world!"
+She turned to the two little boys, staring up at her from the depths of
+the doctor's big chair: "And are you brothers?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No'm," the larger one responded; "we've only just 'come 'quainted. He's
+only five; I'm five 'an half. I'm Archibald Sears; his name's Tommy&mdash;I
+want my mother!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Tommy's blue eyes filled. "So do I," he cried.
+</p>
+<p>
+Totty took up the wail; and the little four-year-old girl on Nell's lap
+promptly followed suit.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What shall we do?" Nell asked, imploringly.
+</p>
+<p>
+But at that moment Sarah appeared. She took Tommy up in her strong,
+motherly arms, soothing him in practised fashion. "There, there, honey!
+Yo's goin' have yo' mother pretty soon. What yo' wants now's yo' supper,
+ain't it, honey? I reckon ain't no one had de sense ter gib yo' chillens
+a mite ter eat."
+</p>
+<p>
+Tommy tucked his head down on Sarah's broad shoulder with a pathetic
+little sigh of comfort. In the home which at this moment seemed very far
+away to Tommy was an old colored mammy. He refused to let Sarah put him
+down, so she took him with her while she got ready the five bowls of
+warm bread and milk, which she declared the best possible supper for all
+the children under the circumstances.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But whatever put such a notion in yo' head, Miss P'tricia, is more'n
+I kin figger out," she declared a few moments later, guiding the sleepy
+Tommy's spoon in its journey from bowl to mouth. "What yo' reckon yo'
+pa's goin' say?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," Patricia glanced about the table, "that just at present Daddy
+would say&mdash;bed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"H'm," Sarah grunted, "yo' knows what I means. Well, it's sure got ter
+be a bath for them all 'fore it kin be bed; so we'd best get started."
+</p>
+<p>
+She headed the little procession upstairs, Tommy in her arms, Patricia
+bringing up the rear with Totty.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If it hadn't come about in such a dreadful way, wouldn't it be
+perfectly lovely?" Patricia said. "Think of it, Nell&mdash;<i>five</i>
+children to spend Christmas with one!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Nell laughed. "Your Christmas isn't over yet, Pat; it won't be all
+smooth running."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can't scare me. Nell, we'll hang up their stockings for them. They
+must have their Christmas."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What yo' goin' do fo' night things fo' dem, Miss P'tricia?" Sarah
+asked, suddenly; "'pears like ain't none o' 'em come much laden down wid
+luggage."
+</p>
+<p>
+"N-no," Patricia answered; "probably their things weren't very
+get-atable. We'll have to take some of my gowns, Sarah."
+</p>
+<p>
+Whereupon Archibald lifted up his voice in swift protestation; he didn't
+want to wear a girl's things; he wanted to go home; he wanted to sleep
+in his own bed; he wanted his mother!
+</p>
+<p>
+At that all-compelling word four other voices rose in instantaneous
+lamentation, even Norma catching the general infection.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sarah, can't you do something?" Patricia implored. "Nell, what does
+your mother do when your brothers cry like this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They&mdash;don't cry like this," Nell answered, trying desperately to quiet
+Lydia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mebbe next time, Miss P'tricia," Sarah's tone was strictly of the
+"I-told-you-so" order, "yo' won't go 'vitin' a whole tribe o' young uns,
+widout resultin' any one."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia, walking the room with the screaming Totty, came to a sudden
+halt before Archibald, lying face down on the floor. "If you'll stop
+crying I'll let Custard come up," she said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who's Custard?" Archibald rolled over on his back to consider the
+matter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dog."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Downstairs&mdash;in the kitchen."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Does he like boys?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not when they cry."
+</p>
+<p>
+Archibald rubbed his eyes. "I'm not crying now."
+</p>
+<p>
+But at that moment, Custard, who considered that he had been kept in the
+background quite long enough, came upstairs on his own account. As Sarah
+said, he seemed "ter sense the situation," for he trotted about making
+friends, lapping the tears from Tommy's face, and standing up on his
+hind legs to let Totty pat his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah promptly took advantage of the lull to whisk the boys off to the
+bath-room; half an hour later, all five children, well wrapped in shawls
+and blankets, were gathered about the fire in Patricia's room for the
+hanging of the Christmas stockings.
+</p>
+<p>
+That ceremony over, Sarah pounced on Tommy and Archibald, carrying them
+off to bed in Miss Kirby's room. "An' mercy knows what Miss Julia done
+say when she find yo' here," she muttered, tucking them in snugly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Archibald sat up in bed. "I want&mdash;Custard!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yo' go 'long ter sleep, young sir," Sarah expostulated. "What yo' think
+Marse Santa Clause goin' say ter such goin's-on?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I want Custard!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let him have him, Sarah!" Patricia exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia! 'Low that onery dog on yo' aunt's bed!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia let the insult to her pet pass.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>On</i> it, <i>in</i> it, <i>under</i> it, if it'll keep him quiet!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah lifted Custard in far from respectful fashion, dropping him, an
+astonished, but entirely acquiescent heap, between Archibald and Tommy.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lydia, already asleep, was disposed of in Patricia's bed, and Norma and
+Totty settled comfortably on the wide lounge.
+</p>
+<p>
+"An' now, honey," Sarah said, "I's goin' get you and Miss Nell yo'
+supper."
+</p>
+<p>
+They went downstairs, where Sarah made Patricia and Nell comfortable at
+a small table drawn up before the sitting-room fire.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But what are you going to fill those stockings with, Pat?" Nell asked,
+after Sarah had left them alone.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can manage all right for the girls; I've loads of toys stowed away up
+garret. I've always had heaps of things given me, but if I could get
+out-of-doors, and had something alive to play with, I'd let the other
+things go every time. I am a bit puzzled about Archibald's and Tommy's."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll run home and get some of the little boys' toys," Nell offered.
+When supper was over, while Patricia went, as she called it, "shopping
+up garret," Nell made a hurried trip home and back.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There," she exclaimed, coming in breathless, her head and shoulders
+white with snow, "will these do?" She laid a toy engine, a trumpet, a
+tin sword, and a small box of lead soldiers on the table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Beautifully!" Patricia was placing a small jointed doll in the top of
+Norma's stocking. "This is going to be about the realest Christmas I've
+ever had."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's going to be a mighty sad one for a lot of people."
+</p>
+<p>
+All the fun and laughter vanished from Patricia's gray eyes. She looked
+about the pleasant, homelike room, with its trimmings of evergreen and
+holly, and a swift, sharp, realizing sense of what was going on down at
+the hotel came to her. For a moment the girl's lips quivered and the
+hand that held Tommy's empty stocking trembled. "But, Nell," she said
+slowly, "I am sure&mdash;oh, I know they would want their children to have
+their Christmas. It would be too dreadful, afterwards&mdash;if they could
+remember nothing but&mdash;sadness and&mdash;sorrow. O Nell, I wonder if there
+were any children hurt?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know," Nell answered. "Let's&mdash;not talk about it, Patricia.
+Shall I put the trumpet in Archibald's stocking?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose so, he's larger than Tommy. I don't know what Aunt Julia will
+do if he wakes up early and starts to blowing it. Poor Aunt Julia! She's
+got a lot of surprises coming her way." Patricia stuffed out the toe of
+Lydia's stocking with the regulation nuts and raisins. "There," she
+said, a moment later, "I reckon these are ready to hang up again."
+</p>
+<p>
+They tiptoed upstairs softly; the children were all sleeping quietly,
+and even Custard barely opened the corner of one eye at Patricia's
+coming.
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard was having the time of his life. Hitherto, beds had been
+strictly forbidden ground with Custard; and just what could have brought
+about this most delightful state of affairs was quite beyond his powers
+of imagination, but he was wisely wasting no time in idle speculation.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia stroked him a bit dubiously. "I am afraid Aunt Julia will rebel
+at this, old fellow; but Archibald's got fast hold of you, and I simply
+can't risk waking him up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must go now, Pat," Nell said, as they went downstairs again; "I told
+Papa I'd be back soon."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Somehow," she added, as she and Patricia stood a moment on the front
+steps, "I can't make it seem like Christmas eve&mdash;not even with your five
+stockings, Pat."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia looked out at the white whirl of snow; the street seemed
+deserted, but here and there, where a blind had been left undrawn,
+a light shone out.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, from the house next door, came the sound of a Christmas carol:
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>  "Hark! the herald angels sing</p>
+<p>  Glory to the new-born King."</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+Clearly, joyously, through the still, snow-laden air, sounded the
+words&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>  "Risen with healing in His wings,</p>
+<p>  Light and life to all He brings.</p>
+<p>  Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!</p>
+<p>  Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!"</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+Patricia drew a long breath. "But it <i>is</i> Christmas eve, Nell. And,
+O Nell, at least <i>we</i> didn't have any one there&mdash;on the express."
+</p>
+<p>
+"N-no," Nell said gravely, "still&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maybe it won't be exactly a 'merry Christmas'," Patricia began&mdash;"Nell,
+listen!"
+</p>
+<p>
+From upstairs came a prolonged wail.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Totty!" Patricia cried.
+</p>
+<hr>
+<p>
+It was more than an hour later when the doctor and Miss Kirby drove
+slowly up the snow-covered drive. "I am afraid Patricia has had rather
+a lonely Christmas eve," Miss Kirby said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It looks as if she had gone to bed," her brother answered; "the door
+would have been open by this time, if she were on hand."
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby went directly upstairs to take off her things; in the upper
+hall she caught the flicker of firelight through her own and Patricia's
+half-opened doors; and although ordinarily she did not care for a fire
+in her room at night, the knowledge that there was one awaiting her now
+brought a sense of comfort. Probably Patricia had thought she would be
+cold and tired&mdash;Patricia was really very considerate at times.
+</p>
+<p>
+Three minutes later Miss Kirby was standing in the middle of her room,
+staring with wide, amazed eyes at her very much occupied bed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Two children and a <i>dog</i>!
+</p>
+<p>
+Involuntary, she lowered the light, so as not to awaken the sleepers.
+Two children and a <i>dog</i>! Could it be the effect of over-wrought
+nerves? Then she recognized Custard.
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard was blinking sleepily up at her, but he did not move. He may
+have realized the desirability of not disturbing his companions, or he
+may have concluded that possession was nine-tenths of the law; with a
+little audacious sigh of comfort, he tucked his head down and dropped
+off to sleep again.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby turned towards Patricia's room. A moment after, the doctor
+heard her calling to him softly from the landing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Anything wrong?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come and see!" Miss Kirby was almost hysterical.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia isn't&mdash;?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come and see!" Miss Kirby led the way to her room, pointing
+dramatically to the bed.
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor surveyed the trio within it. "Upon my&mdash;" his lips twitched.
+"No one from around here! Evidently, Patricia has&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose you look in Patricia's room," Miss Kirby suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+Going to the door, the doctor gave one brief, comprehensive glance; then
+he turned: "And how many in my room?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby gasped. "I'll go see."
+</p>
+<p>
+"None," she reported, "and none in the spare-room. Patrick, these must
+be children from&mdash;the hotel. Oh dear, was there ever such a girl!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor looked about him, more slowly this time, seeing Lydia in the
+bed, Norma on the lounge; seeing the little, flushed contented faces;
+seeing the stockings hanging ready for the morning from the mantelpiece;
+seeing, and here his glance rested longest, Patricia in a low chair
+before the fire, Totty in her arms, both fast asleep; noting the tired
+droop of the dark head against the baby's yellow one.
+</p>
+<p>
+He might have known Patricia would never be content to sit idle, when
+just at hand was so much of pain and suffering to be relieved.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't it exactly like Patricia?" Miss Kirby sighed, wearily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," the doctor's voice was very gentle, "I think it is&mdash;exactly like
+Patricia." Crossing the room, he carefully loosened Patricia's grasp,
+taking Totty from her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia stirred and opened her eyes. "Daddy! Oh, I am glad you're back!
+But, please, please, be very careful not to wake Totty; I'm so afraid
+she'll get to crying again."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor laid Totty beside Norma. "Suppose you come downstairs, Pat,
+and explain this invasion of the premises to your aunt and me," he said,
+holding out his hand to her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sitting on the arm of her father's chair, Patricia told her story.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have&mdash;you been in your room, Aunt Julia?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have, Patricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am sorry about Custard, Aunt Julia; but Archibald wouldn't be
+comforted without him; he wanted his&mdash;mother."
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby thought of the long dining-room down at the hotel, turned
+into a hospital ward; where on this Christmas eve more than one mother
+was lying very near the borders of the undiscovered country.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I had to take your room, Aunt Julia," Patricia went on, "so as to
+have two communicating ones. I hope you don't mind much?"
+</p>
+<p>
+And Miss Kirby had not the heart to admit how much, in her present
+weariness of mind and body, she did care.
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor patted Patricia's cheek. "I thought Mrs. Brown was keeping
+those children wonderfully out of the way. I wish their poor mothers
+could have known how well they were being cared for."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia drew a quick breath of pleasure. "And we'll keep them over
+Christmas, Daddy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That depends&mdash;upon various things. By the way, where do you sleep
+to-night, Pat?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I'll go into the spare-room, with Aunt Julia," Patricia responded,
+cheerfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby stifled a sigh; and hoped that Patricia's activities would
+not recommence too early the next morning.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was not Patricia who woke Miss Kirby the next morning.
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard, waking early, and finding himself in such unaccustomed
+surroundings, decided to look for his young mistress. Having been
+permitted on one bed seemed to Custard sufficient warrant for getting on
+another. Miss Kirby woke with a start to find a little wriggling object
+standing between herself and Patricia, while a small moist tongue did
+active and alternate service on both their faces.
+</p>
+<p>
+Her shriek of dismay awoke Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia!" Patricia was shaking with laughter, "I'll tell Daddy&mdash;how
+you woke me up, playing with Custard!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's the most&mdash;" Miss Kirby dived beneath the bed-clothes. "Take him
+away, Patricia!"
+</p>
+<p>
+From across the hall came the shrill blast of a trumpet. Custard,
+his forefeet firmly planted on Miss Kirby's chest, his head cocked
+enquiringly, promptly barked a defiant response.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next moment the spare-room seemed full of children, all, like
+Custard, in search of Patricia, and making, at sight of her, as swift an
+onslaught in her direction as the extreme length of their nightgowns
+would permit.
+</p>
+<p>
+So, after all, Christmas morning began merrily for them, at least.
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor, coming home later from an early visit to the hotel, stopped
+outside Patricia's open door. "Merry Christmas, Pat! Got your hands
+full?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia was kneeling on the floor, buttoning Tommy's shoes. "Merry
+Christmas, Daddy," she answered, gaily; "I certainly have."
+</p>
+<p>
+Norma came slowly up to the doctor; she remembered him from last night;
+for in all the hurry and confusion of the moment he had found time for a
+few comforting words to the frightened, bewildered children. "Have&mdash;have
+you made Mama better?" she asked, wistfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor sat down, taking her on his knee. "What is your mother's
+name, dear?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mrs. Howard."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor brushed the child's soft curls; and Patricia, seeing the
+gravity of his eyes, caught her breath. "Your mother was resting very
+quietly when I left her just now, dear," he said, gently; then he turned
+to Archibald. "Did you find that trumpet in your stocking, young man?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Archibald nodded. "I want my&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I found this!" Lydia held up one of Patricia's many dolls. They all
+crowded about him, claiming his attention, Totty demanding to be taken
+up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Got your hands full, Daddy?" Patricia laughed.
+</p>
+<hr>
+<p>
+About the candle-lighted tree Patricia's small guests circled
+admiringly. It <i>had</i> been a merry Christmas for the little
+travel-wrecked strangers; and now, with the tree, had come the
+culminating point of this long happy day.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't it pretty?" Norma came to lean against Patricia. "I wish Mama
+could see it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must remember to tell her all about it," Patricia answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will I see her to-morrow?" Norma asked longingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps," Patricia said; and when presently her father had to leave
+them, to go down to the hotel, she went with him to the door. "Daddy,
+you'll be back soon?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"As soon as possible, dear."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And&mdash;you think&mdash;with good news for them&mdash;all?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope so, dear."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia went back to the library with sober face. "But at least," she
+thought, taking Totty on her lap, "they'll have had their Christmas."
+</p>
+<p>
+It was far from soon before the doctor returned. Patricia's charges were
+in bed and asleep. Custard, who had been looking forward to bedtime all
+day, had retired to his basket&mdash;a disillusioned dog. To-night Archibald
+was finding all the solace needed in a gaily painted Noah's Ark. Miss
+Kirby was lying down in the sitting-room,&mdash;she had not found it a day
+of unbroken calm,&mdash;so that Patricia was alone in the library when her
+father returned.
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew her down beside him on the lounge. "It <i>is</i> good news for
+them all, Patricia, I think Norma and Totty may see their mother
+to-morrow. I have brought you a great deal of love, Patricia, from more
+than one mother; love and gratitude."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I am glad they're all better!" Patricia said. "Daddy, I've been
+thinking; I don't see how we're ever going to get along after this
+without a Christmas family."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor bent to kiss her. "What I've been thinking is what your
+'family' would have done for their Christmas without you. I'm proud
+of you, Pat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"O Daddy!" Patricia's eyes were shining.
+</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13895 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+
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+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #13895 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13895)
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Patricia, by Emilia Elliott
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Patricia
+
+Author: Emilia Elliott
+
+Release Date: October 30, 2004  [eBook #13895]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATRICIA***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Garcia and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+PATRICIA
+
+by
+
+EMILIA ELLIOTT
+
+1910
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+It is a deep regret to the publishers that Miss Emilia Elliott, the
+creator of the charming character of Patricia, did not live to see this
+book in print, nor to enjoy the welcome that they are confident it will
+be accorded.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+  I. PATRICIA'S FATIGUING DAY.
+
+ II. THE GINGHAM APRON PARTY
+
+III. THE WAY OF A GRANDMOTHER
+
+ IV. PATRICIA'S CHRISTMAS FAMILY
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PATRICIA'S FATIGUING DAY
+
+
+Patricia sat on the back fence, almost hidden by the low-spreading
+branches of an old apple-tree. Below her, on the grass, lay a small,
+curly, black dog, his brown, trustful eyes fixed confidently on
+Patricia.
+
+"Really, you know," the child said, gravely, "it's a very perplexing
+situation. Aunt Julia needn't have been so inhospitable. Why didn't
+I wait until Daddy got home! Daddy's so much more--convincible. But
+it's no use now; Daddy never goes back on Aunt Julia."
+
+Patricia slipped from the fence. "I rather think you and I'd better go
+down to the back meadow to talk things over; it's getting pretty near
+sewing-time."
+
+Out in the meadow, flat on her back in the long grass, Patricia set
+herself to the task of solving this perplexing situation.
+
+Half an hour earlier she had appeared back from one of her desultory
+rambles, accompanied by this most forlorn of all forlorn dogs,
+explaining that she had met him on the road, and he had followed
+her home.
+
+It was no unusual occurrence, but when Patricia added that he didn't
+seem to belong to anybody, and she thought she would keep him, Miss
+Kirby promptly and firmly protested.
+
+To Patricia's pleading, that he was poor and lame and homeless, that
+Cæsar, the pointer, was the only dog they had now, and he was too old
+to play much, Miss Kirby had proved adamant. Patricia might give her
+foundling a good meal, but keep him she _could not_.
+
+Whereupon, Patricia, having given the wanderer what was in reality
+several meals condensed into one, had retired with him to think things
+over.
+
+"It really seems as if you'd been meant for me," she told him now;
+"I found you. I can't see why Aunt Julia won't look at things in a
+proper light. I'm afraid she hurt your feelings. Aunt Julia generally
+means pretty well, but she's apt to speak out sort of quick. We Kirbys
+mostly do. I wonder what your name is?"
+
+The dog stretched comfortably out in the warm grass, quite as happy and
+contented as if he had been everything he wasn't, sat up suddenly, with
+a short little bark, as if trying to give the desired information.
+
+Rolling over, Patricia, her chin in her hands, surveyed him carefully.
+"You aren't very handsome just now; but then, I know lots of people who
+aren't very good looking. I don't see why that saying Aunt Julia is so
+fond of--about 'Handsome is as handsome does'--shouldn't apply to dogs
+as well as people. All the same, you are a very mixed numbery sort of
+a dog: you've got one and three-quarters ears, three and one-half
+legs,--at least you don't use that front paw very much,--and half a
+tail; and your hair is rather--patchy. But inside, I'm sure you're all
+right. And you have _beautiful_ eyes; _they're_ all there, too."
+
+The dog blinked back at her soberly, wagging his abbreviated tail in
+apologetic fashion.
+
+"You've simply got to have a home," Patricia went on; "and it's up to me
+to find you one. But I think you'll have to have a bath first, and your
+paw bandaged."
+
+Jumping up, Patricia darted back to the house, and around to the side
+door, leading to her father's office. Presently, she reappeared with a
+cake of antiseptic soap, a box of salve, a roll of bandage, a pair of
+scissors, and a bath-towel; with these gathered up in the skirt of her
+frock she led the way down to the brook, followed by a most unsuspecting
+small dog.
+
+Ten minutes later that same small dog--decidedly sadder and wetter, if
+not wiser--lay shivering on the sunny bank, while Patricia rubbed him
+vigorously with one of her aunt's largest bath-towels.
+
+Then the cut paw was salved and bandaged, and the most hopelessly
+tangled knots of curls cut away. After which, Patricia, sitting back on
+heels, studied her charge approvingly.
+
+"If Aunt Julia could see you _now_! Why didn't I do all this first?
+But--well, Aunt Julia's made up her mind; and she isn't exactly the
+changey kind. I wonder if you'd like it at the Millers'? They've got a
+lot of children, but they're ever so nice children! They've three dogs
+now, so one more oughtn't to count--and you'd have plenty of company."
+
+The dog, whose only present anxiety was to feel dry once more, merely
+rolled over on his back by way of answer.
+
+"Oh, but you mustn't!" Patricia protested. "You'll get all dirty again.
+I know it's horrid to feel too clean, but, you see, it's so necessary to
+make a good first impression! I reckon it was the first impression that
+made all the trouble with Aunt Julia this morning. Come on, we'll start
+right off; it's a pretty long walk to the Millers'."
+
+They went 'cross-lots, stopping for more than one romp by the way, one
+quite as light-hearted and irresponsible as the other; though behind
+Patricia lay more than one neglected task, and before her companion
+stretched a possibly homeless future.
+
+It was a nearly perfect June day, the blue sky overhead just flecked
+with soft, fleecy white clouds, and with enough breeze stirring to lift
+Patricia's short brown curls and fan her sunburned cheeks.
+
+Out on the highroad the wild roses were in bloom, and the air was full
+of soft summer sounds; the very birds hopping lightly about from fence
+to fence had a holiday air--and to Patricia there was something very
+friendly in the inquisitive cock of their pert little heads, as they
+stopped now and then to inspect her.
+
+"Oh!" she cried, joyously, reaching up on tiptoe to gather a spray of
+wild roses just above her head, "aren't we having the loveliest time,
+Dog?"
+
+Her companion wagged agreeingly; he was, at any rate. The hot sun on his
+back felt exceedingly good; he began to entertain hopes of actually
+feeling really and thoroughly dry again--some time.
+
+"That's the Millers' house--the brown one, beyond the curve," Patricia
+told him. And as it was the only house in sight, he had no trouble in
+locating it.
+
+"I'm sure you'll be happy there," Patricia added. "It's funny there
+aren't any children, or dogs, about. There's Mrs. Miller."
+
+Mrs. Miller was hanging out a wash. "Patricia Kirby!" She pushed back
+her sunbonnet, the better to survey the child. "Where is your hat?
+You're redder'n one of my big pinies!"
+
+Patricia put her hand up to her head. "Maybe I left it in the meadow;
+I'm not sure I've had it on at all this morning."
+
+"Well!" Mrs. Miller's tone was emphatic. "The children and the dogs've
+all gone off picnicking," she added. "I suppose you've come to see
+them?"
+
+"N-no," Patricia answered. "I came to bring you a--present, Mrs. Miller.
+The nicest--"
+
+She stopped abruptly, as Mrs. Miller rushed by her, with a shriek,
+waving her apron frantically.
+
+On the grass spread out to bleach, lay one of Mrs. Miller's best
+tablecloths; and in the middle of the cloth Mrs. Miller's present was
+rolling and twisting his damp, dusty little self, uttering all the while
+short, sharp little barks of satisfaction.
+
+But he was on his feet before any one could reach him, and with one
+corner of the cloth caught in his mouth, had run gayly away.
+
+"Head that dog off, Patricia!" Mrs. Miller screamed. "What dog is it,
+anyway--mischievous, good-for-nothing little scamp? He doesn't belong
+about here! Ten to one, he followed you in. I never knew such a child
+for taking up with stray dogs!"
+
+After several strenuous moments the cloth was rescued. "Is it hurt very
+much?" Patricia asked, anxiously.
+
+Mrs. Miller held it up; one of the corners was torn and frayed rather
+badly, and the whole cloth was covered with grass-stains and dirt.
+"You can see for yourself," she said wrathfully; "and it a _new_
+cloth--never used yet!"
+
+"But it'll wash, won't it?" Patricia suggested. "And the torn part won't
+show when it's on the table; and it won't show when it's folded up in
+the drawer." She stooped to lay a restraining hand on the wrongdoer, who
+already had an eye on various other articles scattered about the grass.
+"I wouldn't have thought he could run so, with a lame paw, would you,
+Mrs. Miller?"
+
+"The sooner he runs out of my sight, the better for him," Mrs Miller
+declared, warmly. "If he don't get started mighty quick I'll help him
+along a bit with a broom handle."
+
+Patricia drew herself up. "I--I think I'll be going."
+
+"But, Patricia," Mrs. Miller called after her, "what was that about a
+present? Something your aunt sent?"
+
+"No, Aunt Julia didn't send him. I brought you a--a dog, Mrs. Miller."
+
+"_That_ little nuisance! Well, well, of all--"
+
+Patricia waited to hear no more; not until she was some distance up the
+road did she turn to her charge, limping ostentatiously in the rear.
+
+"That was another bad first impression, Dog! It wasn't my fault this
+time. Really, I'm very much ashamed of you."
+
+Dog sat down, holding up a bandaged paw. His whole dejected little body
+expressed penitence of the deepest dye.
+
+Patricia softened. "I'm not so sure whether, after all, you would have
+liked it at the Millers'. I'm a good deal disappointed in Mrs. Miller,
+myself."
+
+She sat down on the grass beside the road to rearrange the loosened
+bandage. "Puppies will be puppies, I suppose. Daddy says you must always
+take the intention into consideration--and I don't suppose you
+_intended_ to be bad. It's dreadfully easy to be bad, without
+intending to. I certainly hope it won't be washing-day at the next
+place. The idea of having Thursday for a wash-day, anyhow! Dear me,
+where is the next place?"
+
+The dog crawled into her lap, trying to lick her face. He was not
+in the least anxious to decide upon any "next place." Sitting there in
+Patricia's lap, in the shade of a wide-spreading maple, seemed a very
+agreeable method of passing the time.
+
+"I think," Patricia said, stroking the little black head, "we'll try
+Miss Jane. You don't know Miss Jane. She's awfully nice. She and her
+sister haven't any dog but they've got a cat; you wouldn't mind
+that--she's a very intelligent cat; Miss Jane says so."
+
+To reach Miss Jane's it was necessary to leave the highroad for a
+narrow, winding lane. A quarter of a mile further on they came to the
+little white house. Patricia thought it very lonely looking, but perhaps
+her companion might think otherwise. "And I do think," she said,
+gravely, "that it's very good of me to bring them such a nice dog--to
+keep the tramps off."
+
+A large gray cat, sunning herself on one of the gate-posts, was the only
+sign of life about the house.
+
+But not for long. The next moment an exceedingly astonished, irate cat
+was taking an unusual amount of exercise in the prim little garden,
+urged cheerily on by a small, curly dog, whose three legs seemed quite
+as effective as most dogs' four. While down the path from the house
+came Miss Jane and Miss Susan, also stout, elderly, and unaddicted to
+overmuch exercise, anxious for their cat, anxious for their garden,
+most of all anxious to get this strange intruder off the premises.
+
+"Go away, little girl, and take that horrid dog with you," Miss Jane
+commanded, shaking a stick she had picked up.
+
+Patricia's eyes flashed. "I'm not '_little girl_.' I'm _Patricia Kirby_!"
+
+"Pa-tri-cia Kir-by! Upon my word!"
+
+Patricia's bare curls were blown and tangled; her face, hot and dusty;
+her blue gingham frock, fresh that morning, between water and dust was a
+sight to behold. She bore very little resemblance to the Patricia Kirby
+Miss Jane was accustomed to see in church on Sunday, or sometimes
+driving about with Dr. Kirby.
+
+"Whatever are you doing alone so far from home, Patricia?" Miss Susan
+asked, coming up. The cat had retired to the shelter of a tall tree,
+from a branch of which she glared down on her pursuer, who lay hot and
+panting on the ground below.
+
+Patricia pointed to the dog. "Why, I came on purpose to bring you
+him--for a present, you know."
+
+Miss Jane gasped.
+
+"He's a very nice dog," Patricia went on. "I'd love to keep him for
+myself; only Aunt Julia--Aunt Julia seemed to think one dog was enough.
+I don't think Aunt Julia is particularly--enthusiastic, about dogs. You
+would like him, wouldn't you?"
+
+Not dust, heat, nor weariness could hide the persuasive charm of
+Patricia's quick upward smile.
+
+Before that smile Miss Jane, who was very soft-hearted, wavered; but
+Miss Susan shook her head resolutely. "Augusta would never hear of it
+for one moment!"
+
+"Is Augusta your cook?" Patricia asked. Cooks were that way sometimes;
+even Sarah had her moments of revolt--so far as Patricia was concerned.
+
+"Augusta is our cat," Miss Jane explained. She felt grateful to Susan,
+and sorry for Patricia.
+
+Patricia sighed; she had recognized the finality in Miss Susan's tone.
+"Do you know of any one who would like a dog," she asked, "a very nice
+dog?"
+
+"You might try the Millers'," Miss Jane suggested.
+
+"I--I don't believe Mrs. Miller would care for him," Patricia answered,
+hurriedly. She turned to go. "Why, where is he?"
+
+"Perhaps he's waiting outside in the road for you." Miss Susan was not
+ordinarily so inhospitable, but the minister was coming to supper that
+evening; and, like Martha of old, Miss Susan was burdened with many
+cares.
+
+Patricia sighed again; the road outside the low white fence seemed
+suddenly very long and sunny. She was tired and discouraged; above all,
+she was hungry.
+
+"Before you go, Patricia," Miss Jane said, kindly, "come round to the
+kitchen and have a glass of cool milk and a cookie."
+
+The kitchen door had been left open in the excited rush of a few moments
+before. As the three neared it now, Miss Susan darted forward, with very
+much the same shriek of horrified dismay as Mrs. Miller had uttered not
+long since.
+
+Mounted on a chair, his feet firmly planted on the kitchen-table was
+a small black dog, just finishing the contents of a large glass dish
+standing at the edge of the table.
+
+"It's my custard," Miss Susan wailed, "and the minister coming to
+supper!"
+
+The "very nice dog" turned round, licking his chops contentedly. It
+almost seemed as if he winked at Patricia.
+
+The next instant, skilfully dodging Miss Susan, he had retired to the
+side yard, to finish licking his chops. Truly, it was a red-letter day
+for him. He wagged affably at the eloquent Miss Susan; surely he had
+paid her the highest compliment in his power.
+
+"Oh, I am so sorry," Patricia declared. "He must have been very
+hungry--I couldn't have given him nearly enough breakfast." Then she
+brightened. "After all, Miss Susan, I don't suppose he's ever had
+custard before; and I know Dr. Vail has--lots of times."
+
+Which view of the case did not in the least appeal to the indignant
+maker of the custard.
+
+Seeing which, Patricia concluded that the best thing to do was to take
+her charge away as quickly as possible. And in the confusion milk and
+cookies were quite forgotten.
+
+"Really, you know," Patricia admonished, once they were outside the
+gate, "you're not behaving at all well! Tearing table-cloths, chasing
+cats, and eating up custards aren't at all good dog manners."
+
+The culprit, quick to detect the disapproval in Patricia's voice,
+thought it time to limp again.
+
+"Is your paw very bad?" Patricia asked.
+
+The dog assured her that it was.
+
+"I don't know what we're going to do next," Patricia told him. And
+once back on the main road, she came to a standstill. She couldn't take
+her protégé home; even less could she desert him. She sat down by the
+roadside to consider the matter--to consider various other matters, as
+well. Even with Patricias there comes the moment of reckoning.
+
+Aunt Julia had said that the next time she evaded sewing-lesson she must
+go to bed at five o'clock. Patricia stretched out her tired little legs;
+at the present moment that particular form of punishment did not appear
+very unendurable. Just now, however, it seemed doubtful if she would be
+at home by five o'clock.
+
+Also, Daddy had said that the next time she broke bounds in this way
+he should be obliged to punish her. Patricia fanned herself with a
+decidedly dingy pocket-handkerchief; she wished Daddy had
+said--_how_.
+
+"I'm not saying you're not a very nice dog," Patricia patted her
+companion, curled up on the folds of her short skirts; "still, if
+I hadn't met you this morning--"
+
+The dog blinked sleepily, licking her hand. Perhaps he was thinking of
+a poor, forlorn little animal who had until that morning been hunted and
+driven, half starved, never caressed.
+
+"I wonder," Patricia said, anxiously, "if Mr. Carr wouldn't like you?
+We'll go see, at any rate."
+
+Up the hill they trudged, to where, in his little cabin, lived old Carr,
+the cobbler.
+
+He was at his bench as usual, and he paused, needle in air, at sight of
+his visitors.
+
+Patricia was growing desperate; she went straight to the heart of her
+errand.
+
+She and Carr were great friends, and the latter was immensely
+interested. Over his spectacles he surveyed the pair. Patricia's gray
+eyes had lost their confidence; they were almost as unconsciously
+pathetic as the dog's brown ones.
+
+"Well," Carr said, slowly, "there's no denying a dog's company; and
+since old Sampson died--"
+
+Patricia beamed. "Then you will take him? And you won't mind if he's
+rather--lively? You see, he's so very young. Maybe, I'd better tell you
+everything." And sitting down on one end of the workbench, Patricia made
+full confession of her charge's misdoings. "But I think he's sorry," she
+ended, hopefully.
+
+"Sure, Miss," Carr assented; "especially as to the custard--that there
+wasn't more. What's his name, Miss?"
+
+"I don't know. I've called him just Dog."
+
+"I reckon he won't care what he's called, so long as you don't call him
+too late for dinner," Carr remarked. "How about Custard? It'd keep his
+sin afore him." He took a piece of rope from the floor. "I'd best tie
+him for a bit at first."
+
+It was half-past four when Patricia reached home. Sarah was upstairs and
+Aunt Julia busy with callers.
+
+Making a hasty raid on the pantry, Patricia slipped quietly up the back
+way to her own room. Aunt Julia had said it must be bed; and there was
+no particular use in waiting to be sent.
+
+She was just getting into bed, after a hurried bath, when Miss Kirby,
+having learned from certain unmistakable evidence that Patricia had
+returned, came upstairs.
+
+"Patricia!" she exclaimed, her voice expressing almost as much relief as
+displeasure, "where have you been?"
+
+Patricia moved restlessly. "I've been--everywhere!"
+
+"Sarah has ransacked the entire neighborhood." Displeasure was fast
+becoming the dominant note in Miss Kirby's voice now that Patricia was
+safe in bed before her. "Of course you understand," she began.
+
+Patricia raised a small, flushed face. "Please, Aunt Julia, I'm in
+bed--and you didn't have to send me. I've had a most _fatiguing_
+day; and I'm dreadfully afraid that if you start in to talk to me the
+'Kirby temper''ll make me say something back."
+
+Miss Kirby sat down, surveying her niece in silence for a moment.
+Patricia had frankly stated a quite undeniable fact; and she had no
+desire to put the matter to the test. "Very well," she said, presently,
+"we will wait until to-morrow morning."
+
+"But that would be ever so much worse," Patricia pleaded. "I do so hate
+waiting for things. I thought--maybe--if I went straight to bed--you'd
+skip the--talk part, this time. I'm very tired; finding a home for a dog
+takes it out of you a lot. People 'round here don't seem very anxious to
+have dogs. And--I went considerably beyond bounds--so I've got Daddy to
+settle with yet. All the same, I did find him a home, Aunt Julia--I
+haven't got that on my mind."
+
+Miss Kirby rose, and going over to the bed bent and kissed the tired,
+wistful face. Patricia had a fashion of exciting sympathy at the wrong
+time, in a way that was perilous to discipline. "For this time, then,
+Patricia," she said. "Now I must go downstairs."
+
+Left to herself, Patricia suddenly remembered that there was to be
+strawberry shortcake for supper. Oh, dear, if only Custard had chosen
+any other day to drift across her path! A sent-to-bed bed-supper meant
+simply bread and milk. Patricia wondered if Dr. Vail would mind about
+not having custard as much as she did about not having strawberry
+shortcake. She decided that when she was grown up and had little girls
+of her own she'd never send them to bed early on strawberry shortcake
+night.
+
+She heard her father drive into the yard, heralded by Cæsar's deep bark.
+Cæsar had gone with the doctor on his day's round. Patricia knew how he
+was running about now, looking for her. She hoped Sarah would forget and
+leave the screen door open. Cæsar would be sure to come upstairs then.
+She rather thought Daddy would delay his coming until after supper.
+
+Sarah was taking in supper now; she could hear the dishes rattling.
+She was very hungry; that hasty raid on the pantry had not been very
+satisfactory. If Custard had felt that way she didn't much blame him for
+eating up Miss Susan's custard. Probably no one had ever taught him that
+it was wrong to take what didn't belong to him.
+
+There! Sarah was bringing up her supper now!
+
+Patricia sat up in bed; even bread and milk appeared highly desirable at
+that moment.
+
+But there was more than bread and milk on the tray Sarah carried.
+Patricia stared at the generous square of strawberry shortcake,
+plentifully supplied with cream, in wondering silence.
+
+Sarah brought a small table to the side of the bed. "Miss Julia, she
+done send some message 'bout this 'ere cake, Miss P'tricia; but, law
+o' mercy, I'se clean forgot the most 'portant word. Hit were something
+'bout you-uns having had a fat-fat-"
+
+"Fatiguing day?" Patricia suggested, taking little anticipatory pickings
+at the corners of the shortcake.
+
+Sarah nodded her turbaned head. "Where's you-un been all day, Miss
+P'tricia?" she enquired, severely.
+
+"If you don't mind, Sarah--I'm very hungry and tired--I won't go into
+that at present. I had something very important to see to."
+
+"Humph!" Sarah grunted. "Nice doings, worrying your pore aunt near to
+'straction--the doctor, he ain't come home to dinner--to hear 'bout your
+carryings-on. What you think he's goin' say--when Miss Julia tells him?"
+
+Patricia was absorbed in eating bread and milk. "It must be dreadful to
+be really starved, Sarah," she observed.
+
+"Where you get your dinner, Miss P'tricia?"
+
+"I didn't have any," Patricia answered.
+
+"My sakes!" Further speech failed Sarah. She turned away.
+
+Patricia's next visitor was old Cæsar. Standing by the bed, he asked as
+plainly as dog may what in the world she was doing there at that time
+of day? He accepted solemnly his share of the good things going, then
+stretched himself out on the floor beside the bed, to mount guard--but
+not until he had told her as forcibly as he could that the summer
+evening was unusually fine, and that there were several little affairs
+in the garden requiring their joint supervision.
+
+"But I can't go, Cæsar," Patricia told him. She was always sure that her
+dumb friends understood quite well all she said to them. "There comes
+Daddy now."
+
+"It doesn't seem to be solitary confinement, Patricia," Dr. Kirby said,
+as he came in and seated himself on the side of the bed.
+
+Patricia stretched out a welcoming hand. "It's hours and hours since
+I've seen you, Daddy."
+
+Dr. Kirby took the outstretched hand gravely. "From your aunt's account,
+there would appear to have been hours and hours in which she did not see
+you, Patricia?"
+
+"I'm afraid I was gone a long while, Daddy; but I came home just as soon
+as I got things straightened out.
+
+"Suppose you give me the particulars, Patricia."
+
+And moving so as to rest her head on her father's knee, Patricia told
+in detail the story of her day's experiences. She had the comforting
+conviction that when Daddy knew all he would not be very displeased
+with her.
+
+More than once, during that recital, the doctor's mouth twitched under
+his mustache, and he turned rather suddenly to look out of the window.
+
+"But, Pat," he exclaimed, as she finished, "what made it so imperative
+for you to find that tramp dog a home?"
+
+Patricia's gray eyes were very earnest. "Some one had to do it, Daddy."
+
+The doctor smoothed back the soft, thick curls. "But, Pat, I cannot have
+you burdening yourself with the responsibility of finding homes for all
+the stray animals that cross your path."
+
+"He was so miserable, Daddy--outside; and so really nice--inside.
+I don't believe he liked being a tramp dog."
+
+The doctor stooped and kissed her; it was not easy to be severe with
+Patricia. "Still, dear, it must not happen again; you run too great
+a risk; stray dogs are not always very dependable as to temper."
+
+"It's going to be mighty hard not to, Daddy."
+
+"And Patricia, where are my scissors, and salve, and soap?"
+
+"I'm afraid--down by the brook; so's the towel. I was glad I'd watched
+you bandage Caesar's paw that time."
+
+"That is all very well; but, Patricia, you are not to meddle with any of
+the office things again without permission. And now, about this matter
+of breaking bounds to-day?"
+
+Patricia looked up quickly. "You--you'll 'take the intention into
+consideration,' Daddy?"
+
+The doctor smiled. "Yes, but," his face grew grave again, "I must also
+take into consideration the fact that this is by no means the first time
+you have gone wandering off, causing your aunt a great deal of anxiety."
+
+"I can't think why she will worry so. I always come back all right."
+
+"That is not the point. It must be only the yard for the rest of the
+week, Patricia."
+
+Patricia drew a long breath. "Well," she said, slowly, "I _am_ glad
+it's Thursday night 'stead of Monday morning."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Patricia sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. What had wakened her?
+
+A second series of short, sharp little barks sent her hurrying to the
+window. On the path below, a bit of frayed rope dangling from his neck,
+stood Custard.
+
+When the doctor came downstairs, twenty minutes later, he found Patricia
+on the back steps, with Custard in her lap, busily placing a fresh
+bandage on the hurt paw. "Daddy," she cried, lifting her face for his
+morning greeting, "wasn't it too lovely of him to hunt me up. Isn't he
+the most grateful dog ever was?"
+
+The doctor patted the dog's rough head, then stooped to examine
+Patricia's work. "Not a bad job for an eleven-year-old, Pat."
+
+"I could do it better, only I had to make a strip from a piece I found
+in Aunt Julia's scrap-bag," Patricia explained.
+
+"Patricia!" Miss Kirby exclaimed from the doorway, "your dress is only
+half buttoned, and your hair is--_Patricia Kirby_, have you gone
+and hunted up another dog!"
+
+"It's the same one, Aunt Julia. He has improved a lot, hasn't he? If
+you'd seen how glad he was to see me! I suppose he'll have to be sent
+back. Cæsar likes him pretty well; he didn't growl at him once when I
+introduced them to each other."
+
+"It's a question whether _sending_ back will do any good," the
+doctor said. He was watching the two on the steps.
+
+Patricia stroked the bandaged paw gently. "I can't take him--I can't go
+out of the yard, can I, Daddy?"
+
+"Decidedly not."
+
+"Couldn't you take him in the gig with you, Patrick?" Miss Kirby felt
+that she was playing a losing game.
+
+"Going quite in the opposite direction."
+
+"And Jim?"
+
+"Goes with me." The doctor was still studying the two on the steps.
+
+"If he stays one day we are doomed!" Miss Kirby declared.
+
+"That only leaves you and Sarah, doesn't it, Aunt Julia?" Patricia
+asked, cheerfully.
+
+Miss Kirby was not without a sense of humor. "I am afraid Sarah is out
+of the question," she said; "and if he waits for me to take him he will
+stay here--altogether."
+
+Patricia was quick to catch the longed-for concession in her aunt's
+voice. Dropping Custard, she ran to hug Miss Kirby. "Oh, you darling!
+But, Daddy," she turned anxiously, "oh, do you suppose Mr. Carr will
+mind _very_ much?"
+
+"I rather think he will be able to bear the disappointment," the doctor
+answered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE GINGHAM APRON PARTY
+
+
+Fortunately, the ground under the big apple tree was soft and springy,
+and Patricia was used to both low and lofty tumbling; so when she
+landed, a little surprised heap, in the tangled grass, she lay still
+just long enough for the small black dog, nosing anxiously about her, to
+get in one or two licks of her sunburnt, bewildered face; then she sat
+up.
+
+"My, Custard, that was a stunner! I reckon if Daddy was here he'd say,
+'what a fall was there, my countrymen!'" Custard wagged agreeingly, and
+sniffed inquiringly at the strip of pink leg showing through the long
+jagged tear in one of his small mistress's tan stockings.
+
+Patricia scrambled to her feet and began taking stock. There was another
+tear in the short skirt of her blue gingham frock, and one in one of the
+sleeves.
+
+"Goodness! What will Aunt Julia say!" Patricia said ruefully; then
+remembered suddenly what Aunt Julia had said, no longer ago than
+yesterday morning, after a similar catastrophe.
+
+"And if Aunt Julia isn't a 'Mede 'n' Persian,' she might almost as well
+be one--when it comes to unsaying things," Patricia told herself, as she
+started for the house.
+
+Half-way up the back garden path, she came to an abrupt halt. "Custard,"
+she gasped, "it's party day!"
+
+As if Custard did not know that! He had never been to a party, but he
+was mighty glad to have been invited to this one. The pantry, always an
+enchanted spot to him, smelled even more delicious than usual. He had
+quite lost count of the number of times that Sarah had run him out of it
+this morning, with more haste than dignity.
+
+Patricia sat down in an empty wheelbarrow to consider matters, not
+noticing that Jim had been using it that morning to bring fresh mold
+for Miss Kirby's flower beds.
+
+"I didn't want to give a party anyhow." Patricia stared gravely out
+across the sunny drying-ground. Privately, she considered the average
+party a great waste of valuable time. Least of all had she wanted to
+give an "honor party" for Susy Vail. Susy was the rector's grandchild,
+and was on a visit here.
+
+Patricia hadn't much use for Susy Vail. She was a city girl, she was
+quiet and shy, and she would be sure to come to the party in a stiff
+white dress and blue ribbons. Patricia was positive as to the blue
+ribbons.
+
+"I've a good mind to run off to the woods and stay all day, Custard,"
+Patricia said, getting up; "they can have the party without us."
+
+Custard barked a prompt disapproval of this scheme. Maybe the party
+could do without him, but he was quite sure he could not do without
+the party.
+
+"Come on," Patricia told him, starting back down the path.
+
+She had got as far as the gate leading into the meadow, when a new idea
+came to her. Swinging slowly back and forth on the gate, she considered
+this idea; her gray eyes dancing, as its possibilities opened up before
+her mental vision.
+
+"And if Susy Vail hasn't a gingham apron, I'll lend her one; she seems
+the sort of girl not to have one," Patricia confided to Custard, as they
+once more made their way towards the house.
+
+If only the coast were clear!
+
+Sarah was on the back piazza, pitting cherries, but Sarah was easily
+managed.
+
+"My sakes, Miss P'tricia!" Sarah lifted her plump hands in horror,
+"whatever is you-un been up to now?"
+
+"Where's Aunt Julia, Sarah?"
+
+"Done left for Gar's Hollow just five minutes ago, your pa sent Jim back
+for her in the gig. What you say, Miss P'tricia?"
+
+For under her breath, Patrica was saying jubilantly:
+"It's--providential!"
+
+"N-nothing--that is, I was only thinking out loud," she told Sarah.
+
+"Don't you go worrying 'bout dat ere party, honey; hit'll come off all
+right."
+
+"I think it will--now," Patricia answered; her tone so full of some
+hidden enjoyment that Sarah glanced at her suspiciously.
+
+"Miss Julia, she done left word for you-un to do everything like you
+know she'd want you to, Miss P'tricia."
+
+Patricia selected a pair of earrings from the finest of Sarah's bowl of
+cherries. "Don't you worry, Sarah."
+
+"You ain't 'xplained yet how you come to be in such a disrepec'ble
+condition, Miss P'tricia. If the rag man was to see you, he'd just up
+and toss you into his cart--he shore would."
+
+"Have I got a clean gingham apron, Sarah?" Patricia was a past-mistress
+in the art of ignoring what she considered inconvenient, or personal,
+remarks.
+
+"Looks to me like you's got more clean gingham aprons than you's got
+manners," Sarah said severely.
+
+Patricia went indoors to the telephone, shutting the door behind her
+as she went. Sarah was too fat and too heavy on her feet to get out of
+a chair, once comfortably settled in it, unless the call were really
+urgent.
+
+Patricia first called up Mrs. Hardy. Quite unconsciously--being on her
+dignity and feeling, besides, very important--she spoke more slowly than
+was usual, and with more than a trace of her aunt's formality.
+
+Back over the line came a prompt: "Why, good morning, Miss Kirby!"
+
+Patricia's eyes sparkled and the demon of mischief, always lurking in
+her neighborhood, immediately put idea number two into her head. Her
+imitation of her aunt's voice and manner this time was perfect. "Good
+morning, Mrs. Hardy, I just called you up to let you know that the
+little party we are giving this afternoon is to be a gingham apron
+party."
+
+"A w-what?" Mrs. Hardy questioned.
+
+"Miss Kirby" gave herself vigorous mental treatment for a moment or
+so--one giggle and the game was up. As if Aunt Julia ever giggled!
+
+"A gingham apron party," she repeated; "it is Patricia's suggestion, so
+that the children may have a nice jolly time."
+
+"That sounds exactly like Patricia," Mrs. Hardy commented, laughing.
+"I'll tell Nell; I'm sure she will approve."
+
+"Miss Kirby" said thank you, then she hung up the receiver; after which,
+seizing Custard, she hugged him ecstatically. "I really am 'Miss Kirby,'
+you know," she explained. "Daddy's only got me--and I didn't say a word
+that wasn't perfectly true. And Mr. Baker, out at Long Farm, always
+calls me that. Now, I'll have to finish 'phoning."
+
+Mrs. Lane and Mrs. Blake were next informed as to the kind of party
+under way for that afternoon; then came Mrs. Vail, with her Patricia
+made a break. "And if Susy hasn't any gingham--" she began.
+
+"If Susy hasn't what?" Mrs. Vail interrupted. "Why, of course--"
+
+"I only thought--I mean," Patricia felt herself floundering--and Aunt
+Julia never floundered. "Then we may look for Susy," she said hastily.
+
+"Why, certainly," Mrs. Vail answered.
+
+"That is well. Good-by."
+
+"Miss Kirby" hung up the receiver hastily.
+
+"I think she almost suspected--something, Custard; I reckon she's the
+suspiciony kind--Susy Vail looks the kind of girl to have a suspiciony
+mother. But the rest didn't." Patricia danced the interested Custard
+down the hall.
+
+As she reappeared on the back piazza, Sarah asked sternly: "What you
+been up to now, Miss P'tricia? You've been doing a heap of talking at
+dat ere 'phone."
+
+"I had some very important business to transact," Patricia answered
+loftily, the mantle of her aunt's manner still enveloping her. "I guess
+I'll go put my apron on now."
+
+Sarah sniffed indignantly, "You needn't tell me dere ain't some
+foolishness afoot," she declared.
+
+"What time was you-un 'spectin' the comin' cer'mony to commence?" she
+asked, when Patricia came in to her solitary dinner. Neither Miss Kirby
+nor the doctor would be back before late afternoon.
+
+"Aunt Julia said half-past three to seven; I suppose they'll begin
+coming 'long about three."
+
+That note of hidden jubilation in her voice worried Sarah. She had not
+known Patricia for all of her eleven years for nothing. "Honey, what you
+cog'tating?" she coaxed; as she brought Patricia a generous slice of
+fresh cherry pie.
+
+"I'm thinking about--my party. It's going to be a--a--corker, Sarah!
+You'll see!"
+
+Sarah groaned, both in spirit and outwardly. "Honey," she pleaded,
+leaning on the back of a chair and studying her charge anxiously;
+"Honey, dat Miss Susy's a stranger in dis yere part--why, she's come
+clare from Phil'delphy. I'm told the chillerns down in Phil'delphy has
+beau-ti-ful manners."
+
+"I dare say," Patricia did not appear greatly interested.
+
+"And Miss Julia, she done plan dis yere party jest for her."
+
+"I know--I didn't ask her to--I--"
+
+"Honey, you wouldn't--you shore wouldn't do anything to--to disbobulate
+your aunt's plans?"
+
+"May I have another piece of pie, Sarah, please?"
+
+Sarah cast a pair of imploring eyes ceilingwards. "Of all the
+ignoringest young uns! I isn't discoursing 'bout pie, Miss P'tricia."
+
+"But it's mighty good pie, Sarah! Will there be cherry pie among the
+refreshments this afternoon?"
+
+"Miss P'tricia! And the cherry juice all a dripping down, like's not,
+on you-uns clean white dresses," Sarah protested. However, she brought
+Patricia a second piece, which was the important thing at the moment;
+the future might very well be allowed to take care of itself.
+
+Later, as she did up her dinner work, Sarah cast more than one anxious
+glance out of the window to where Patricia lay on the back lawn, under
+the shade of the big cherry tree. Patricia's very quietness was
+alarming.
+
+Was it too much cherry pie? Or was she plotting something.
+
+"Honey," Sarah came out on the piazza, "it's getting time for you to get
+dressed for the festiv'ties."
+
+Patricia, tickling one of Custard's long ears with a blade of grass,
+smiled serenely. "But I am dressed, Sarah."
+
+Sarah sat down heavily on the piazza bench; "I knowed it! I jest
+'spicioned you-un was shore up to something!"
+
+Patricia rolled over on her back, stretching her wiry little frame out
+lazily.
+
+"You come right 'long into dis yere house, Miss P'tricia!" Sarah rose
+commandingly.
+
+"But what for?" Patricia questioned.
+
+"What for? If you wasn't a white child, Miss P'tricia, I'd shore say you
+was onery. I's going be 'bliged to disport you to your pa, if you
+continues such disbehavior."
+
+Patricia scrambled to her feet, and came slowly over to the edge of the
+lawn. Then, lifting her apron, she asked quietly: "Is my frock torn,
+Sarah, or isn't it?"
+
+"You knows it is, Miss P'tricia!"
+
+Patricia stretched out one slender leg. "Is my stocking torn, or isn't
+it?"
+
+Sarah groaned.
+
+Wheeling suddenly round, and still holding up her apron, Patricia
+demanded: "Is my frock dirty, or isn't it?"
+
+"Miss P'tricia, you's shore possessed to-day!"
+
+"Aunt Julia said yesterday morning, that the very next time I got myself
+torn or dirty, needlessly, I must put a clean gingham apron on and go
+that way for the rest of the day."
+
+"But, honey--you know Miss Julia never 'tended you to come to your own
+party in any such fixings! A gingham apron at a party! You come 'long
+upstairs with me, Miss P'tricia; I'll resume all the 'sponsibility."
+
+"Aunt Julia said 'the very next time'; this is the very next time."
+
+"She done lay out your dress 'fore she went, honey--so crisp and nice
+and all the pretty pink ribbons," Sarah spoke coaxingly.
+
+"Aunt Julia didn't know--I hadn't tumbled out of the apple tree then."
+
+"I'se going phonegraph your aunt right off!" Sarah declared.
+
+Patricia caught her breath. Then she remembered. "But they haven't any
+'phone at Gar's Hollow!"
+
+Sarah wrung her hands. "And all them little ladies in white dresses, and
+the hostess o' the 'casion looking like 'straction!"
+
+"I always _feel_ like distraction when I'm all stiff and starchy
+and uncomfortable," Patricia said; "I'd rather look it than feel it."
+
+"Oh, I ain't overlooking that you're powerful reconciled to going to
+your own party dressed like you is now, Miss P'tricia! Anyhow, you're
+going to have a good wash-up and your hair combed; Miss Julia ain't laid
+down no commands against that."
+
+"W-well," Patricia slowly conceded, "only I'll see to it myself, Sarah."
+
+Patricia's thick mop of brown curls was of the tangly order; and when
+things had gone wrong, Sarah's touch was not always of the gentlest.
+
+An hour later, Sarah, from her post of vantage on the side porch, saw
+six little girls coming up the path. There were no boys invited. Miss
+Kirby thought it so much nicer for little girls to play quietly by
+themselves.
+
+A moment, Sarah stared at them in amazement; then her fat sides shook
+with laughter. "I shore might've knowed it! So that's what she was so
+busy phonegraphing 'bout! That chile shore weren't born yesterday.
+Gingham aprons, every last one o' them!"
+
+Some of the six wore sunbonnets, the rest plain garden hats; and all
+wore stout serviceable shoes and stockings. Never had those six little
+girls gone to a party before in such unparty-like costumes.
+
+Patricia came dancing to meet them, bareheaded as usual. "Let's go down
+to the barn right off," she proposed. "Goodness, how funny you do look!"
+she giggled.
+
+"So do you," Nell Hardy retorted; then the seven stood still a moment to
+survey one another.
+
+"Oh!" Mable Lane cried, "whatever put such an idea into your head, Pat?"
+
+"I--I happened to think of it, that was all," Patricia answered vaguely.
+"Come on--we'll play hide and seek, and no going out of the barn."
+
+"Are--are there any horses there?" Susy asked.
+
+Patricia shook her head. "Not today; Daddy's got Sam and Dick's gone to
+pasture."
+
+They played hide and seek all over the delightful big dusty old barn;
+until Patricia, trying to reach goal by a short cut down from the loft,
+came to an abrupt halt in her descent, caught on a projecting beam.
+
+"Go back!" Ruth Martin advised; but Patricia, wriggling herself free,
+dropped in a laughing heap on the barn floor.
+
+"But you've torn your apron, Pat!" Nell exclaimed.
+
+Patricia glanced up at the bit of blue gingham hanging from a nail in
+the beam.
+
+"Look's like this was my busy day," she observed; "I'll go put another
+on."
+
+"I put it on over the first," she explained, on her return. "You see,
+Aunt Julia said--I mean, I thought it would be--fun; and, anyhow, it
+saved time, it takes a lot of time to unbutton these aprons. Let's go
+down to the brook and wade." She glanced at Susy, who was looking rather
+doubtful. "Aren't you allowed to wade in brooks?"
+
+"I--don't know," Susy began, then her mild little face took on a look of
+sudden resolution, "but I'm going to."
+
+Patricia smiled in prompt friendliness. "Mostly, when I'm not sure
+I just take the chance," she encouraged.
+
+Sitting on the edge of the brook, the seven took off shoes and
+stockings. "It's the queerest, nicest party," Bessy Martin declared.
+
+It was a gay little brook, running between a broad, sunny meadow and the
+old Kirby apple orchard, broad enough in places to make the crossing of
+it on stepping stones delightfully uncertain, and again narrowing to a
+mere thread. To Patricia, it was like some live thing, one of the
+dearest and most intimate of playmates.
+
+"Let's play Follow my Leader," Nell suggested, and they drew lots to see
+who should be first leader.
+
+It fell to Kitty Hall, next to Susy the quietest of the seven; the lead
+she set them was a very mild affair, limited to the shallowest and
+narrowest parts of the brook.
+
+But with Patricia's turn, matters took a change for the better, or
+worse, according to the point of view. Patricia hopped and skipped, and
+did everything except walk demurely on two feet, out of the safe,
+pleasant shallows straight for the "pool," which was quite knee deep at
+this time of year.
+
+Once there, she turned to view her followers, and it wouldn't have been
+Patricia, if she hadn't slipped and, with a little shriek of surprise,
+sat right down in the pool.
+
+There was a moment's hesitation, then Nell boldly followed suit; one by
+one, ending with Susy, the other five dropped down in the cool rippling
+water, which seemed to laugh, as if it saw the joke.
+
+"Oh!" Patricia cried, "I never meant--" She was on her feet as quickly
+as possible. Susy was just the kind to go and catch cold, why she had
+begun to shiver and shake already.
+
+The next few moments were strenuous ones for Patricia's followers. Never
+had she led them such a chase, through all the hottest, sunniest parts
+of the big meadow.
+
+"We've got to run, so as not to catch cold," she panted; and run
+they did, their wet skirts flapping against their bare legs, hats and
+sunbonnets sent scattering in every direction. While Custard, regarding
+it as a game gotten up for his especial benefit, urged them on, barking
+and leaping about them, taking little pretend nips at the seven sets of
+bare toes, choosing Susy's the oftenest, because she always squealed
+the loudest.
+
+At last the seven dropped down breathless in the middle of the meadow.
+Patricia felt of Susy's skirts anxiously. "They're 'most dry; let's--"
+She turned over on her face, and the six followed suit once more.
+
+"The sun feels good, doesn't it," Susy said, she was on one side of
+Patricia. "I'm having a be-au-ti-ful time!"
+
+Patricia raised herself on her elbows, and, chin in hand, surveyed Susy
+closely. "Truly true?"
+
+"Truly true," Susy insisted.
+
+Patricia smiled approvingly; and, when she liked, Patricia's smile could
+be very approving indeed. "I guess maybe I'm going to like knowing you,"
+she said.
+
+Susy's little pink and white face had lost its look of peaceful
+placidity, her yellow curls their smoothness. Wet, bedraggled, but
+happier than ever before in her life, and joyfully conscious that she
+had for once boldly strayed from the narrow path of harmless routine,
+she smiled back at Patricia.
+
+"I guess we're all dry now," Patricia said presently. "It seems to me as
+if it must be pretty near supper time."
+
+Nell spread out her limp skirts. "Pretty looking set, we are, to go to
+supper!"
+
+But Patricia was thinking. "A gingham apron party supper ought to be
+different," she said slowly; "Nell, let's you and me go get the
+refreshments and bring them out here."
+
+It was a glorious suggestion. Six pairs of eyes opened wide with
+delight.
+
+"B-but Sarah--" Mabel asked. Mabel had a knack of asking such questions.
+
+"Oh, I reckon Sarah'll ask a heap of questions--Sarah's mighty
+inquisitive at times," Patricia answered. "I rather think the best way
+will be just to go ahead and not bother her about it."
+
+"But how?" Mabel insisted.
+
+"You leave that to Nell and me--we'll manage. The rest of you must wait
+here; keep Custard with you. Oh, dear! I thought you were beautifully
+dry, Susy Vail; what did you go sneeze for? Well, you'll just have to
+keep moving, that's all. You see that she does, Mabel."
+
+Patricia's commands seldom fell on deaf ears and Mabel promptly insisted
+on a game of tag; while Patricia herself, accompanied by Nell Hardy,
+started on a brisk run across the meadow.
+
+At the garden gate, Patricia called a halt. "Duck," she ordered,
+dropping on the grass. From half-way up the path, came Sarah's voice:
+"Oh, Miss P'tricia! Miss P'tricia!"
+
+"She'll go back presently, if she doesn't hear us," Patricia whispered
+with elaborate caution; "then we must get to the house as quickly and as
+quietly as possible and secure the re--the booty. Oh, go away!" she
+added sternly, as Custard came sniffing about them.
+
+But Custard only wriggled and danced about and over them, urging them as
+eloquently as he could to get up and continue their way indoors. Wasn't
+the pantry indoors? Custard could have told his mistress long ago that
+it was quite supper time.
+
+At half-past six, the doctor and Miss Kirby drove into the yard.
+As the gig drew up before the side door, Sarah, voluble and indignant,
+appeared. From the mass of information she hurled upon them, one fact
+only was quite clear--Patricia was missing.
+
+She was so often missing, that the announcement failed to excite any
+great apprehension in the mind of either her father or her aunt.
+
+"But the party--" Miss Kirby began.
+
+"She done take the party with her!" Sarah wailed.
+
+Miss Kirby looked more indignant than surprised; to have come home and
+found that nothing untowards had happened would have been the surprising
+thing.
+
+"I ain't laid my eyes on her since them six gingham aprons came
+gavorting up the walk!" Sarah proclaimed dramatically. "That young-un's
+a limb, for shore!"
+
+Miss Kirby sat down on the piazza bench. "Gingham aprons, Sarah," she
+repeated. "Patrick, what can she mean?"
+
+The doctor shook his head, smiling, "That remains to be discovered."
+
+"For the love o' goodness, Miss Julia!" Sarah implored; "the nexest time
+you sets out to give a party for that there young-un, I hopes and prays
+you stays home to sup'intend the obsequies youself!"
+
+The doctor turned to send Sam on to the barn.
+
+"Gingham aprons," Miss Kirby murmured.
+
+"Ain't Miss P'tricia done 'tire herself in one for the 'casion!" Sarah
+exclaimed; "and ain't she done tell all the others over that 'phone
+to do the very same--I ain't never held with thet there 'phone,
+nohow--'tain't nothin' better'n devilment, anyhow. My sakes, such
+doings, Marse Doctor! You and Miss Julia just come cast your glance
+over this supper table!"
+
+They followed her into the dining-room.
+
+"It certainly looks very pretty," the doctor said, glancing at the
+table.
+
+Sarah groaned. "Where's them plates o' sandwiches gone? I ask you that!
+Where's them plates o' biscuits gone? I ask you that! Where's the little
+cakes, what I iced so pretty, gone? I ask you that! Ain't I done fix
+them all in place and then I goes out to call them--ginham aprons--to
+come in,--and I done galivant all over the place and all up and down the
+street and I ain't seen the least speck o' one o' them--but when I comes
+indoors--the party done vanish! And that ain't all--the cherry pie I
+done make for you's and Miss Julia's supper done vanish too. But they
+ain't got the ice cream--I reckon the freezer was too heavy."
+
+"That at least is something to be thankful for," the doctor said, "there
+would probably have been--consequences--had they secured both the cherry
+pie and the ice cream."
+
+"And the table looking so stylish," Sarah mourned, "with the flowers and
+all the fixings. Where's that plate o' chicken gone? I ask you that!"
+
+"Patrick," Miss Kirby said, "you really must go look that child up! such
+behavior is--"
+
+"I'm going," the doctor assured her, and as he went Miss Kirby saw him
+put his handkerchief to his eyes more than once.
+
+Through the garden he went, through the orchard. Half-way across the
+meadow beyond the orchard he came upon Custard dining at second table,
+and too busy to do more than wag a welcome.
+
+A few yards further on stood an old apple tree, and from the top-most
+branch came, in Patricia's clear notes:
+
+  "'If I could find a higher tree
+  Farther and farther I should see,
+  To where the grown-up river slips
+  Into the sea among the ships.'"
+
+
+The doctor stood still, making a trumpet of his hands. "Ship ahoy!" he
+called.
+
+The next instant seven girls came wriggling and scrambling down from the
+various branches. "Oh! Daddy," Patricia cried joyously, "we're having
+the jolliest time--we're pirates! I'm captain--
+
+  "'My name is Captain Kidd,
+  And most wickedly I did,
+  As I sailed, as I sailed!'"
+
+
+"And, according to report, before you sailed, young lady. Suppose you
+make explanation regarding certain late extremely piratical
+proceedings."
+
+"You mean about the supper, Daddy? You see, we didn't feel very
+partified--at least, we thought we didn't look exactly--"
+
+As she hesitated, the doctor, glancing from one to another of the seven,
+nodded comprehendingly. "I quite agree with you, Pat; you do not look
+very--partified."
+
+They were so dusty, so disheveled; all but Patricia had shoes
+on--Custard had made off with both of Susy's, and Patricia had most
+willingly offered hers--the opportunity to go barefoot was too good to
+be lost; Nell had only one stocking, Kitty none at all, Ruth was wearing
+Patricia's, Custard had certainly made the most of his chance to carry
+off things that afternoon.
+
+"But we've had a be-au-ti-ful time," Susy said, slipping a hand into
+the doctor's. She quite forgot that he was a comparative stranger,
+remembering only that he was Patricia's father--Patricia, who had
+invited her to this most wonderful of parties, where one had been so
+busy having fun that there had been no time for feeling shy and strange.
+
+Dr. Kirby smiled down at the little guest of honor. "Upon my word, I
+believe you have," he said.
+
+"Aunt Julia says," Patricia possessed herself of his other hand, "that
+to feel sure that one's guests have honestly enjoyed themselves is to
+know that one's party has been a success. So I reckon mine's been a
+perfectly tremendous success."
+
+"Suppose you come up to the house--all of you--and see if you can
+reassure Aunt Julia and--Sarah," the doctor suggested.
+
+Patricia sighed. "I--I sort of wish Aunt Julia--looked at things the way
+we do, Daddy."
+
+They went on up to the house. On the back steps, Miss Kirby was waiting;
+in the kitchen doorway stood Sarah.
+
+"Patricia Kirby!" Aunt Julia exclaimed. "Well of all the--"
+
+"Miss P'tricia," Sarah broke in wrathfully, "where's that cherry pie I
+done made for Marse Doctor's supper?"
+
+Patricia slowly drew up her uppermost apron. "It's here--most of it;
+Custard got the rest. I--I stumbled and fell--into it. You see, we were
+playing pirate--and we were smuggling."
+
+The doctor, much to his sister's indignation, sat down suddenly on one
+of the garden benches. "Oh, Pat, Pat!" he gasped.
+
+"Patricia Kirby, how many gingham aprons have you on?" Miss Kirby
+demanded.
+
+"Three, Aunt Julia; you said I must wear the first one all the
+afternoon--and I tore it--and then the pie sort of stained the second;
+I got kind of interested to see how many it would take to get me through
+the afternoon. I had to make it a gingham apron party, Aunt Julia, on
+account of what you said yesterday. You see, I got pretty well torn and
+dirty this morning--and, of course, I needn't have climbed that tree."
+
+"Casabianca," the doctor murmured; Miss Kirby was past murmuring
+anything; all her efforts were directed towards at least a semblance
+of self-control.
+
+"I shore told you, that young-un was a limb," Sarah muttered.
+
+"Sarah was very anxious to fix me all up properly, Aunt Julia," Patricia
+went on, "but of course, after you had said--and I thought you'd feel
+better if the rest wore gingham aprons too. Sarah was very kind about it
+though," with a smile in her direction.
+
+"You go 'long, Miss P'tricia," Sarah protested.
+
+Miss Kirby bit her lip. "That is all very well, Patricia, but--"
+
+"We've had such fun, haven't we, girls?" Captain Kidd appealed to her
+fellow pirates.
+
+"Oh, we have," they chorused back.
+
+"And having supper out in the meadow when we hadn't expected it was the
+best part," Nell added.
+
+"What would you suggest?" Miss Kirby turned to her brother.
+
+His smile told her that he knew quite well that she was shifting upon
+him the responsibility of deciding. As a strict disciplinarian--in
+theory--it would never do for her to countenance such unlawful
+proceedings. He rose to the occasion promptly. "Soap and water for these
+highly reprehensible young folks, after that--the ice cream--seeing that
+the cherry pie came to a timely end. And for us--supper."
+
+"Isn't Daddy the dearest?" Patricia demanded, as she led her guests
+upstairs. "Daddy's always so understandified."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE WAY OF A GRANDMOTHER
+
+
+Patricia sat on the back steps carefully arranging purple and white
+asters in an old blue and white punchbowl, the pride of her Aunt Julia's
+heart.
+
+"It's the 'Washington bowl,' Custard," she explained to the small curly
+black dog, watching her intently. "Daddy says it's called that because
+it is just as easy to prove that Washington never did have punch from it
+as that he did." Patricia paused to rearrange one particularly wobbly
+aster, too short as to stem and too big as to head. "Anyhow, it's one
+of the very nicest things we've got."
+
+Custard sighed restlessly; to spend this breezy October afternoon in
+fussing over flowers, when just beyond the gate a whole world waited to
+be explored, seemed to him a most un-Patricia-like wasting of time.
+
+Then as Patricia rose slowly to her feet, the bowl of flowers in her
+hands, he sprang up at her with a sharp little bark of delight.
+
+"Down!" she warned sharply. "Custard Kirby, if you make me drop this
+punchbowl I don't know what Aunt Julia _will_ say!"
+
+It seemed to Patricia as if that journey upstairs to the spare bedroom
+never would be made in safety; but it was accomplished at last, and her
+burden placed right in the center of the low reading-table, standing at
+one side of the south window.
+
+With a long breath of relief, Patricia sat down on the edge of the bed,
+looking about the big pleasant room with approving eyes. It was exactly
+the sort of room she should like to have when she got be a grandmother.
+There were fresh muslin curtains at the windows, the fine old-fashioned
+mahogany furniture shone from its recent polishing; on the broad hearth
+a light fire was laid ready for the lighting, and at one corner of the
+fireplace stood a big chintz-covered armchair. Of course there was a
+footstool beside it. Patricia had seen to the footstool herself, hunting
+it out up garret that morning. She had wondered why Daddy's eyes
+twinkled at sight of it--Daddy would tell her nothing about grandmother,
+she must wait and see. And Patricia so hated waiting for anything, from
+surprises to scoldings.
+
+"Yes, it certainly does look grandmothery, Custard," she said; "and
+the flowers help a lot. I know she'll love asters; they're such an
+old-ladyish flower. Mind, sir, you're not to go rushing at her! And the
+very first time you run off with any of her things you're going to get
+your ears boxed."
+
+Custard wagged tentatively; boxing his ears appeared to him to belong to
+Miss Kirby's special department.
+
+"Miss P'tricia!" Sarah stood in the doorway, indignation in the very
+points of her knotted turban--"Miss P'tricia, ain't yo' never be'n tole
+not to sit on beds? 'Tic'larly beds all ready fo' comp'ny!"
+
+Patricia slipped hurriedly to her feet; but by this time Sarah had
+caught sight of something else. "Land sakes, Miss P'tricia! Ef yo' isn't
+gone an' tuk Miss Julia's punchbowl--what she don't 'low no one but
+herse'f to tech!"
+
+Patricia put an arm around Sarah's waist, or rather, around as much of
+it as she could encompass. "Aunt Julia wasn't in--and I wanted the very
+nicest bowl I could think of. It is so perfectly lovely to have a
+grandmother coming!"
+
+There was a world of unconscious longing in Patricia's voice; no one,
+not even Daddy, knew quite what the coming of her grandmother meant to
+the little motherless girl. And a grandmother she had not seen since
+babyhood. The coming weeks seemed to Patricia full of untold
+possibilities.
+
+"It do look pretty," Sarah admitted, as she went to smooth out the bed
+covers. "'Pears like it was time yo' was gettin' your dress changed,
+honey. Yo' best let me giv yo' hair a brush; seems like yo' never did
+get the kinks out."
+
+Patricia submitted with most unaccustomed patience to the finishing
+touches Sarah insisted on giving her toilet. "I reckon yo'll do now,
+honey," Sarah said at last.
+
+"Only half an hour more and she'll be here, Custard," Patricia said to
+the dog, sniffing inquiringly at the tips of her best shoes; "Daddy's
+to meet the five-thirty train."
+
+Patricia settled herself circumspectly in the hammock, smoothing out
+her crisp white skirts. "Oh, I do wonder what she'll be like, really
+I haven't even a photograph--grandmother doesn't like being
+photographed--and I haven't seen her since I was three years old.
+Custard, do you suppose she'll have an ear trumpet, like the Barkers'
+grandmother? It's very embarrassing talking into an ear trumpet.
+I rather hope she's short and--stoutish. I've been thinking over all
+the people I know, and it seems to me that the short, stout ones are
+mostly more good-natured than the other kinds."
+
+Custard wagged agreeingly; he was short, and not his worst enemy could
+accuse him of being thin. So far this coming of a grandmother did not
+appeal to Custard; never before had he been refused a share of the
+hammock; and those one or two preliminary nips he had taken at the toes
+of Patricia's shiny shoes had been promptly squelched. To be talked to
+and confided in was all very well, but a game of tag in the meadow
+behind the house would have been a great deal more fun. Nor was Custard
+quite sure what a grandmother was; he hoped it was something good to
+eat.
+
+Patricia had never known such a long half hour; she made one or two
+trips down to the gate, walking carefully on the edge of the grass, so
+as not to get her shoes dusty. It was very odd that Aunt Julia didn't
+come home--Good, she was coming now.
+
+"Isn't the train late?" Patricia demanded, the moment her aunt was
+within earshot.
+
+Miss Kirby smiled. "It isn't due yet, Patricia, for five minutes." She
+didn't look in the least excited, going calmly up the garden path to the
+house.
+
+But then it wasn't _her_ grandmother who was coming; besides,
+Patricia's gray eyes danced mischievously, she didn't know about the
+punchbowl.
+
+Patricia decided to wait down by the gate--explanations were such
+tiresome things.
+
+Then, in a few moments, far down the quiet village street she caught
+sight of a familiar gig, duly attended by old Cæsar, the pointer.
+
+The gig was quite close now. Patricia's heart gave a great jump, then
+seemed to stand quite still.
+
+She hadn't come!
+
+There was a lady in the gig with Daddy; but--
+
+Patricia turned sharply, and regardless of her shoes ran swiftly back up
+the driveway and through the garden to the meadow beyond; never stopping
+until she dropped, a little breathless heap, beside the brook.
+
+Custard barked excitedly, thinking it some new move in this grandmother
+game; then suddenly he poked his cold black nose in under the tossed
+thatch of Patricia's brown curls. For Patricia was crying--and doing it
+quite as earnestly and as thoroughly as she did most things.
+
+At last she sat up, dabbing her eyes.
+
+"She didn't come! And we were all ready--and now it can't be just the
+same--when she does come. Custard, do you suppose it's a--a judgment
+on me, for taking the punchbowl?"
+
+Custard looked sober.
+
+"I'll go put it right back. Oh, dear, I do hope that other person hasn't
+stayed to supper!"
+
+Patricia went back to the house, forlorn, bedraggled; very different
+from the Patricia whom Sarah had sent downstairs not an hour before,
+imploring her to "try and keep smarted up for once."
+
+On the back porch she met her father.
+
+"Patricia," he asked, "what does this mean? Why did you run away when
+you saw your grandmother coming?"
+
+Patricia gasped. "But, Daddy, she didn't come! I didn't see her! Oh, do
+you mean, was that--I expected she'd have on a bonnet tied under her
+chin--and a shawl--and glasses." Patricia was half crying again, her
+head on her father's shoulder.
+
+It was hard to relinquish the picture of the grandmother she had been
+carrying in her mind for the past fortnight; a sort of composite picture
+of all the grandmothers she knew in Belham.
+
+And the doctor, understanding, comforted her, sending her to freshen
+herself up again for supper, with the promise that it would all come
+right--she would see.
+
+On the upper landing Patricia came face to face with grandmother; a
+grandmother who was tall and slender and dressed in some delicate gray
+material that rustled softly when she walked, and gave forth a faint
+scent of violets. There was very little gray in the dark wavy hair,
+that framed a face altogether different from the placid wrinkled one
+of Patricia's imaginings; but when Mrs. Cory said, "O Patricia!" and
+held out her arms, Patricia went to her at once.
+
+They sat down on the broad window seat to get acquainted; Patricia hoped
+grandmother would not see she had been crying and how tumbled her clean
+dress was. Though Mrs. Cory saw, she said nothing, she had the gift of
+knowing what questions not to ask; only asking instead, "Patricia dear,
+who put that delightful bowl of flowers in my room?"
+
+Patricia's color deepened. "I did--grandmother; I thought you would
+like them--they were," Patricia caught herself up, doubting now the
+appropriateness of those "old-ladyish" flowers.
+
+Fortunately Custard appeared at that moment, wagging ingratiatingly; and
+grandmother at once responded to his overtures with a friendliness that
+warmed not only the heart of Custard but of Custard's small mistress.
+
+Patricia went to bed that night with her thoughts rather in a whirl.
+"I suppose," she decided finally, "that she is one of those 'up-to-date
+grandmothers' one reads about; anyhow, she's a dear and I love her, and
+oh, Aunt Julia did behave beautifully about the punchbowl--she seemed to
+appreciate what a delicate situation it was--and I'll never, never take
+it again without asking."
+
+On the whole, this "up-to-date grandmother" proved a most charming
+possession; a grandmother who took long walks with one, who played
+croquet with one, who planned delightful trips in town to shops and even
+to matinees. And how delightful to know that one was the object of both
+envy and interest to the other girls; to be able to show the tiniest of
+enameled watches, straight from Paris; to have a grandmother who had
+actually been in Egypt, and had seen the king and queen of England.
+Patricia held her head very high in these days.
+
+Yet at times there was an odd, barely defined feeling of something like
+regret at the bottom of Patricia's heart.
+
+This new grandmother was the best of chums and companions, but somehow
+it was hard to realize that she was really a _grandmother_. And
+before Patricia's inward gaze would pass the picture of a little
+white-capped old lady, quietly knitting at one corner of the fireplace;
+an old lady whose big Dutch pocket held an unfailing supply of ginger
+nuts and peppermint drops, whose stories were all of those far-off days
+when "I was a little girl."
+
+But only at times; as a rule these days were too full for Patricia to
+find time for inner visions.
+
+"You're the luckiest girl, Patricia Kirby," Patricia's particular chum,
+Nell Hardy, declared one morning on the way to school. "I think Mrs.
+Cory's perfectly lovely; she always acts as if she was ever so glad to
+see you."
+
+Patricia swung her strap of books thoughtfully. "Daddy says she has a
+beautiful manner. I'm going to be just like her."
+
+Nell's quick glance was hardly flattering. "When?"
+
+"Anyhow, she's _my_ grandmother!" Patricia retorted; she shook out
+her short skirts, if only she could have silk linings. Clothes were
+beginning to take on new meanings for Patricia.
+
+"We'd better hurry," Nell said, "or we'll be late."
+
+"Grandmother never really hurries."
+
+"Maybe she did when she was going to school; there's the bell now!"
+
+"Bet I'll be there first," Patricia said, darting ahead.
+
+But she wasn't; it seemed as if all the babies and dogs in town chose
+that particular moment to get right in her path, avoiding with equal
+skill Nell's eager rush. What with picking up a baby here and stopping
+to speak to one there--Patricia never could get by babies--Patricia
+reached the schoolhouse just too late to join her line and had to wait
+outside until the opening exercises were over.
+
+It was by no means the first time; and Miss Carrol looked very grave as
+Patricia slipped into her place a little later, trying to ignore Nell's
+bob of triumph.
+
+It was after supper that evening that the doctor called Patricia into
+the office. "Patricia," he said, as she came to stand before him, "I met
+Miss Carrol this afternoon."
+
+"Yes, Daddy." Patricia's thoughts flew rapidly backward; had she been
+doing anything very dreadful?
+
+"She tells me that you have been tardy very frequently of late,
+Patricia."
+
+"Y-yes, Daddy."
+
+"And yet you usually appear to start in good season?"
+
+"Yes, Daddy; it--it doesn't seem to be the _starting_ early.
+It's--such a lot of things always do seem to happen on the way."
+
+"What kind of things, Patricia?"
+
+"Well, you see, Daddy, there are such a lot of babies all along, they
+just expect to be noticed; and sometimes I go for some of the girls and
+they've something to do and I wait to help; and sometimes I go an errand
+for old Mrs. Daly--you know she hasn't any one to go at home. If you
+were with me you'd understand, Daddy."
+
+The doctor smiled. "Oh, I understand all right, Patricia; still, this
+being late for school has got to stop. Suppose every one in the room
+came just a little late?"
+
+"They don't," Patricia said; "most of the girls hate it."
+
+"And you must learn to hate it too; as a means to that end, if it
+happens again this week it must be only the yard on Saturday, Patricia."
+
+"Daddy!" Patricia made swift calculation on the tips of her fingers; it
+was Monday night--twice four made eight--eight pitfalls to be avoided or
+else--Not once since her coming had grandmother failed to take Patricia
+somewhere on Saturday afternoon.
+
+All of this was in Patricia's gray eyes, as she lifted them appealingly
+to her father. "Daddy, if you _could_ make it something else?"
+
+"Are you going to give up the fight beforehand, Pat?"
+
+"But you see, Daddy," Patricia quoted gravely, "I 'know my limitations.'
+And besides, it isn't just me--grandmother'll be so disappointed; you
+know we always go somewhere together Saturday afternoon."
+
+"Which means a double reason for coming up to the mark, Patricia," the
+doctor answered; and Patricia, with a little sigh, turned away.
+
+She and Custard were alone in the sitting-room a little later, when Mrs.
+Cory came in. Grandmother glanced at the sober face. "Is anything wrong,
+dear?" she asked.
+
+"I'm positive I can't make it," Patricia said forlornly.
+
+"Make what?"
+
+And Patricia explained.
+
+"Of course you can, dear," grandmother said cheerily; "and indeed you
+must; I've got a very special reason for wanting you to--I'm not going
+to tell you what it is, however, until Saturday morning at breakfast."
+
+"Over four days to wait! Grandmother, mayn't I have just the first
+letter?"
+
+Grandmother shook her head.
+
+The next morning at breakfast she announced that she felt the need of
+more regular exercise, and she thought she should take a short walk
+every morning.
+
+"Ah!" Dr. Kirby said, "about what time?"
+
+"I should think--about half past eight," Mrs. Cory answered.
+
+"A short walk _before_ breakfast is considered more beneficial by some."
+
+Miss Kirby looked interested. "There are a good many pretty walks about
+Belham," she said.
+
+When Patricia came down the path, her strap of books over her shoulder,
+and a get-there-early-or-die expression on her face, Mrs. Cory was just
+turning out of the gate.
+
+"Are you going in my direction, grandmother?" Patricia asked; and
+grandmother replied that she was.
+
+Later, sauntering slowly homewards, Mrs. Cory met the doctor. He drew
+rein. "Well?" he asked.
+
+She laughed softly. "Patrick, if you'd been with us! It was like making
+a royal progress. There were exactly six babies, and I quite lost count
+of the dogs, not to mention several old ladies, all waiting to pass the
+time of day with Patricia. My only wonder is that she ever gets to
+school at all. Patrick, I don't believe you realize what a dear child
+she is."
+
+"Don't I!"
+
+Mrs. Cory stood a moment looking down the pleasant tree-bordered street.
+She had not been in Belham before since the death of Patricia's mother,
+more than eight years ago, having been abroad most of the time. Now she
+found herself regretting this long absence. She had been missing a good
+deal--she would like to have had some share in Patricia's life all these
+years.
+
+"I was beautifully early this morning," Patricia announced proudly at
+the table that noon.
+
+"And you will be this afternoon?" grandmother asked.
+
+"I'm not so apt to be late afternoons," Patricia answered; "I suppose
+it's just happened that way."
+
+The next morning after breakfast, Patricia lingered. "Are you going my
+way _this_ morning, grandmother?"
+
+"Yes, dear," Mrs. Cory answered.
+
+Patricia caught the smile in her father's eyes and wondered.
+
+Half-way to school she suddenly stopped. "Grandmother, you're doing it
+on purpose--to _make_ me get there early!"
+
+Mrs. Cory smiled. "You see I didn't want to lose my treat, Patricia."
+
+When Friday noon came Patricia had not one tardy mark for those four
+days; and on that same Friday noon she met her Waterloo.
+
+It was the Dixon baby who caused her downfall.
+
+He was one of Patricia's most ardent admirers; and when he saw
+her coming that noon he made as straight for her as his very shaky
+two-year-old legs would allow. Of course he tumbled down and scratched
+his snubby little nose; and of course Patricia stopped to pet and
+comfort him, carrying him back to the house. "Mrs. Dixon," she called
+from the gate, "oh, Mrs. Dixon!"
+
+But Mrs. Dixon had just stepped over to a neighbor's. Patricia tried to
+put her charge down, but he stoutly refused to be put.
+
+"You'll be late, Patricia," Nell warned, coming up.
+
+"Danny won't let me leave him; and I don't know where his mother is,"
+Patricia almost wailed.
+
+"Mercy, put him down and come on!" Nell advised. "He's a little
+nuisance."
+
+"You don't know Danny's powers for hanging on," Patricia said; "besides,
+he did hurt himself."
+
+Five minutes after school had opened Patricia made her appearance.
+
+"Patricia," Miss Carrol said, "I had begun to hope that you were not
+going to end the week as you began it."
+
+Patricia took her place without answering.
+
+Miss Kirby and Mrs. Cory had gone in town that afternoon, not to return
+until the late train, and it so happened that the doctor did not come
+home to supper; so there was no one but Sarah to notice the depths into
+which Patricia was plunged. For Patricia never did anything by halves.
+
+"Is yo' sick, honey?" Sarah asked anxiously, when Patricia refused a
+second piece of chocolate cake.
+
+Patricia shook her head. "I'm just disgusted with life."
+
+"Land sakes!" Sarah exclaimed; "and only this noon looked like yo' was
+walkin' on air!"
+
+Patricia went to bed early that night; even Custard's powers to comfort
+had proved inadequate. To-morrow stretched ahead a long, blank, dreary
+waste.
+
+She was a little late to breakfast the next morning; as she slipped into
+place, after kissing him good-morning, the doctor glanced at her rather
+closely. She was a most subdued Patricia.
+
+And then grandmother came in, also a little late. "Patricia," she said,
+almost at once, "after breakfast I want you to run over and ask Mrs.
+Hardy if Nell may go in town with you and me to-day--to the circus."
+
+Patricia caught her breath--so that was the "special reason!"
+
+Then she pushed her chair back. "I--can't go!" she cried; and was
+halfway upstairs before any of the others could speak.
+
+Mrs. Cory turned to Miss Kirby. "What can be the matter?"
+
+Miss Kirby shook her head. "Do you know what it means, Patrick?"
+
+The doctor looked guilty. "I am afraid it means--that Patricia has been
+late to school again."
+
+"But I thought," grandmother began, then stopped; as soon as she had
+finished her breakfast she went up to Patricia's room.
+
+Coming down a few moments after, she went straight to the office.
+
+"Patrick," she said, "I have been finding out how Patricia came to be
+late; and remember, please, that Patricia herself has given me only the
+barest facts, with no thought of making out a case for herself, but
+reading between the lines--" and then the doctor was given the
+opportunity to also read between the lines.
+
+He listened gravely. "I know," he said at last, "it was a very
+Patricia-like action; still I am afraid I must stand by my word."
+
+"Patrick, I think I shall claim my prerogative."
+
+"Your what?"
+
+"Prerogative--as a grandmother. From time immemorial it has been the
+right of the grandmother to come to the rescue of the grandchildren."
+
+"But Patricia knows--"
+
+"It is my chance, you see,"--Mrs. Cory had been told why Patricia had
+run away that first night,--"my chance to prove to Patricia that even
+if I don't wear a cap and spectacles and all the paraphernalia of the
+good old-fashioned grandmother, at heart I really am one--just as
+soft-hearted and unreasonable as any one of them."
+
+"But--"
+
+"Patrick, didn't _your_ grandmother ever get _you_ out of a
+tight place?"
+
+The doctor looked thoughtfully out at the leaf-covered lawn; it was
+going to be a perfect fall day. "Yes," he said, "she did, more than
+once--bless her--in the most reprehensible way."
+
+"The way of a grandmother the world over," Mrs. Cory commented softly.
+
+"And upon my word I don't believe it did me any harm!" the doctor went
+through to the foot of the stairs. "O Pat!" he called.
+
+Patricia came promptly, bravely blinking back the tears.
+
+"You mustn't lay it up against _me_, Pat," the doctor said; "it's
+all your grandmother's doing. She simply insists on taking you to that
+circus today."
+
+"Daddy!" Patricia's arms were about his neck instantly; "Daddy, I
+_will_ try--ever 'n' ever so hard! You'll see!"
+
+The doctor laughed. "Wish I were going too, Pat. In my young days it was
+_after_ the circus that one appreciated most the advantages of
+owning a grandmother."
+
+"Where is grandmother, Daddy?"
+
+"In the office."
+
+Patricia flew to the office. "Oh," she cried, her arms around her
+grandmother's neck this time, "you're the very grandmotheriest
+grandmother that ever could be!"
+
+And then and there vanished forever from Patricia's heart that picture
+of a placid, wrinkled little old lady, knitting quietly at one corner of
+the fireplace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PATRICIA'S CHRISTMAS FAMILY
+
+
+"There!" Patricia stepped back, with a sigh of satisfaction. "It's all
+ready for the presents. Custard Kirby," she bent to pat the small curly
+black dog, stretched lazily out on the hearth-rug, "on your honor, have
+you ever seen a prettier Christmas-tree? Good! There's Daddy!"
+
+Patricia ran to open the front door. "Come and admire, Daddy," she
+urged.
+
+Dr. Kirby went with her to the library; in the center of the broad
+square room stood the tree, its slender tip just escaping the ceiling.
+
+"And I trimmed it nearly all myself!" Patricia explained, proudly. "Aunt
+Julia had to go out. Maybe you don't think I've been busy to-day, Daddy!
+I don't know but what it is a good thing that Christmas doesn't come
+more than once a year."
+
+"I should be bankrupt if it did," the doctor said, pulling one of
+Custard's long ears. "An only daughter is rather an expensive luxury."
+
+"As if I were anything more than a plain every-day necessity! And not
+such an incapable after all, am I, Daddy?"
+
+"Not when it comes to Christmas-trees."
+
+"Daddy, see, it's beginning to snow!"
+
+"We're going to have a white Christmas, all right," the doctor said;
+then, as the telephone rang sharply, he went to answer it.
+
+Patricia heard him give a sudden exclamation, ask one or two rapid
+questions; then he hung up the receiver and came back to the library
+door.
+
+"Patricia," he said, "there has been a bad accident down at the
+curve--the eastern express--they are bringing the injured up here to the
+hotel. 'Phone your aunt for me; and remember, _you_ are not to
+leave the house."
+
+"O Daddy!" Patricia followed him into the office; but all he could tell
+her was that it seemed to be a pretty bad affair, and that he was likely
+to be away from home some hours.
+
+"A sad Christmas eve for a good many, dear," he said, kissing her
+good-by.
+
+Patricia watched him, as he drove off a few moments later, through the
+fast falling snow. Christmas eve--and down there at the curve! Patricia
+choked back a sudden sob, as she went to telephone to her aunt, who was
+down at the church, helping with the Christmas decorations.
+
+Miss Kirby decided instantly to go right down to the hotel, where help
+would be needed. And _she_ also warned Patricia that she was not to
+leave home.
+
+"But oh, I want to go, Custard!" the girl protested; "I know I could
+help." She closed the library door; the sight of the Christmas-tree,
+its gay ornaments glittering in the firelight, hurt her.
+
+Patricia went to curl herself up on one of the sitting-room
+window-seats. Jim had gone with her father; Sarah was down at the gate
+talking over the accident with the maid from next door. Presently,
+across the street, a familiar figure came into view, through the
+gathering twilight. Patricia hurried to the door. "O Nell!" she called.
+
+Nell Hardy came running over. "Patricia, you've heard?"
+
+"Yes; they sent for Daddy. Aunt Julia's gone down to the hotel."
+
+"So's Mama; she wouldn't let me go with her. O Patricia! If it had been
+the local!"
+
+"Don't, Nell! Come on in and stay; I'm under orders not to leave the
+house."
+
+They went into the sitting-room, where Patricia brightened up the fire
+and lit the big lamp, with its crimson shade. Then she came to sit
+beside Nell on the broad old lounge. "Nell, aren't you wild to help too?
+If only Daddy hadn't--Oh, I know--" The next moment Patricia was out in
+the hall at the telephone.
+
+Nell waited wonderingly.
+
+"Come on, Nell!" Patricia stood in the open doorway, her eyes dancing.
+"Five of them coming!"
+
+"What are you talking about, Pat?"
+
+"Children." Patricia was leading the way upstairs. "I got Mrs. Brown,
+down at the hotel, on the 'phone. I wish you could have heard her!"
+
+"Children! I should say so, Miss Patricia! Five of them crying in my own
+sitting-room at this minute. No, not hurt; frightened out of their wits,
+and their own people too hurt to look after them. And when I asked if
+I might have them up here, Nell, I wish you could have heard her. She's
+sending them right up in one of the hotel rigs."
+
+"But, Patricia--"
+
+"There aren't any buts in this affair. We'll take Aunt Julia's room and
+mine. It won't do to turn Daddy out of his, and I must have
+communicating ones."
+
+"But your aunt--" Nell began again.
+
+"Oh, Aunt Julia'll understand." Patricia was kneeling before the deep
+fireplace in her aunt's room, piling it generously with wood from the
+box in the corner.
+
+"Miss P'tricia, what yo' up ter?" Sarah demanded, unexpectedly, from the
+doorway. "Yo' know Miss Julia don' like a fire in her room nights--an'
+de house like summer now, wid de furnuss!"
+
+"Aunt Julia isn't sleeping here tonight," Patricia answered, calmly;
+"and I particularly want the room cheerful; you know, there's nothing
+like an open fire for making things cheerful."
+
+"Miss P'tricia, what yo' be'n doin'?"
+
+And Patricia explained.
+
+Sarah rolled her black eyes ceiling-wards. "Who ever heerd tell o' sich
+doin's! I'd jus' like ter know who done gib yo' commission ter do this,
+Miss P'tricia! An' whatever is yo' goin' do wid five strange young uns?"
+
+"Make them happy and comfortable, I hope," Patricia laughed. "There they
+are now. Start a fire in my room, please, Sarah, and make up a bed on my
+lounge. Come on, Nell," and Patricia was out of the room and downstairs
+in a flash.
+
+Before the steps stood the carriage from the hotel, and from within it
+five white, frightened little faces looked anxiously out.
+
+Patricia made straight for the youngest one, a two-year-old girl. "You
+poor baby!" she cried, softly.
+
+Heedless, impulsive, Patricia had at least the gift of winning her way
+right to a child's heart; and without a moment's hesitation the child
+put a pair of clinging little arms about her neck.
+
+She and Nell took the five into the warm, bright sitting-room, where
+they took off hats and coats and gently rubbed the cold little hands.
+"Why, you're not much more than babies, any of you!" Patricia glanced
+pityingly from one to another of her protégés.
+
+"I'm seven," the oldest answered. "I'm Norma Howard; she's my little
+sister Totty." She pointed to the baby on Patricia's lap. "She keeps
+crying for Mama--Mama was hurt," Norma hid her face against Patricia.
+
+Patricia slipped an arm about her. "I shouldn't wonder if my Daddy were
+looking after her right now. He's the best doctor in the whole world!"
+She turned to the two little boys, staring up at her from the depths of
+the doctor's big chair: "And are you brothers?"
+
+"No'm," the larger one responded; "we've only just 'come 'quainted. He's
+only five; I'm five 'an half. I'm Archibald Sears; his name's Tommy--I
+want my mother!"
+
+Tommy's blue eyes filled. "So do I," he cried.
+
+Totty took up the wail; and the little four-year-old girl on Nell's lap
+promptly followed suit.
+
+"What shall we do?" Nell asked, imploringly.
+
+But at that moment Sarah appeared. She took Tommy up in her strong,
+motherly arms, soothing him in practised fashion. "There, there, honey!
+Yo's goin' have yo' mother pretty soon. What yo' wants now's yo' supper,
+ain't it, honey? I reckon ain't no one had de sense ter gib yo' chillens
+a mite ter eat."
+
+Tommy tucked his head down on Sarah's broad shoulder with a pathetic
+little sigh of comfort. In the home which at this moment seemed very far
+away to Tommy was an old colored mammy. He refused to let Sarah put him
+down, so she took him with her while she got ready the five bowls of
+warm bread and milk, which she declared the best possible supper for all
+the children under the circumstances.
+
+"But whatever put such a notion in yo' head, Miss P'tricia, is more'n
+I kin figger out," she declared a few moments later, guiding the sleepy
+Tommy's spoon in its journey from bowl to mouth. "What yo' reckon yo'
+pa's goin' say?"
+
+"I think," Patricia glanced about the table, "that just at present Daddy
+would say--bed."
+
+"H'm," Sarah grunted, "yo' knows what I means. Well, it's sure got ter
+be a bath for them all 'fore it kin be bed; so we'd best get started."
+
+She headed the little procession upstairs, Tommy in her arms, Patricia
+bringing up the rear with Totty.
+
+"If it hadn't come about in such a dreadful way, wouldn't it be
+perfectly lovely?" Patricia said. "Think of it, Nell--_five_
+children to spend Christmas with one!"
+
+Nell laughed. "Your Christmas isn't over yet, Pat; it won't be all
+smooth running."
+
+"You can't scare me. Nell, we'll hang up their stockings for them. They
+must have their Christmas."
+
+"What yo' goin' do fo' night things fo' dem, Miss P'tricia?" Sarah
+asked, suddenly; "'pears like ain't none o' 'em come much laden down wid
+luggage."
+
+"N-no," Patricia answered; "probably their things weren't very
+get-atable. We'll have to take some of my gowns, Sarah."
+
+Whereupon Archibald lifted up his voice in swift protestation; he didn't
+want to wear a girl's things; he wanted to go home; he wanted to sleep
+in his own bed; he wanted his mother!
+
+At that all-compelling word four other voices rose in instantaneous
+lamentation, even Norma catching the general infection.
+
+"Sarah, can't you do something?" Patricia implored. "Nell, what does
+your mother do when your brothers cry like this?"
+
+"They--don't cry like this," Nell answered, trying desperately to quiet
+Lydia.
+
+"Mebbe next time, Miss P'tricia," Sarah's tone was strictly of the
+"I-told-you-so" order, "yo' won't go 'vitin' a whole tribe o' young uns,
+widout resultin' any one."
+
+Patricia, walking the room with the screaming Totty, came to a sudden
+halt before Archibald, lying face down on the floor. "If you'll stop
+crying I'll let Custard come up," she said.
+
+"Who's Custard?" Archibald rolled over on his back to consider the
+matter.
+
+"My dog."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Downstairs--in the kitchen."
+
+"Does he like boys?"
+
+"Not when they cry."
+
+Archibald rubbed his eyes. "I'm not crying now."
+
+But at that moment, Custard, who considered that he had been kept in the
+background quite long enough, came upstairs on his own account. As Sarah
+said, he seemed "ter sense the situation," for he trotted about making
+friends, lapping the tears from Tommy's face, and standing up on his
+hind legs to let Totty pat his head.
+
+Sarah promptly took advantage of the lull to whisk the boys off to the
+bath-room; half an hour later, all five children, well wrapped in shawls
+and blankets, were gathered about the fire in Patricia's room for the
+hanging of the Christmas stockings.
+
+That ceremony over, Sarah pounced on Tommy and Archibald, carrying them
+off to bed in Miss Kirby's room. "An' mercy knows what Miss Julia done
+say when she find yo' here," she muttered, tucking them in snugly.
+
+Archibald sat up in bed. "I want--Custard!"
+
+"Yo' go 'long ter sleep, young sir," Sarah expostulated. "What yo' think
+Marse Santa Clause goin' say ter such goin's-on?"
+
+"I want Custard!"
+
+"Let him have him, Sarah!" Patricia exclaimed.
+
+"Miss P'tricia! 'Low that onery dog on yo' aunt's bed!"
+
+Patricia let the insult to her pet pass.
+
+"_On_ it, _in_ it, _under_ it, if it'll keep him quiet!"
+
+Sarah lifted Custard in far from respectful fashion, dropping him, an
+astonished, but entirely acquiescent heap, between Archibald and Tommy.
+
+Lydia, already asleep, was disposed of in Patricia's bed, and Norma and
+Totty settled comfortably on the wide lounge.
+
+"An' now, honey," Sarah said, "I's goin' get you and Miss Nell yo'
+supper."
+
+They went downstairs, where Sarah made Patricia and Nell comfortable at
+a small table drawn up before the sitting-room fire.
+
+"But what are you going to fill those stockings with, Pat?" Nell asked,
+after Sarah had left them alone.
+
+"I can manage all right for the girls; I've loads of toys stowed away up
+garret. I've always had heaps of things given me, but if I could get
+out-of-doors, and had something alive to play with, I'd let the other
+things go every time. I am a bit puzzled about Archibald's and Tommy's."
+
+"I'll run home and get some of the little boys' toys," Nell offered.
+When supper was over, while Patricia went, as she called it, "shopping
+up garret," Nell made a hurried trip home and back.
+
+"There," she exclaimed, coming in breathless, her head and shoulders
+white with snow, "will these do?" She laid a toy engine, a trumpet, a
+tin sword, and a small box of lead soldiers on the table.
+
+"Beautifully!" Patricia was placing a small jointed doll in the top of
+Norma's stocking. "This is going to be about the realest Christmas I've
+ever had."
+
+"It's going to be a mighty sad one for a lot of people."
+
+All the fun and laughter vanished from Patricia's gray eyes. She looked
+about the pleasant, homelike room, with its trimmings of evergreen and
+holly, and a swift, sharp, realizing sense of what was going on down at
+the hotel came to her. For a moment the girl's lips quivered and the
+hand that held Tommy's empty stocking trembled. "But, Nell," she said
+slowly, "I am sure--oh, I know they would want their children to have
+their Christmas. It would be too dreadful, afterwards--if they could
+remember nothing but--sadness and--sorrow. O Nell, I wonder if there
+were any children hurt?"
+
+"I don't know," Nell answered. "Let's--not talk about it, Patricia.
+Shall I put the trumpet in Archibald's stocking?"
+
+"I suppose so, he's larger than Tommy. I don't know what Aunt Julia will
+do if he wakes up early and starts to blowing it. Poor Aunt Julia! She's
+got a lot of surprises coming her way." Patricia stuffed out the toe of
+Lydia's stocking with the regulation nuts and raisins. "There," she
+said, a moment later, "I reckon these are ready to hang up again."
+
+They tiptoed upstairs softly; the children were all sleeping quietly,
+and even Custard barely opened the corner of one eye at Patricia's
+coming.
+
+Custard was having the time of his life. Hitherto, beds had been
+strictly forbidden ground with Custard; and just what could have brought
+about this most delightful state of affairs was quite beyond his powers
+of imagination, but he was wisely wasting no time in idle speculation.
+
+Patricia stroked him a bit dubiously. "I am afraid Aunt Julia will rebel
+at this, old fellow; but Archibald's got fast hold of you, and I simply
+can't risk waking him up."
+
+"I must go now, Pat," Nell said, as they went downstairs again; "I told
+Papa I'd be back soon."
+
+"Somehow," she added, as she and Patricia stood a moment on the front
+steps, "I can't make it seem like Christmas eve--not even with your five
+stockings, Pat."
+
+Patricia looked out at the white whirl of snow; the street seemed
+deserted, but here and there, where a blind had been left undrawn,
+a light shone out.
+
+Then, from the house next door, came the sound of a Christmas carol:
+
+  "Hark! the herald angels sing
+  Glory to the new-born King."
+
+
+Clearly, joyously, through the still, snow-laden air, sounded the
+words--
+
+  "Risen with healing in His wings,
+  Light and life to all He brings.
+  Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
+  Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!"
+
+
+Patricia drew a long breath. "But it _is_ Christmas eve, Nell. And,
+O Nell, at least _we_ didn't have any one there--on the express."
+
+"N-no," Nell said gravely, "still--"
+
+"Maybe it won't be exactly a 'merry Christmas'," Patricia began--"Nell,
+listen!"
+
+From upstairs came a prolonged wail.
+
+"Totty!" Patricia cried.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was more than an hour later when the doctor and Miss Kirby drove
+slowly up the snow-covered drive. "I am afraid Patricia has had rather
+a lonely Christmas eve," Miss Kirby said.
+
+"It looks as if she had gone to bed," her brother answered; "the door
+would have been open by this time, if she were on hand."
+
+Miss Kirby went directly upstairs to take off her things; in the upper
+hall she caught the flicker of firelight through her own and Patricia's
+half-opened doors; and although ordinarily she did not care for a fire
+in her room at night, the knowledge that there was one awaiting her now
+brought a sense of comfort. Probably Patricia had thought she would be
+cold and tired--Patricia was really very considerate at times.
+
+Three minutes later Miss Kirby was standing in the middle of her room,
+staring with wide, amazed eyes at her very much occupied bed.
+
+Two children and a _dog_!
+
+Involuntary, she lowered the light, so as not to awaken the sleepers.
+Two children and a _dog_! Could it be the effect of over-wrought
+nerves? Then she recognized Custard.
+
+Custard was blinking sleepily up at her, but he did not move. He may
+have realized the desirability of not disturbing his companions, or he
+may have concluded that possession was nine-tenths of the law; with a
+little audacious sigh of comfort, he tucked his head down and dropped
+off to sleep again.
+
+Miss Kirby turned towards Patricia's room. A moment after, the doctor
+heard her calling to him softly from the landing.
+
+"Anything wrong?" he asked.
+
+"Come and see!" Miss Kirby was almost hysterical.
+
+"Patricia isn't--?"
+
+"Come and see!" Miss Kirby led the way to her room, pointing
+dramatically to the bed.
+
+The doctor surveyed the trio within it. "Upon my--" his lips twitched.
+"No one from around here! Evidently, Patricia has--"
+
+"Suppose you look in Patricia's room," Miss Kirby suggested.
+
+Going to the door, the doctor gave one brief, comprehensive glance; then
+he turned: "And how many in my room?"
+
+Miss Kirby gasped. "I'll go see."
+
+"None," she reported, "and none in the spare-room. Patrick, these must
+be children from--the hotel. Oh dear, was there ever such a girl!"
+
+The doctor looked about him, more slowly this time, seeing Lydia in the
+bed, Norma on the lounge; seeing the little, flushed contented faces;
+seeing the stockings hanging ready for the morning from the mantelpiece;
+seeing, and here his glance rested longest, Patricia in a low chair
+before the fire, Totty in her arms, both fast asleep; noting the tired
+droop of the dark head against the baby's yellow one.
+
+He might have known Patricia would never be content to sit idle, when
+just at hand was so much of pain and suffering to be relieved.
+
+"Isn't it exactly like Patricia?" Miss Kirby sighed, wearily.
+
+"Yes," the doctor's voice was very gentle, "I think it is--exactly like
+Patricia." Crossing the room, he carefully loosened Patricia's grasp,
+taking Totty from her.
+
+Patricia stirred and opened her eyes. "Daddy! Oh, I am glad you're back!
+But, please, please, be very careful not to wake Totty; I'm so afraid
+she'll get to crying again."
+
+The doctor laid Totty beside Norma. "Suppose you come downstairs, Pat,
+and explain this invasion of the premises to your aunt and me," he said,
+holding out his hand to her.
+
+Sitting on the arm of her father's chair, Patricia told her story.
+
+"Have--you been in your room, Aunt Julia?" she asked.
+
+"I have, Patricia."
+
+"I am sorry about Custard, Aunt Julia; but Archibald wouldn't be
+comforted without him; he wanted his--mother."
+
+Miss Kirby thought of the long dining-room down at the hotel, turned
+into a hospital ward; where on this Christmas eve more than one mother
+was lying very near the borders of the undiscovered country.
+
+"And I had to take your room, Aunt Julia," Patricia went on, "so as to
+have two communicating ones. I hope you don't mind much?"
+
+And Miss Kirby had not the heart to admit how much, in her present
+weariness of mind and body, she did care.
+
+The doctor patted Patricia's cheek. "I thought Mrs. Brown was keeping
+those children wonderfully out of the way. I wish their poor mothers
+could have known how well they were being cared for."
+
+Patricia drew a quick breath of pleasure. "And we'll keep them over
+Christmas, Daddy?"
+
+"That depends--upon various things. By the way, where do you sleep
+to-night, Pat?"
+
+"Oh, I'll go into the spare-room, with Aunt Julia," Patricia responded,
+cheerfully.
+
+Miss Kirby stifled a sigh; and hoped that Patricia's activities would
+not recommence too early the next morning.
+
+It was not Patricia who woke Miss Kirby the next morning.
+
+Custard, waking early, and finding himself in such unaccustomed
+surroundings, decided to look for his young mistress. Having been
+permitted on one bed seemed to Custard sufficient warrant for getting on
+another. Miss Kirby woke with a start to find a little wriggling object
+standing between herself and Patricia, while a small moist tongue did
+active and alternate service on both their faces.
+
+Her shriek of dismay awoke Patricia.
+
+"Aunt Julia!" Patricia was shaking with laughter, "I'll tell Daddy--how
+you woke me up, playing with Custard!"
+
+"He's the most--" Miss Kirby dived beneath the bed-clothes. "Take him
+away, Patricia!"
+
+From across the hall came the shrill blast of a trumpet. Custard,
+his forefeet firmly planted on Miss Kirby's chest, his head cocked
+enquiringly, promptly barked a defiant response.
+
+The next moment the spare-room seemed full of children, all, like
+Custard, in search of Patricia, and making, at sight of her, as swift an
+onslaught in her direction as the extreme length of their nightgowns
+would permit.
+
+So, after all, Christmas morning began merrily for them, at least.
+
+The doctor, coming home later from an early visit to the hotel, stopped
+outside Patricia's open door. "Merry Christmas, Pat! Got your hands
+full?"
+
+Patricia was kneeling on the floor, buttoning Tommy's shoes. "Merry
+Christmas, Daddy," she answered, gaily; "I certainly have."
+
+Norma came slowly up to the doctor; she remembered him from last night;
+for in all the hurry and confusion of the moment he had found time for a
+few comforting words to the frightened, bewildered children. "Have--have
+you made Mama better?" she asked, wistfully.
+
+The doctor sat down, taking her on his knee. "What is your mother's
+name, dear?"
+
+"Mrs. Howard."
+
+The doctor brushed the child's soft curls; and Patricia, seeing the
+gravity of his eyes, caught her breath. "Your mother was resting very
+quietly when I left her just now, dear," he said, gently; then he turned
+to Archibald. "Did you find that trumpet in your stocking, young man?"
+
+Archibald nodded. "I want my--"
+
+"I found this!" Lydia held up one of Patricia's many dolls. They all
+crowded about him, claiming his attention, Totty demanding to be taken
+up.
+
+"Got your hands full, Daddy?" Patricia laughed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+About the candle-lighted tree Patricia's small guests circled
+admiringly. It _had_ been a merry Christmas for the little
+travel-wrecked strangers; and now, with the tree, had come the
+culminating point of this long happy day.
+
+"Isn't it pretty?" Norma came to lean against Patricia. "I wish Mama
+could see it."
+
+"You must remember to tell her all about it," Patricia answered.
+
+"Will I see her to-morrow?" Norma asked longingly.
+
+"Perhaps," Patricia said; and when presently her father had to leave
+them, to go down to the hotel, she went with him to the door. "Daddy,
+you'll be back soon?"
+
+"As soon as possible, dear."
+
+"And--you think--with good news for them--all?"
+
+"I hope so, dear."
+
+Patricia went back to the library with sober face. "But at least," she
+thought, taking Totty on her lap, "they'll have had their Christmas."
+
+It was far from soon before the doctor returned. Patricia's charges were
+in bed and asleep. Custard, who had been looking forward to bedtime all
+day, had retired to his basket--a disillusioned dog. To-night Archibald
+was finding all the solace needed in a gaily painted Noah's Ark. Miss
+Kirby was lying down in the sitting-room,--she had not found it a day
+of unbroken calm,--so that Patricia was alone in the library when her
+father returned.
+
+He drew her down beside him on the lounge. "It _is_ good news for
+them all, Patricia, I think Norma and Totty may see their mother
+to-morrow. I have brought you a great deal of love, Patricia, from more
+than one mother; love and gratitude."
+
+"Oh, I am glad they're all better!" Patricia said. "Daddy, I've been
+thinking; I don't see how we're ever going to get along after this
+without a Christmas family."
+
+The doctor bent to kiss her. "What I've been thinking is what your
+'family' would have done for their Christmas without you. I'm proud
+of you, Pat."
+
+"O Daddy!" Patricia's eyes were shining.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATRICIA***
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Patricia, by Emilia Elliott</title>
+<style type="text/css">
+    <!--
+ body { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; }
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+        margin-top:    .75em;
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+    .poem p     { margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em; }
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+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Patricia, by Emilia Elliott</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Patricia</p>
+<p>Author: Emilia Elliott</p>
+<p>Release Date: October 30, 2004  [eBook #13895]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATRICIA***</p>
+<br><br><h3>E-text prepared by David Garcia<br>
+            and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3><br><br>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<br>
+<br><br><br>
+
+<h1>
+    PATRICIA
+</h1>
+<center><b>
+BY EMILIA ELLIOTT
+</b>
+<center>
+<small>
+1910
+</small>
+</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr>
+<br><br>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;">
+It is a deep regret to the publishers that Miss Emilia Elliott, the
+creator of the charming character of Patricia, did not live to see this
+book in print, nor to enjoy the welcome that they are confident it will
+be accorded.
+</p>
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr>
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CONTENTS
+</h2>
+
+<p class="toc">CHAPTER</p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0001">
+  I. PATRICIA'S FATIGUING DAY.
+</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0002">
+ II. THE GINGHAM APRON PARTY
+</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0003">
+III. THE WAY OF A GRANDMOTHER
+</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH0004">
+ IV. PATRICIA'S CHRISTMAS FAMILY
+</a></p>
+<a name="2H_TOC"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+<hr>
+
+
+<a name="2HCH0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER I
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    PATRICIA'S FATIGUING DAY
+</h3>
+<p>
+Patricia sat on the back fence, almost hidden by the low-spreading
+branches of an old apple-tree. Below her, on the grass, lay a small,
+curly, black dog, his brown, trustful eyes fixed confidently on
+Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really, you know," the child said, gravely, "it's a very perplexing
+situation. Aunt Julia needn't have been so inhospitable. Why didn't
+I wait until Daddy got home! Daddy's so much more&mdash;convincible. But
+it's no use now; Daddy never goes back on Aunt Julia."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia slipped from the fence. "I rather think you and I'd better go
+down to the back meadow to talk things over; it's getting pretty near
+sewing-time."
+</p>
+<p>
+Out in the meadow, flat on her back in the long grass, Patricia set
+herself to the task of solving this perplexing situation.
+</p>
+<p>
+Half an hour earlier she had appeared back from one of her desultory
+rambles, accompanied by this most forlorn of all forlorn dogs,
+explaining that she had met him on the road, and he had followed
+her home.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was no unusual occurrence, but when Patricia added that he didn't
+seem to belong to anybody, and she thought she would keep him, Miss
+Kirby promptly and firmly protested.
+</p>
+<p>
+To Patricia's pleading, that he was poor and lame and homeless, that
+Cæsar, the pointer, was the only dog they had now, and he was too old
+to play much, Miss Kirby had proved adamant. Patricia might give her
+foundling a good meal, but keep him she <i>could not</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+Whereupon, Patricia, having given the wanderer what was in reality
+several meals condensed into one, had retired with him to think things
+over.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It really seems as if you'd been meant for me," she told him now;
+"I found you. I can't see why Aunt Julia won't look at things in a
+proper light. I'm afraid she hurt your feelings. Aunt Julia generally
+means pretty well, but she's apt to speak out sort of quick. We Kirbys
+mostly do. I wonder what your name is?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The dog stretched comfortably out in the warm grass, quite as happy and
+contented as if he had been everything he wasn't, sat up suddenly, with
+a short little bark, as if trying to give the desired information.
+</p>
+<p>
+Rolling over, Patricia, her chin in her hands, surveyed him carefully.
+"You aren't very handsome just now; but then, I know lots of people who
+aren't very good looking. I don't see why that saying Aunt Julia is so
+fond of&mdash;about 'Handsome is as handsome does'&mdash;shouldn't apply to dogs
+as well as people. All the same, you are a very mixed numbery sort of
+a dog: you've got one and three-quarters ears, three and one-half
+legs,&mdash;at least you don't use that front paw very much,&mdash;and half a
+tail; and your hair is rather&mdash;patchy. But inside, I'm sure you're all
+right. And you have <i>beautiful</i> eyes; <i>they're</i> all there, too."
+</p>
+<p>
+The dog blinked back at her soberly, wagging his abbreviated tail in
+apologetic fashion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You've simply got to have a home," Patricia went on; "and it's up to me
+to find you one. But I think you'll have to have a bath first, and your
+paw bandaged."
+</p>
+<p>
+Jumping up, Patricia darted back to the house, and around to the side
+door, leading to her father's office. Presently, she reappeared with a
+cake of antiseptic soap, a box of salve, a roll of bandage, a pair of
+scissors, and a bath-towel; with these gathered up in the skirt of her
+frock she led the way down to the brook, followed by a most unsuspecting
+small dog.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ten minutes later that same small dog&mdash;decidedly sadder and wetter, if
+not wiser&mdash;lay shivering on the sunny bank, while Patricia rubbed him
+vigorously with one of her aunt's largest bath-towels.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the cut paw was salved and bandaged, and the most hopelessly
+tangled knots of curls cut away. After which, Patricia, sitting back on
+heels, studied her charge approvingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If Aunt Julia could see you <i>now</i>! Why didn't I do all this first?
+But&mdash;well, Aunt Julia's made up her mind; and she isn't exactly the
+changey kind. I wonder if you'd like it at the Millers'? They've got a
+lot of children, but they're ever so nice children! They've three dogs
+now, so one more oughtn't to count&mdash;and you'd have plenty of company."
+</p>
+<p>
+The dog, whose only present anxiety was to feel dry once more, merely
+rolled over on his back by way of answer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, but you mustn't!" Patricia protested. "You'll get all dirty again.
+I know it's horrid to feel too clean, but, you see, it's so necessary to
+make a good first impression! I reckon it was the first impression that
+made all the trouble with Aunt Julia this morning. Come on, we'll start
+right off; it's a pretty long walk to the Millers'."
+</p>
+<p>
+They went 'cross-lots, stopping for more than one romp by the way, one
+quite as light-hearted and irresponsible as the other; though behind
+Patricia lay more than one neglected task, and before her companion
+stretched a possibly homeless future.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a nearly perfect June day, the blue sky overhead just flecked
+with soft, fleecy white clouds, and with enough breeze stirring to lift
+Patricia's short brown curls and fan her sunburned cheeks.
+</p>
+<p>
+Out on the highroad the wild roses were in bloom, and the air was full
+of soft summer sounds; the very birds hopping lightly about from fence
+to fence had a holiday air&mdash;and to Patricia there was something very
+friendly in the inquisitive cock of their pert little heads, as they
+stopped now and then to inspect her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh!" she cried, joyously, reaching up on tiptoe to gather a spray of
+wild roses just above her head, "aren't we having the loveliest time,
+Dog?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Her companion wagged agreeingly; he was, at any rate. The hot sun on his
+back felt exceedingly good; he began to entertain hopes of actually
+feeling really and thoroughly dry again&mdash;some time.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's the Millers' house&mdash;the brown one, beyond the curve," Patricia
+told him. And as it was the only house in sight, he had no trouble in
+locating it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm sure you'll be happy there," Patricia added. "It's funny there
+aren't any children, or dogs, about. There's Mrs. Miller."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Miller was hanging out a wash. "Patricia Kirby!" She pushed back
+her sunbonnet, the better to survey the child. "Where is your hat?
+You're redder'n one of my big pinies!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia put her hand up to her head. "Maybe I left it in the meadow;
+I'm not sure I've had it on at all this morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well!" Mrs. Miller's tone was emphatic. "The children and the dogs've
+all gone off picnicking," she added. "I suppose you've come to see
+them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"N-no," Patricia answered. "I came to bring you a&mdash;present, Mrs. Miller.
+The nicest&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+She stopped abruptly, as Mrs. Miller rushed by her, with a shriek,
+waving her apron frantically.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the grass spread out to bleach, lay one of Mrs. Miller's best
+tablecloths; and in the middle of the cloth Mrs. Miller's present was
+rolling and twisting his damp, dusty little self, uttering all the while
+short, sharp little barks of satisfaction.
+</p>
+<p>
+But he was on his feet before any one could reach him, and with one
+corner of the cloth caught in his mouth, had run gayly away.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Head that dog off, Patricia!" Mrs. Miller screamed. "What dog is it,
+anyway&mdash;mischievous, good-for-nothing little scamp? He doesn't belong
+about here! Ten to one, he followed you in. I never knew such a child
+for taking up with stray dogs!"
+</p>
+<p>
+After several strenuous moments the cloth was rescued. "Is it hurt very
+much?" Patricia asked, anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Miller held it up; one of the corners was torn and frayed rather
+badly, and the whole cloth was covered with grass-stains and dirt.
+"You can see for yourself," she said wrathfully; "and it a <i>new</i>
+cloth&mdash;never used yet!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But it'll wash, won't it?" Patricia suggested. "And the torn part won't
+show when it's on the table; and it won't show when it's folded up in
+the drawer." She stooped to lay a restraining hand on the wrongdoer, who
+already had an eye on various other articles scattered about the grass.
+"I wouldn't have thought he could run so, with a lame paw, would you,
+Mrs. Miller?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The sooner he runs out of my sight, the better for him," Mrs Miller
+declared, warmly. "If he don't get started mighty quick I'll help him
+along a bit with a broom handle."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia drew herself up. "I&mdash;I think I'll be going."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, Patricia," Mrs. Miller called after her, "what was that about a
+present? Something your aunt sent?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, Aunt Julia didn't send him. I brought you a&mdash;a dog, Mrs. Miller."
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>That</i> little nuisance! Well, well, of all&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia waited to hear no more; not until she was some distance up the
+road did she turn to her charge, limping ostentatiously in the rear.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That was another bad first impression, Dog! It wasn't my fault this
+time. Really, I'm very much ashamed of you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dog sat down, holding up a bandaged paw. His whole dejected little body
+expressed penitence of the deepest dye.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia softened. "I'm not so sure whether, after all, you would have
+liked it at the Millers'. I'm a good deal disappointed in Mrs. Miller,
+myself."
+</p>
+<p>
+She sat down on the grass beside the road to rearrange the loosened
+bandage. "Puppies will be puppies, I suppose. Daddy says you must always
+take the intention into consideration&mdash;and I don't suppose you
+<i>intended</i> to be bad. It's dreadfully easy to be bad, without
+intending to. I certainly hope it won't be washing-day at the next
+place. The idea of having Thursday for a wash-day, anyhow! Dear me,
+where is the next place?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The dog crawled into her lap, trying to lick her face. He was not
+in the least anxious to decide upon any "next place." Sitting there in
+Patricia's lap, in the shade of a wide-spreading maple, seemed a very
+agreeable method of passing the time.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," Patricia said, stroking the little black head, "we'll try
+Miss Jane. You don't know Miss Jane. She's awfully nice. She and her
+sister haven't any dog but they've got a cat; you wouldn't mind
+that&mdash;she's a very intelligent cat; Miss Jane says so."
+</p>
+<p>
+To reach Miss Jane's it was necessary to leave the highroad for a
+narrow, winding lane. A quarter of a mile further on they came to the
+little white house. Patricia thought it very lonely looking, but perhaps
+her companion might think otherwise. "And I do think," she said,
+gravely, "that it's very good of me to bring them such a nice dog&mdash;to
+keep the tramps off."
+</p>
+<p>
+A large gray cat, sunning herself on one of the gate-posts, was the only
+sign of life about the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+But not for long. The next moment an exceedingly astonished, irate cat
+was taking an unusual amount of exercise in the prim little garden,
+urged cheerily on by a small, curly dog, whose three legs seemed quite
+as effective as most dogs' four. While down the path from the house
+came Miss Jane and Miss Susan, also stout, elderly, and unaddicted to
+overmuch exercise, anxious for their cat, anxious for their garden,
+most of all anxious to get this strange intruder off the premises.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go away, little girl, and take that horrid dog with you," Miss Jane
+commanded, shaking a stick she had picked up.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's eyes flashed. "I'm not '<i>little girl</i>.' I'm <i>Patricia Kirby</i>!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Pa-tri-cia Kir-by! Upon my word!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's bare curls were blown and tangled; her face, hot and dusty;
+her blue gingham frock, fresh that morning, between water and dust was a
+sight to behold. She bore very little resemblance to the Patricia Kirby
+Miss Jane was accustomed to see in church on Sunday, or sometimes
+driving about with Dr. Kirby.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whatever are you doing alone so far from home, Patricia?" Miss Susan
+asked, coming up. The cat had retired to the shelter of a tall tree,
+from a branch of which she glared down on her pursuer, who lay hot and
+panting on the ground below.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia pointed to the dog. "Why, I came on purpose to bring you
+him&mdash;for a present, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Jane gasped.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's a very nice dog," Patricia went on. "I'd love to keep him for
+myself; only Aunt Julia&mdash;Aunt Julia seemed to think one dog was enough.
+I don't think Aunt Julia is particularly&mdash;enthusiastic, about dogs. You
+would like him, wouldn't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Not dust, heat, nor weariness could hide the persuasive charm of
+Patricia's quick upward smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+Before that smile Miss Jane, who was very soft-hearted, wavered; but
+Miss Susan shook her head resolutely. "Augusta would never hear of it
+for one moment!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is Augusta your cook?" Patricia asked. Cooks were that way sometimes;
+even Sarah had her moments of revolt&mdash;so far as Patricia was concerned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Augusta is our cat," Miss Jane explained. She felt grateful to Susan,
+and sorry for Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia sighed; she had recognized the finality in Miss Susan's tone.
+"Do you know of any one who would like a dog," she asked, "a very nice
+dog?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You might try the Millers'," Miss Jane suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I&mdash;I don't believe Mrs. Miller would care for him," Patricia answered,
+hurriedly. She turned to go. "Why, where is he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps he's waiting outside in the road for you." Miss Susan was not
+ordinarily so inhospitable, but the minister was coming to supper that
+evening; and, like Martha of old, Miss Susan was burdened with many
+cares.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia sighed again; the road outside the low white fence seemed
+suddenly very long and sunny. She was tired and discouraged; above all,
+she was hungry.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Before you go, Patricia," Miss Jane said, kindly, "come round to the
+kitchen and have a glass of cool milk and a cookie."
+</p>
+<p>
+The kitchen door had been left open in the excited rush of a few moments
+before. As the three neared it now, Miss Susan darted forward, with very
+much the same shriek of horrified dismay as Mrs. Miller had uttered not
+long since.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mounted on a chair, his feet firmly planted on the kitchen-table was
+a small black dog, just finishing the contents of a large glass dish
+standing at the edge of the table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's my custard," Miss Susan wailed, "and the minister coming to
+supper!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The "very nice dog" turned round, licking his chops contentedly. It
+almost seemed as if he winked at Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next instant, skilfully dodging Miss Susan, he had retired to the
+side yard, to finish licking his chops. Truly, it was a red-letter day
+for him. He wagged affably at the eloquent Miss Susan; surely he had
+paid her the highest compliment in his power.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I am so sorry," Patricia declared. "He must have been very
+hungry&mdash;I couldn't have given him nearly enough breakfast." Then she
+brightened. "After all, Miss Susan, I don't suppose he's ever had
+custard before; and I know Dr. Vail has&mdash;lots of times."
+</p>
+<p>
+Which view of the case did not in the least appeal to the indignant
+maker of the custard.
+</p>
+<p>
+Seeing which, Patricia concluded that the best thing to do was to take
+her charge away as quickly as possible. And in the confusion milk and
+cookies were quite forgotten.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really, you know," Patricia admonished, once they were outside the
+gate, "you're not behaving at all well! Tearing table-cloths, chasing
+cats, and eating up custards aren't at all good dog manners."
+</p>
+<p>
+The culprit, quick to detect the disapproval in Patricia's voice,
+thought it time to limp again.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is your paw very bad?" Patricia asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+The dog assured her that it was.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know what we're going to do next," Patricia told him. And
+once back on the main road, she came to a standstill. She couldn't take
+her protégé home; even less could she desert him. She sat down by the
+roadside to consider the matter&mdash;to consider various other matters, as
+well. Even with Patricias there comes the moment of reckoning.
+</p>
+<p>
+Aunt Julia had said that the next time she evaded sewing-lesson she must
+go to bed at five o'clock. Patricia stretched out her tired little legs;
+at the present moment that particular form of punishment did not appear
+very unendurable. Just now, however, it seemed doubtful if she would be
+at home by five o'clock.
+</p>
+<p>
+Also, Daddy had said that the next time she broke bounds in this way
+he should be obliged to punish her. Patricia fanned herself with a
+decidedly dingy pocket-handkerchief; she wished Daddy had
+said&mdash;<i>how</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm not saying you're not a very nice dog," Patricia patted her
+companion, curled up on the folds of her short skirts; "still, if
+I hadn't met you this morning&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+The dog blinked sleepily, licking her hand. Perhaps he was thinking of
+a poor, forlorn little animal who had until that morning been hunted and
+driven, half starved, never caressed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder," Patricia said, anxiously, "if Mr. Carr wouldn't like you?
+We'll go see, at any rate."
+</p>
+<p>
+Up the hill they trudged, to where, in his little cabin, lived old Carr,
+the cobbler.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was at his bench as usual, and he paused, needle in air, at sight of
+his visitors.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia was growing desperate; she went straight to the heart of her
+errand.
+</p>
+<p>
+She and Carr were great friends, and the latter was immensely
+interested. Over his spectacles he surveyed the pair. Patricia's gray
+eyes had lost their confidence; they were almost as unconsciously
+pathetic as the dog's brown ones.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," Carr said, slowly, "there's no denying a dog's company; and
+since old Sampson died&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia beamed. "Then you will take him? And you won't mind if he's
+rather&mdash;lively? You see, he's so very young. Maybe, I'd better tell you
+everything." And sitting down on one end of the workbench, Patricia made
+full confession of her charge's misdoings. "But I think he's sorry," she
+ended, hopefully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure, Miss," Carr assented; "especially as to the custard&mdash;that there
+wasn't more. What's his name, Miss?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know. I've called him just Dog."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I reckon he won't care what he's called, so long as you don't call him
+too late for dinner," Carr remarked. "How about Custard? It'd keep his
+sin afore him." He took a piece of rope from the floor. "I'd best tie
+him for a bit at first."
+</p>
+<p>
+It was half-past four when Patricia reached home. Sarah was upstairs and
+Aunt Julia busy with callers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Making a hasty raid on the pantry, Patricia slipped quietly up the back
+way to her own room. Aunt Julia had said it must be bed; and there was
+no particular use in waiting to be sent.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was just getting into bed, after a hurried bath, when Miss Kirby,
+having learned from certain unmistakable evidence that Patricia had
+returned, came upstairs.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia!" she exclaimed, her voice expressing almost as much relief as
+displeasure, "where have you been?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia moved restlessly. "I've been&mdash;everywhere!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sarah has ransacked the entire neighborhood." Displeasure was fast
+becoming the dominant note in Miss Kirby's voice now that Patricia was
+safe in bed before her. "Of course you understand," she began.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia raised a small, flushed face. "Please, Aunt Julia, I'm in
+bed&mdash;and you didn't have to send me. I've had a most <i>fatiguing</i>
+day; and I'm dreadfully afraid that if you start in to talk to me the
+'Kirby temper''ll make me say something back."
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby sat down, surveying her niece in silence for a moment.
+Patricia had frankly stated a quite undeniable fact; and she had no
+desire to put the matter to the test. "Very well," she said, presently,
+"we will wait until to-morrow morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But that would be ever so much worse," Patricia pleaded. "I do so hate
+waiting for things. I thought&mdash;maybe&mdash;if I went straight to bed&mdash;you'd
+skip the&mdash;talk part, this time. I'm very tired; finding a home for a dog
+takes it out of you a lot. People 'round here don't seem very anxious to
+have dogs. And&mdash;I went considerably beyond bounds&mdash;so I've got Daddy to
+settle with yet. All the same, I did find him a home, Aunt Julia&mdash;I
+haven't got that on my mind."
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby rose, and going over to the bed bent and kissed the tired,
+wistful face. Patricia had a fashion of exciting sympathy at the wrong
+time, in a way that was perilous to discipline. "For this time, then,
+Patricia," she said. "Now I must go downstairs."
+</p>
+<p>
+Left to herself, Patricia suddenly remembered that there was to be
+strawberry shortcake for supper. Oh, dear, if only Custard had chosen
+any other day to drift across her path! A sent-to-bed bed-supper meant
+simply bread and milk. Patricia wondered if Dr. Vail would mind about
+not having custard as much as she did about not having strawberry
+shortcake. She decided that when she was grown up and had little girls
+of her own she'd never send them to bed early on strawberry shortcake
+night.
+</p>
+<p>
+She heard her father drive into the yard, heralded by Cæsar's deep bark.
+Cæsar had gone with the doctor on his day's round. Patricia knew how he
+was running about now, looking for her. She hoped Sarah would forget and
+leave the screen door open. Cæsar would be sure to come upstairs then.
+She rather thought Daddy would delay his coming until after supper.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah was taking in supper now; she could hear the dishes rattling.
+She was very hungry; that hasty raid on the pantry had not been very
+satisfactory. If Custard had felt that way she didn't much blame him for
+eating up Miss Susan's custard. Probably no one had ever taught him that
+it was wrong to take what didn't belong to him.
+</p>
+<p>
+There! Sarah was bringing up her supper now!
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia sat up in bed; even bread and milk appeared highly desirable at
+that moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+But there was more than bread and milk on the tray Sarah carried.
+Patricia stared at the generous square of strawberry shortcake,
+plentifully supplied with cream, in wondering silence.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah brought a small table to the side of the bed. "Miss Julia, she
+done send some message 'bout this 'ere cake, Miss P'tricia; but, law
+o' mercy, I'se clean forgot the most 'portant word. Hit were something
+'bout you-uns having had a fat-fat-"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fatiguing day?" Patricia suggested, taking little anticipatory pickings
+at the corners of the shortcake.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah nodded her turbaned head. "Where's you-un been all day, Miss
+P'tricia?" she enquired, severely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you don't mind, Sarah&mdash;I'm very hungry and tired&mdash;I won't go into
+that at present. I had something very important to see to."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Humph!" Sarah grunted. "Nice doings, worrying your pore aunt near to
+'straction&mdash;the doctor, he ain't come home to dinner&mdash;to hear 'bout your
+carryings-on. What you think he's goin' say&mdash;when Miss Julia tells him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia was absorbed in eating bread and milk. "It must be dreadful to
+be really starved, Sarah," she observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where you get your dinner, Miss P'tricia?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I didn't have any," Patricia answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My sakes!" Further speech failed Sarah. She turned away.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's next visitor was old Cæsar. Standing by the bed, he asked as
+plainly as dog may what in the world she was doing there at that time
+of day? He accepted solemnly his share of the good things going, then
+stretched himself out on the floor beside the bed, to mount guard&mdash;but
+not until he had told her as forcibly as he could that the summer
+evening was unusually fine, and that there were several little affairs
+in the garden requiring their joint supervision.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I can't go, Cæsar," Patricia told him. She was always sure that her
+dumb friends understood quite well all she said to them. "There comes
+Daddy now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It doesn't seem to be solitary confinement, Patricia," Dr. Kirby said,
+as he came in and seated himself on the side of the bed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia stretched out a welcoming hand. "It's hours and hours since
+I've seen you, Daddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dr. Kirby took the outstretched hand gravely. "From your aunt's account,
+there would appear to have been hours and hours in which she did not see
+you, Patricia?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm afraid I was gone a long while, Daddy; but I came home just as soon
+as I got things straightened out.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose you give me the particulars, Patricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+And moving so as to rest her head on her father's knee, Patricia told
+in detail the story of her day's experiences. She had the comforting
+conviction that when Daddy knew all he would not be very displeased
+with her.
+</p>
+<p>
+More than once, during that recital, the doctor's mouth twitched under
+his mustache, and he turned rather suddenly to look out of the window.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, Pat," he exclaimed, as she finished, "what made it so imperative
+for you to find that tramp dog a home?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's gray eyes were very earnest. "Some one had to do it, Daddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor smoothed back the soft, thick curls. "But, Pat, I cannot have
+you burdening yourself with the responsibility of finding homes for all
+the stray animals that cross your path."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He was so miserable, Daddy&mdash;outside; and so really nice&mdash;inside.
+I don't believe he liked being a tramp dog."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor stooped and kissed her; it was not easy to be severe with
+Patricia. "Still, dear, it must not happen again; you run too great
+a risk; stray dogs are not always very dependable as to temper."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's going to be mighty hard not to, Daddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And Patricia, where are my scissors, and salve, and soap?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm afraid&mdash;down by the brook; so's the towel. I was glad I'd watched
+you bandage Caesar's paw that time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is all very well; but, Patricia, you are not to meddle with any of
+the office things again without permission. And now, about this matter
+of breaking bounds to-day?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia looked up quickly. "You&mdash;you'll 'take the intention into
+consideration,' Daddy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor smiled. "Yes, but," his face grew grave again, "I must also
+take into consideration the fact that this is by no means the first time
+you have gone wandering off, causing your aunt a great deal of anxiety."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can't think why she will worry so. I always come back all right."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is not the point. It must be only the yard for the rest of the
+week, Patricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia drew a long breath. "Well," she said, slowly, "I <i>am</i> glad
+it's Thursday night 'stead of Monday morning."
+</p>
+<hr>
+<p>
+Patricia sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. What had wakened her?
+</p>
+<p>
+A second series of short, sharp little barks sent her hurrying to the
+window. On the path below, a bit of frayed rope dangling from his neck,
+stood Custard.
+</p>
+<p>
+When the doctor came downstairs, twenty minutes later, he found Patricia
+on the back steps, with Custard in her lap, busily placing a fresh
+bandage on the hurt paw. "Daddy," she cried, lifting her face for his
+morning greeting, "wasn't it too lovely of him to hunt me up. Isn't he
+the most grateful dog ever was?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor patted the dog's rough head, then stooped to examine
+Patricia's work. "Not a bad job for an eleven-year-old, Pat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I could do it better, only I had to make a strip from a piece I found
+in Aunt Julia's scrap-bag," Patricia explained.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia!" Miss Kirby exclaimed from the doorway, "your dress is only
+half buttoned, and your hair is&mdash;<i>Patricia Kirby</i>, have you gone
+and hunted up another dog!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's the same one, Aunt Julia. He has improved a lot, hasn't he? If
+you'd seen how glad he was to see me! I suppose he'll have to be sent
+back. Cæsar likes him pretty well; he didn't growl at him once when I
+introduced them to each other."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a question whether <i>sending</i> back will do any good," the
+doctor said. He was watching the two on the steps.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia stroked the bandaged paw gently. "I can't take him&mdash;I can't go
+out of the yard, can I, Daddy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Decidedly not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Couldn't you take him in the gig with you, Patrick?" Miss Kirby felt
+that she was playing a losing game.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Going quite in the opposite direction."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And Jim?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Goes with me." The doctor was still studying the two on the steps.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If he stays one day we are doomed!" Miss Kirby declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That only leaves you and Sarah, doesn't it, Aunt Julia?" Patricia
+asked, cheerfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby was not without a sense of humor. "I am afraid Sarah is out
+of the question," she said; "and if he waits for me to take him he will
+stay here&mdash;altogether."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia was quick to catch the longed-for concession in her aunt's
+voice. Dropping Custard, she ran to hug Miss Kirby. "Oh, you darling!
+But, Daddy," she turned anxiously, "oh, do you suppose Mr. Carr will
+mind <i>very</i> much?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I rather think he will be able to bear the disappointment," the doctor
+answered.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER II
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    THE GINGHAM APRON PARTY
+</h3>
+<p>
+Fortunately, the ground under the big apple tree was soft and springy,
+and Patricia was used to both low and lofty tumbling; so when she
+landed, a little surprised heap, in the tangled grass, she lay still
+just long enough for the small black dog, nosing anxiously about her, to
+get in one or two licks of her sunburnt, bewildered face; then she sat
+up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My, Custard, that was a stunner! I reckon if Daddy was here he'd say,
+'what a fall was there, my countrymen!'" Custard wagged agreeingly, and
+sniffed inquiringly at the strip of pink leg showing through the long
+jagged tear in one of his small mistress's tan stockings.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia scrambled to her feet and began taking stock. There was another
+tear in the short skirt of her blue gingham frock, and one in one of the
+sleeves.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Goodness! What will Aunt Julia say!" Patricia said ruefully; then
+remembered suddenly what Aunt Julia had said, no longer ago than
+yesterday morning, after a similar catastrophe.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And if Aunt Julia isn't a 'Mede 'n' Persian,' she might almost as well
+be one&mdash;when it comes to unsaying things," Patricia told herself, as she
+started for the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+Half-way up the back garden path, she came to an abrupt halt. "Custard,"
+she gasped, "it's party day!"
+</p>
+<p>
+As if Custard did not know that! He had never been to a party, but he
+was mighty glad to have been invited to this one. The pantry, always an
+enchanted spot to him, smelled even more delicious than usual. He had
+quite lost count of the number of times that Sarah had run him out of it
+this morning, with more haste than dignity.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia sat down in an empty wheelbarrow to consider matters, not
+noticing that Jim had been using it that morning to bring fresh mold
+for Miss Kirby's flower beds.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I didn't want to give a party anyhow." Patricia stared gravely out
+across the sunny drying-ground. Privately, she considered the average
+party a great waste of valuable time. Least of all had she wanted to
+give an "honor party" for Susy Vail. Susy was the rector's grandchild,
+and was on a visit here.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia hadn't much use for Susy Vail. She was a city girl, she was
+quiet and shy, and she would be sure to come to the party in a stiff
+white dress and blue ribbons. Patricia was positive as to the blue
+ribbons.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've a good mind to run off to the woods and stay all day, Custard,"
+Patricia said, getting up; "they can have the party without us."
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard barked a prompt disapproval of this scheme. Maybe the party
+could do without him, but he was quite sure he could not do without
+the party.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come on," Patricia told him, starting back down the path.
+</p>
+<p>
+She had got as far as the gate leading into the meadow, when a new idea
+came to her. Swinging slowly back and forth on the gate, she considered
+this idea; her gray eyes dancing, as its possibilities opened up before
+her mental vision.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And if Susy Vail hasn't a gingham apron, I'll lend her one; she seems
+the sort of girl not to have one," Patricia confided to Custard, as they
+once more made their way towards the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+If only the coast were clear!
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah was on the back piazza, pitting cherries, but Sarah was easily
+managed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My sakes, Miss P'tricia!" Sarah lifted her plump hands in horror,
+"whatever is you-un been up to now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where's Aunt Julia, Sarah?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Done left for Gar's Hollow just five minutes ago, your pa sent Jim back
+for her in the gig. What you say, Miss P'tricia?"
+</p>
+<p>
+For under her breath, Patrica was saying jubilantly:
+"It's&mdash;providential!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"N-nothing&mdash;that is, I was only thinking out loud," she told Sarah.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't you go worrying 'bout dat ere party, honey; hit'll come off all
+right."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think it will&mdash;now," Patricia answered; her tone so full of some
+hidden enjoyment that Sarah glanced at her suspiciously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss Julia, she done left word for you-un to do everything like you
+know she'd want you to, Miss P'tricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia selected a pair of earrings from the finest of Sarah's bowl of
+cherries. "Don't you worry, Sarah."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You ain't 'xplained yet how you come to be in such a disrepec'ble
+condition, Miss P'tricia. If the rag man was to see you, he'd just up
+and toss you into his cart&mdash;he shore would."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have I got a clean gingham apron, Sarah?" Patricia was a past-mistress
+in the art of ignoring what she considered inconvenient, or personal,
+remarks.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Looks to me like you's got more clean gingham aprons than you's got
+manners," Sarah said severely.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia went indoors to the telephone, shutting the door behind her
+as she went. Sarah was too fat and too heavy on her feet to get out of
+a chair, once comfortably settled in it, unless the call were really
+urgent.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia first called up Mrs. Hardy. Quite unconsciously&mdash;being on her
+dignity and feeling, besides, very important&mdash;she spoke more slowly than
+was usual, and with more than a trace of her aunt's formality.
+</p>
+<p>
+Back over the line came a prompt: "Why, good morning, Miss Kirby!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's eyes sparkled and the demon of mischief, always lurking in
+her neighborhood, immediately put idea number two into her head. Her
+imitation of her aunt's voice and manner this time was perfect. "Good
+morning, Mrs. Hardy, I just called you up to let you know that the
+little party we are giving this afternoon is to be a gingham apron
+party."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A w-what?" Mrs. Hardy questioned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss Kirby" gave herself vigorous mental treatment for a moment or
+so&mdash;one giggle and the game was up. As if Aunt Julia ever giggled!
+</p>
+<p>
+"A gingham apron party," she repeated; "it is Patricia's suggestion, so
+that the children may have a nice jolly time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That sounds exactly like Patricia," Mrs. Hardy commented, laughing.
+"I'll tell Nell; I'm sure she will approve."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss Kirby" said thank you, then she hung up the receiver; after which,
+seizing Custard, she hugged him ecstatically. "I really am 'Miss Kirby,'
+you know," she explained. "Daddy's only got me&mdash;and I didn't say a word
+that wasn't perfectly true. And Mr. Baker, out at Long Farm, always
+calls me that. Now, I'll have to finish 'phoning."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Lane and Mrs. Blake were next informed as to the kind of party
+under way for that afternoon; then came Mrs. Vail, with her Patricia
+made a break. "And if Susy hasn't any gingham&mdash;" she began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If Susy hasn't what?" Mrs. Vail interrupted. "Why, of course&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I only thought&mdash;I mean," Patricia felt herself floundering&mdash;and Aunt
+Julia never floundered. "Then we may look for Susy," she said hastily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, certainly," Mrs. Vail answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is well. Good-by."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss Kirby" hung up the receiver hastily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think she almost suspected&mdash;something, Custard; I reckon she's the
+suspiciony kind&mdash;Susy Vail looks the kind of girl to have a suspiciony
+mother. But the rest didn't." Patricia danced the interested Custard
+down the hall.
+</p>
+<p>
+As she reappeared on the back piazza, Sarah asked sternly: "What you
+been up to now, Miss P'tricia? You've been doing a heap of talking at
+dat ere 'phone."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I had some very important business to transact," Patricia answered
+loftily, the mantle of her aunt's manner still enveloping her. "I guess
+I'll go put my apron on now."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah sniffed indignantly, "You needn't tell me dere ain't some
+foolishness afoot," she declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What time was you-un 'spectin' the comin' cer'mony to commence?" she
+asked, when Patricia came in to her solitary dinner. Neither Miss Kirby
+nor the doctor would be back before late afternoon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia said half-past three to seven; I suppose they'll begin
+coming 'long about three."
+</p>
+<p>
+That note of hidden jubilation in her voice worried Sarah. She had not
+known Patricia for all of her eleven years for nothing. "Honey, what you
+cog'tating?" she coaxed; as she brought Patricia a generous slice of
+fresh cherry pie.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm thinking about&mdash;my party. It's going to be a&mdash;a&mdash;corker, Sarah!
+You'll see!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah groaned, both in spirit and outwardly. "Honey," she pleaded,
+leaning on the back of a chair and studying her charge anxiously;
+"Honey, dat Miss Susy's a stranger in dis yere part&mdash;why, she's come
+clare from Phil'delphy. I'm told the chillerns down in Phil'delphy has
+beau-ti-ful manners."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I dare say," Patricia did not appear greatly interested.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And Miss Julia, she done plan dis yere party jest for her."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know&mdash;I didn't ask her to&mdash;I&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Honey, you wouldn't&mdash;you shore wouldn't do anything to&mdash;to disbobulate
+your aunt's plans?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"May I have another piece of pie, Sarah, please?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah cast a pair of imploring eyes ceilingwards. "Of all the
+ignoringest young uns! I isn't discoursing 'bout pie, Miss P'tricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But it's mighty good pie, Sarah! Will there be cherry pie among the
+refreshments this afternoon?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia! And the cherry juice all a dripping down, like's not,
+on you-uns clean white dresses," Sarah protested. However, she brought
+Patricia a second piece, which was the important thing at the moment;
+the future might very well be allowed to take care of itself.
+</p>
+<p>
+Later, as she did up her dinner work, Sarah cast more than one anxious
+glance out of the window to where Patricia lay on the back lawn, under
+the shade of the big cherry tree. Patricia's very quietness was
+alarming.
+</p>
+<p>
+Was it too much cherry pie? Or was she plotting something.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Honey," Sarah came out on the piazza, "it's getting time for you to get
+dressed for the festiv'ties."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia, tickling one of Custard's long ears with a blade of grass,
+smiled serenely. "But I am dressed, Sarah."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah sat down heavily on the piazza bench; "I knowed it! I jest
+'spicioned you-un was shore up to something!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia rolled over on her back, stretching her wiry little frame out
+lazily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You come right 'long into dis yere house, Miss P'tricia!" Sarah rose
+commandingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But what for?" Patricia questioned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What for? If you wasn't a white child, Miss P'tricia, I'd shore say you
+was onery. I's going be 'bliged to disport you to your pa, if you
+continues such disbehavior."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia scrambled to her feet, and came slowly over to the edge of the
+lawn. Then, lifting her apron, she asked quietly: "Is my frock torn,
+Sarah, or isn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You knows it is, Miss P'tricia!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia stretched out one slender leg. "Is my stocking torn, or isn't
+it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah groaned.
+</p>
+<p>
+Wheeling suddenly round, and still holding up her apron, Patricia
+demanded: "Is my frock dirty, or isn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia, you's shore possessed to-day!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia said yesterday morning, that the very next time I got myself
+torn or dirty, needlessly, I must put a clean gingham apron on and go
+that way for the rest of the day."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, honey&mdash;you know Miss Julia never 'tended you to come to your own
+party in any such fixings! A gingham apron at a party! You come 'long
+upstairs with me, Miss P'tricia; I'll resume all the 'sponsibility."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia said 'the very next time'; this is the very next time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"She done lay out your dress 'fore she went, honey&mdash;so crisp and nice
+and all the pretty pink ribbons," Sarah spoke coaxingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia didn't know&mdash;I hadn't tumbled out of the apple tree then."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'se going phonegraph your aunt right off!" Sarah declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia caught her breath. Then she remembered. "But they haven't any
+'phone at Gar's Hollow!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah wrung her hands. "And all them little ladies in white dresses, and
+the hostess o' the 'casion looking like 'straction!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I always <i>feel</i> like distraction when I'm all stiff and starchy
+and uncomfortable," Patricia said; "I'd rather look it than feel it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I ain't overlooking that you're powerful reconciled to going to
+your own party dressed like you is now, Miss P'tricia! Anyhow, you're
+going to have a good wash-up and your hair combed; Miss Julia ain't laid
+down no commands against that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"W-well," Patricia slowly conceded, "only I'll see to it myself, Sarah."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's thick mop of brown curls was of the tangly order; and when
+things had gone wrong, Sarah's touch was not always of the gentlest.
+</p>
+<p>
+An hour later, Sarah, from her post of vantage on the side porch, saw
+six little girls coming up the path. There were no boys invited. Miss
+Kirby thought it so much nicer for little girls to play quietly by
+themselves.
+</p>
+<p>
+A moment, Sarah stared at them in amazement; then her fat sides shook
+with laughter. "I shore might've knowed it! So that's what she was so
+busy phonegraphing 'bout! That chile shore weren't born yesterday.
+Gingham aprons, every last one o' them!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Some of the six wore sunbonnets, the rest plain garden hats; and all
+wore stout serviceable shoes and stockings. Never had those six little
+girls gone to a party before in such unparty-like costumes.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia came dancing to meet them, bareheaded as usual. "Let's go down
+to the barn right off," she proposed. "Goodness, how funny you do look!"
+she giggled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So do you," Nell Hardy retorted; then the seven stood still a moment to
+survey one another.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh!" Mable Lane cried, "whatever put such an idea into your head, Pat?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I&mdash;I happened to think of it, that was all," Patricia answered vaguely.
+"Come on&mdash;we'll play hide and seek, and no going out of the barn."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are&mdash;are there any horses there?" Susy asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia shook her head. "Not today; Daddy's got Sam and Dick's gone to
+pasture."
+</p>
+<p>
+They played hide and seek all over the delightful big dusty old barn;
+until Patricia, trying to reach goal by a short cut down from the loft,
+came to an abrupt halt in her descent, caught on a projecting beam.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go back!" Ruth Martin advised; but Patricia, wriggling herself free,
+dropped in a laughing heap on the barn floor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you've torn your apron, Pat!" Nell exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia glanced up at the bit of blue gingham hanging from a nail in
+the beam.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look's like this was my busy day," she observed; "I'll go put another
+on."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I put it on over the first," she explained, on her return. "You see,
+Aunt Julia said&mdash;I mean, I thought it would be&mdash;fun; and, anyhow, it
+saved time, it takes a lot of time to unbutton these aprons. Let's go
+down to the brook and wade." She glanced at Susy, who was looking rather
+doubtful. "Aren't you allowed to wade in brooks?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I&mdash;don't know," Susy began, then her mild little face took on a look of
+sudden resolution, "but I'm going to."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia smiled in prompt friendliness. "Mostly, when I'm not sure
+I just take the chance," she encouraged.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sitting on the edge of the brook, the seven took off shoes and
+stockings. "It's the queerest, nicest party," Bessy Martin declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a gay little brook, running between a broad, sunny meadow and the
+old Kirby apple orchard, broad enough in places to make the crossing of
+it on stepping stones delightfully uncertain, and again narrowing to a
+mere thread. To Patricia, it was like some live thing, one of the
+dearest and most intimate of playmates.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let's play Follow my Leader," Nell suggested, and they drew lots to see
+who should be first leader.
+</p>
+<p>
+It fell to Kitty Hall, next to Susy the quietest of the seven; the lead
+she set them was a very mild affair, limited to the shallowest and
+narrowest parts of the brook.
+</p>
+<p>
+But with Patricia's turn, matters took a change for the better, or
+worse, according to the point of view. Patricia hopped and skipped, and
+did everything except walk demurely on two feet, out of the safe,
+pleasant shallows straight for the "pool," which was quite knee deep at
+this time of year.
+</p>
+<p>
+Once there, she turned to view her followers, and it wouldn't have been
+Patricia, if she hadn't slipped and, with a little shriek of surprise,
+sat right down in the pool.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a moment's hesitation, then Nell boldly followed suit; one by
+one, ending with Susy, the other five dropped down in the cool rippling
+water, which seemed to laugh, as if it saw the joke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh!" Patricia cried, "I never meant&mdash;" She was on her feet as quickly
+as possible. Susy was just the kind to go and catch cold, why she had
+begun to shiver and shake already.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next few moments were strenuous ones for Patricia's followers. Never
+had she led them such a chase, through all the hottest, sunniest parts
+of the big meadow.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've got to run, so as not to catch cold," she panted; and run
+they did, their wet skirts flapping against their bare legs, hats and
+sunbonnets sent scattering in every direction. While Custard, regarding
+it as a game gotten up for his especial benefit, urged them on, barking
+and leaping about them, taking little pretend nips at the seven sets of
+bare toes, choosing Susy's the oftenest, because she always squealed
+the loudest.
+</p>
+<p>
+At last the seven dropped down breathless in the middle of the meadow.
+Patricia felt of Susy's skirts anxiously. "They're 'most dry; let's&mdash;"
+She turned over on her face, and the six followed suit once more.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The sun feels good, doesn't it," Susy said, she was on one side of
+Patricia. "I'm having a be-au-ti-ful time!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia raised herself on her elbows, and, chin in hand, surveyed Susy
+closely. "Truly true?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Truly true," Susy insisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia smiled approvingly; and, when she liked, Patricia's smile could
+be very approving indeed. "I guess maybe I'm going to like knowing you,"
+she said.
+</p>
+<p>
+Susy's little pink and white face had lost its look of peaceful
+placidity, her yellow curls their smoothness. Wet, bedraggled, but
+happier than ever before in her life, and joyfully conscious that she
+had for once boldly strayed from the narrow path of harmless routine,
+she smiled back at Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I guess we're all dry now," Patricia said presently. "It seems to me as
+if it must be pretty near supper time."
+</p>
+<p>
+Nell spread out her limp skirts. "Pretty looking set, we are, to go to
+supper!"
+</p>
+<p>
+But Patricia was thinking. "A gingham apron party supper ought to be
+different," she said slowly; "Nell, let's you and me go get the
+refreshments and bring them out here."
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a glorious suggestion. Six pairs of eyes opened wide with
+delight.
+</p>
+<p>
+"B-but Sarah&mdash;" Mabel asked. Mabel had a knack of asking such questions.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I reckon Sarah'll ask a heap of questions&mdash;Sarah's mighty
+inquisitive at times," Patricia answered. "I rather think the best way
+will be just to go ahead and not bother her about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how?" Mabel insisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You leave that to Nell and me&mdash;we'll manage. The rest of you must wait
+here; keep Custard with you. Oh, dear! I thought you were beautifully
+dry, Susy Vail; what did you go sneeze for? Well, you'll just have to
+keep moving, that's all. You see that she does, Mabel."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's commands seldom fell on deaf ears and Mabel promptly insisted
+on a game of tag; while Patricia herself, accompanied by Nell Hardy,
+started on a brisk run across the meadow.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the garden gate, Patricia called a halt. "Duck," she ordered,
+dropping on the grass. From half-way up the path, came Sarah's voice:
+"Oh, Miss P'tricia! Miss P'tricia!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"She'll go back presently, if she doesn't hear us," Patricia whispered
+with elaborate caution; "then we must get to the house as quickly and as
+quietly as possible and secure the re&mdash;the booty. Oh, go away!" she
+added sternly, as Custard came sniffing about them.
+</p>
+<p>
+But Custard only wriggled and danced about and over them, urging them as
+eloquently as he could to get up and continue their way indoors. Wasn't
+the pantry indoors? Custard could have told his mistress long ago that
+it was quite supper time.
+</p>
+<p>
+At half-past six, the doctor and Miss Kirby drove into the yard.
+As the gig drew up before the side door, Sarah, voluble and indignant,
+appeared. From the mass of information she hurled upon them, one fact
+only was quite clear&mdash;Patricia was missing.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was so often missing, that the announcement failed to excite any
+great apprehension in the mind of either her father or her aunt.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But the party&mdash;" Miss Kirby began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She done take the party with her!" Sarah wailed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby looked more indignant than surprised; to have come home and
+found that nothing untowards had happened would have been the surprising
+thing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I ain't laid my eyes on her since them six gingham aprons came
+gavorting up the walk!" Sarah proclaimed dramatically. "That young-un's
+a limb, for shore!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby sat down on the piazza bench. "Gingham aprons, Sarah," she
+repeated. "Patrick, what can she mean?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor shook his head, smiling, "That remains to be discovered."
+</p>
+<p>
+"For the love o' goodness, Miss Julia!" Sarah implored; "the nexest time
+you sets out to give a party for that there young-un, I hopes and prays
+you stays home to sup'intend the obsequies youself!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor turned to send Sam on to the barn.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gingham aprons," Miss Kirby murmured.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ain't Miss P'tricia done 'tire herself in one for the 'casion!" Sarah
+exclaimed; "and ain't she done tell all the others over that 'phone
+to do the very same&mdash;I ain't never held with thet there 'phone,
+nohow&mdash;'tain't nothin' better'n devilment, anyhow. My sakes, such
+doings, Marse Doctor! You and Miss Julia just come cast your glance
+over this supper table!"
+</p>
+<p>
+They followed her into the dining-room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It certainly looks very pretty," the doctor said, glancing at the
+table.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah groaned. "Where's them plates o' sandwiches gone? I ask you that!
+Where's them plates o' biscuits gone? I ask you that! Where's the little
+cakes, what I iced so pretty, gone? I ask you that! Ain't I done fix
+them all in place and then I goes out to call them&mdash;ginham aprons&mdash;to
+come in,&mdash;and I done galivant all over the place and all up and down the
+street and I ain't seen the least speck o' one o' them&mdash;but when I comes
+indoors&mdash;the party done vanish! And that ain't all&mdash;the cherry pie I
+done make for you's and Miss Julia's supper done vanish too. But they
+ain't got the ice cream&mdash;I reckon the freezer was too heavy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That at least is something to be thankful for," the doctor said, "there
+would probably have been&mdash;consequences&mdash;had they secured both the cherry
+pie and the ice cream."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And the table looking so stylish," Sarah mourned, "with the flowers and
+all the fixings. Where's that plate o' chicken gone? I ask you that!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patrick," Miss Kirby said, "you really must go look that child up! such
+behavior is&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm going," the doctor assured her, and as he went Miss Kirby saw him
+put his handkerchief to his eyes more than once.
+</p>
+<p>
+Through the garden he went, through the orchard. Half-way across the
+meadow beyond the orchard he came upon Custard dining at second table,
+and too busy to do more than wag a welcome.
+</p>
+<p>
+A few yards further on stood an old apple tree, and from the top-most
+branch came, in Patricia's clear notes:
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>  "'If I could find a higher tree</p>
+<p>  Farther and farther I should see,</p>
+<p>  To where the grown-up river slips</p>
+<p>  Into the sea among the ships.'"</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+The doctor stood still, making a trumpet of his hands. "Ship ahoy!" he
+called.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next instant seven girls came wriggling and scrambling down from the
+various branches. "Oh! Daddy," Patricia cried joyously, "we're having
+the jolliest time&mdash;we're pirates! I'm captain&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>  "'My name is Captain Kidd,</p>
+<p>  And most wickedly I did,</p>
+<p>  As I sailed, as I sailed!'"</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+"And, according to report, before you sailed, young lady. Suppose you
+make explanation regarding certain late extremely piratical
+proceedings."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean about the supper, Daddy? You see, we didn't feel very
+partified&mdash;at least, we thought we didn't look exactly&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+As she hesitated, the doctor, glancing from one to another of the seven,
+nodded comprehendingly. "I quite agree with you, Pat; you do not look
+very&mdash;partified."
+</p>
+<p>
+They were so dusty, so disheveled; all but Patricia had shoes
+on&mdash;Custard had made off with both of Susy's, and Patricia had most
+willingly offered hers&mdash;the opportunity to go barefoot was too good to
+be lost; Nell had only one stocking, Kitty none at all, Ruth was wearing
+Patricia's, Custard had certainly made the most of his chance to carry
+off things that afternoon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But we've had a be-au-ti-ful time," Susy said, slipping a hand into
+the doctor's. She quite forgot that he was a comparative stranger,
+remembering only that he was Patricia's father&mdash;Patricia, who had
+invited her to this most wonderful of parties, where one had been so
+busy having fun that there had been no time for feeling shy and strange.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dr. Kirby smiled down at the little guest of honor. "Upon my word, I
+believe you have," he said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia says," Patricia possessed herself of his other hand, "that
+to feel sure that one's guests have honestly enjoyed themselves is to
+know that one's party has been a success. So I reckon mine's been a
+perfectly tremendous success."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose you come up to the house&mdash;all of you&mdash;and see if you can
+reassure Aunt Julia and&mdash;Sarah," the doctor suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia sighed. "I&mdash;I sort of wish Aunt Julia&mdash;looked at things the way
+we do, Daddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+They went on up to the house. On the back steps, Miss Kirby was waiting;
+in the kitchen doorway stood Sarah.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia Kirby!" Aunt Julia exclaimed. "Well of all the&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia," Sarah broke in wrathfully, "where's that cherry pie I
+done made for Marse Doctor's supper?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia slowly drew up her uppermost apron. "It's here&mdash;most of it;
+Custard got the rest. I&mdash;I stumbled and fell&mdash;into it. You see, we were
+playing pirate&mdash;and we were smuggling."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor, much to his sister's indignation, sat down suddenly on one
+of the garden benches. "Oh, Pat, Pat!" he gasped.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia Kirby, how many gingham aprons have you on?" Miss Kirby
+demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Three, Aunt Julia; you said I must wear the first one all the
+afternoon&mdash;and I tore it&mdash;and then the pie sort of stained the second;
+I got kind of interested to see how many it would take to get me through
+the afternoon. I had to make it a gingham apron party, Aunt Julia, on
+account of what you said yesterday. You see, I got pretty well torn and
+dirty this morning&mdash;and, of course, I needn't have climbed that tree."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Casabianca," the doctor murmured; Miss Kirby was past murmuring
+anything; all her efforts were directed towards at least a semblance
+of self-control.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shore told you, that young-un was a limb," Sarah muttered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sarah was very anxious to fix me all up properly, Aunt Julia," Patricia
+went on, "but of course, after you had said&mdash;and I thought you'd feel
+better if the rest wore gingham aprons too. Sarah was very kind about it
+though," with a smile in her direction.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You go 'long, Miss P'tricia," Sarah protested.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby bit her lip. "That is all very well, Patricia, but&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've had such fun, haven't we, girls?" Captain Kidd appealed to her
+fellow pirates.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, we have," they chorused back.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And having supper out in the meadow when we hadn't expected it was the
+best part," Nell added.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What would you suggest?" Miss Kirby turned to her brother.
+</p>
+<p>
+His smile told her that he knew quite well that she was shifting upon
+him the responsibility of deciding. As a strict disciplinarian&mdash;in
+theory&mdash;it would never do for her to countenance such unlawful
+proceedings. He rose to the occasion promptly. "Soap and water for these
+highly reprehensible young folks, after that&mdash;the ice cream&mdash;seeing that
+the cherry pie came to a timely end. And for us&mdash;supper."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't Daddy the dearest?" Patricia demanded, as she led her guests
+upstairs. "Daddy's always so understandified."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER III
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    THE WAY OF A GRANDMOTHER
+</h3>
+<p>
+Patricia sat on the back steps carefully arranging purple and white
+asters in an old blue and white punchbowl, the pride of her Aunt Julia's
+heart.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's the 'Washington bowl,' Custard," she explained to the small curly
+black dog, watching her intently. "Daddy says it's called that because
+it is just as easy to prove that Washington never did have punch from it
+as that he did." Patricia paused to rearrange one particularly wobbly
+aster, too short as to stem and too big as to head. "Anyhow, it's one
+of the very nicest things we've got."
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard sighed restlessly; to spend this breezy October afternoon in
+fussing over flowers, when just beyond the gate a whole world waited to
+be explored, seemed to him a most un-Patricia-like wasting of time.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then as Patricia rose slowly to her feet, the bowl of flowers in her
+hands, he sprang up at her with a sharp little bark of delight.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Down!" she warned sharply. "Custard Kirby, if you make me drop this
+punchbowl I don't know what Aunt Julia <i>will</i> say!"
+</p>
+<p>
+It seemed to Patricia as if that journey upstairs to the spare bedroom
+never would be made in safety; but it was accomplished at last, and her
+burden placed right in the center of the low reading-table, standing at
+one side of the south window.
+</p>
+<p>
+With a long breath of relief, Patricia sat down on the edge of the bed,
+looking about the big pleasant room with approving eyes. It was exactly
+the sort of room she should like to have when she got be a grandmother.
+There were fresh muslin curtains at the windows, the fine old-fashioned
+mahogany furniture shone from its recent polishing; on the broad hearth
+a light fire was laid ready for the lighting, and at one corner of the
+fireplace stood a big chintz-covered armchair. Of course there was a
+footstool beside it. Patricia had seen to the footstool herself, hunting
+it out up garret that morning. She had wondered why Daddy's eyes
+twinkled at sight of it&mdash;Daddy would tell her nothing about grandmother,
+she must wait and see. And Patricia so hated waiting for anything, from
+surprises to scoldings.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it certainly does look grandmothery, Custard," she said; "and
+the flowers help a lot. I know she'll love asters; they're such an
+old-ladyish flower. Mind, sir, you're not to go rushing at her! And the
+very first time you run off with any of her things you're going to get
+your ears boxed."
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard wagged tentatively; boxing his ears appeared to him to belong to
+Miss Kirby's special department.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia!" Sarah stood in the doorway, indignation in the very
+points of her knotted turban&mdash;"Miss P'tricia, ain't yo' never be'n tole
+not to sit on beds? 'Tic'larly beds all ready fo' comp'ny!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia slipped hurriedly to her feet; but by this time Sarah had
+caught sight of something else. "Land sakes, Miss P'tricia! Ef yo' isn't
+gone an' tuk Miss Julia's punchbowl&mdash;what she don't 'low no one but
+herse'f to tech!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia put an arm around Sarah's waist, or rather, around as much of
+it as she could encompass. "Aunt Julia wasn't in&mdash;and I wanted the very
+nicest bowl I could think of. It is so perfectly lovely to have a
+grandmother coming!"
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a world of unconscious longing in Patricia's voice; no one,
+not even Daddy, knew quite what the coming of her grandmother meant to
+the little motherless girl. And a grandmother she had not seen since
+babyhood. The coming weeks seemed to Patricia full of untold
+possibilities.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It do look pretty," Sarah admitted, as she went to smooth out the bed
+covers. "'Pears like it was time yo' was gettin' your dress changed,
+honey. Yo' best let me giv yo' hair a brush; seems like yo' never did
+get the kinks out."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia submitted with most unaccustomed patience to the finishing
+touches Sarah insisted on giving her toilet. "I reckon yo'll do now,
+honey," Sarah said at last.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Only half an hour more and she'll be here, Custard," Patricia said to
+the dog, sniffing inquiringly at the tips of her best shoes; "Daddy's
+to meet the five-thirty train."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia settled herself circumspectly in the hammock, smoothing out
+her crisp white skirts. "Oh, I do wonder what she'll be like, really
+I haven't even a photograph&mdash;grandmother doesn't like being
+photographed&mdash;and I haven't seen her since I was three years old.
+Custard, do you suppose she'll have an ear trumpet, like the Barkers'
+grandmother? It's very embarrassing talking into an ear trumpet.
+I rather hope she's short and&mdash;stoutish. I've been thinking over all
+the people I know, and it seems to me that the short, stout ones are
+mostly more good-natured than the other kinds."
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard wagged agreeingly; he was short, and not his worst enemy could
+accuse him of being thin. So far this coming of a grandmother did not
+appeal to Custard; never before had he been refused a share of the
+hammock; and those one or two preliminary nips he had taken at the toes
+of Patricia's shiny shoes had been promptly squelched. To be talked to
+and confided in was all very well, but a game of tag in the meadow
+behind the house would have been a great deal more fun. Nor was Custard
+quite sure what a grandmother was; he hoped it was something good to
+eat.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia had never known such a long half hour; she made one or two
+trips down to the gate, walking carefully on the edge of the grass, so
+as not to get her shoes dusty. It was very odd that Aunt Julia didn't
+come home&mdash;Good, she was coming now.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't the train late?" Patricia demanded, the moment her aunt was
+within earshot.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby smiled. "It isn't due yet, Patricia, for five minutes." She
+didn't look in the least excited, going calmly up the garden path to the
+house.
+</p>
+<p>
+But then it wasn't <i>her</i> grandmother who was coming; besides,
+Patricia's gray eyes danced mischievously, she didn't know about the
+punchbowl.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia decided to wait down by the gate&mdash;explanations were such
+tiresome things.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, in a few moments, far down the quiet village street she caught
+sight of a familiar gig, duly attended by old Cæsar, the pointer.
+</p>
+<p>
+The gig was quite close now. Patricia's heart gave a great jump, then
+seemed to stand quite still.
+</p>
+<p>
+She hadn't come!
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a lady in the gig with Daddy; but&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia turned sharply, and regardless of her shoes ran swiftly back up
+the driveway and through the garden to the meadow beyond; never stopping
+until she dropped, a little breathless heap, beside the brook.
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard barked excitedly, thinking it some new move in this grandmother
+game; then suddenly he poked his cold black nose in under the tossed
+thatch of Patricia's brown curls. For Patricia was crying&mdash;and doing it
+quite as earnestly and as thoroughly as she did most things.
+</p>
+<p>
+At last she sat up, dabbing her eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She didn't come! And we were all ready&mdash;and now it can't be just the
+same&mdash;when she does come. Custard, do you suppose it's a&mdash;a judgment
+on me, for taking the punchbowl?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard looked sober.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll go put it right back. Oh, dear, I do hope that other person hasn't
+stayed to supper!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia went back to the house, forlorn, bedraggled; very different
+from the Patricia whom Sarah had sent downstairs not an hour before,
+imploring her to "try and keep smarted up for once."
+</p>
+<p>
+On the back porch she met her father.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia," he asked, "what does this mean? Why did you run away when
+you saw your grandmother coming?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia gasped. "But, Daddy, she didn't come! I didn't see her! Oh, do
+you mean, was that&mdash;I expected she'd have on a bonnet tied under her
+chin&mdash;and a shawl&mdash;and glasses." Patricia was half crying again, her
+head on her father's shoulder.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was hard to relinquish the picture of the grandmother she had been
+carrying in her mind for the past fortnight; a sort of composite picture
+of all the grandmothers she knew in Belham.
+</p>
+<p>
+And the doctor, understanding, comforted her, sending her to freshen
+herself up again for supper, with the promise that it would all come
+right&mdash;she would see.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the upper landing Patricia came face to face with grandmother; a
+grandmother who was tall and slender and dressed in some delicate gray
+material that rustled softly when she walked, and gave forth a faint
+scent of violets. There was very little gray in the dark wavy hair,
+that framed a face altogether different from the placid wrinkled one
+of Patricia's imaginings; but when Mrs. Cory said, "O Patricia!" and
+held out her arms, Patricia went to her at once.
+</p>
+<p>
+They sat down on the broad window seat to get acquainted; Patricia hoped
+grandmother would not see she had been crying and how tumbled her clean
+dress was. Though Mrs. Cory saw, she said nothing, she had the gift of
+knowing what questions not to ask; only asking instead, "Patricia dear,
+who put that delightful bowl of flowers in my room?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia's color deepened. "I did&mdash;grandmother; I thought you would
+like them&mdash;they were," Patricia caught herself up, doubting now the
+appropriateness of those "old-ladyish" flowers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Fortunately Custard appeared at that moment, wagging ingratiatingly; and
+grandmother at once responded to his overtures with a friendliness that
+warmed not only the heart of Custard but of Custard's small mistress.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia went to bed that night with her thoughts rather in a whirl.
+"I suppose," she decided finally, "that she is one of those 'up-to-date
+grandmothers' one reads about; anyhow, she's a dear and I love her, and
+oh, Aunt Julia did behave beautifully about the punchbowl&mdash;she seemed to
+appreciate what a delicate situation it was&mdash;and I'll never, never take
+it again without asking."
+</p>
+<p>
+On the whole, this "up-to-date grandmother" proved a most charming
+possession; a grandmother who took long walks with one, who played
+croquet with one, who planned delightful trips in town to shops and even
+to matinees. And how delightful to know that one was the object of both
+envy and interest to the other girls; to be able to show the tiniest of
+enameled watches, straight from Paris; to have a grandmother who had
+actually been in Egypt, and had seen the king and queen of England.
+Patricia held her head very high in these days.
+</p>
+<p>
+Yet at times there was an odd, barely defined feeling of something like
+regret at the bottom of Patricia's heart.
+</p>
+<p>
+This new grandmother was the best of chums and companions, but somehow
+it was hard to realize that she was really a <i>grandmother</i>. And
+before Patricia's inward gaze would pass the picture of a little
+white-capped old lady, quietly knitting at one corner of the fireplace;
+an old lady whose big Dutch pocket held an unfailing supply of ginger
+nuts and peppermint drops, whose stories were all of those far-off days
+when "I was a little girl."
+</p>
+<p>
+But only at times; as a rule these days were too full for Patricia to
+find time for inner visions.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're the luckiest girl, Patricia Kirby," Patricia's particular chum,
+Nell Hardy, declared one morning on the way to school. "I think Mrs.
+Cory's perfectly lovely; she always acts as if she was ever so glad to
+see you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia swung her strap of books thoughtfully. "Daddy says she has a
+beautiful manner. I'm going to be just like her."
+</p>
+<p>
+Nell's quick glance was hardly flattering. "When?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Anyhow, she's <i>my</i> grandmother!" Patricia retorted; she shook out
+her short skirts, if only she could have silk linings. Clothes were
+beginning to take on new meanings for Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'd better hurry," Nell said, "or we'll be late."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Grandmother never really hurries."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maybe she did when she was going to school; there's the bell now!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bet I'll be there first," Patricia said, darting ahead.
+</p>
+<p>
+But she wasn't; it seemed as if all the babies and dogs in town chose
+that particular moment to get right in her path, avoiding with equal
+skill Nell's eager rush. What with picking up a baby here and stopping
+to speak to one there&mdash;Patricia never could get by babies&mdash;Patricia
+reached the schoolhouse just too late to join her line and had to wait
+outside until the opening exercises were over.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was by no means the first time; and Miss Carrol looked very grave as
+Patricia slipped into her place a little later, trying to ignore Nell's
+bob of triumph.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was after supper that evening that the doctor called Patricia into
+the office. "Patricia," he said, as she came to stand before him, "I met
+Miss Carrol this afternoon."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, Daddy." Patricia's thoughts flew rapidly backward; had she been
+doing anything very dreadful?
+</p>
+<p>
+"She tells me that you have been tardy very frequently of late,
+Patricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Y-yes, Daddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And yet you usually appear to start in good season?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, Daddy; it&mdash;it doesn't seem to be the <i>starting</i> early.
+It's&mdash;such a lot of things always do seem to happen on the way."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What kind of things, Patricia?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, you see, Daddy, there are such a lot of babies all along, they
+just expect to be noticed; and sometimes I go for some of the girls and
+they've something to do and I wait to help; and sometimes I go an errand
+for old Mrs. Daly&mdash;you know she hasn't any one to go at home. If you
+were with me you'd understand, Daddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor smiled. "Oh, I understand all right, Patricia; still, this
+being late for school has got to stop. Suppose every one in the room
+came just a little late?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They don't," Patricia said; "most of the girls hate it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And you must learn to hate it too; as a means to that end, if it
+happens again this week it must be only the yard on Saturday, Patricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Daddy!" Patricia made swift calculation on the tips of her fingers; it
+was Monday night&mdash;twice four made eight&mdash;eight pitfalls to be avoided or
+else&mdash;Not once since her coming had grandmother failed to take Patricia
+somewhere on Saturday afternoon.
+</p>
+<p>
+All of this was in Patricia's gray eyes, as she lifted them appealingly
+to her father. "Daddy, if you <i>could</i> make it something else?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you going to give up the fight beforehand, Pat?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you see, Daddy," Patricia quoted gravely, "I 'know my limitations.'
+And besides, it isn't just me&mdash;grandmother'll be so disappointed; you
+know we always go somewhere together Saturday afternoon."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Which means a double reason for coming up to the mark, Patricia," the
+doctor answered; and Patricia, with a little sigh, turned away.
+</p>
+<p>
+She and Custard were alone in the sitting-room a little later, when Mrs.
+Cory came in. Grandmother glanced at the sober face. "Is anything wrong,
+dear?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm positive I can't make it," Patricia said forlornly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Make what?"
+</p>
+<p>
+And Patricia explained.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course you can, dear," grandmother said cheerily; "and indeed you
+must; I've got a very special reason for wanting you to&mdash;I'm not going
+to tell you what it is, however, until Saturday morning at breakfast."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Over four days to wait! Grandmother, mayn't I have just the first
+letter?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Grandmother shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next morning at breakfast she announced that she felt the need of
+more regular exercise, and she thought she should take a short walk
+every morning.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah!" Dr. Kirby said, "about what time?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should think&mdash;about half past eight," Mrs. Cory answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A short walk <i>before</i> breakfast is considered more beneficial by some."
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby looked interested. "There are a good many pretty walks about
+Belham," she said.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Patricia came down the path, her strap of books over her shoulder,
+and a get-there-early-or-die expression on her face, Mrs. Cory was just
+turning out of the gate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you going in my direction, grandmother?" Patricia asked; and
+grandmother replied that she was.
+</p>
+<p>
+Later, sauntering slowly homewards, Mrs. Cory met the doctor. He drew
+rein. "Well?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+She laughed softly. "Patrick, if you'd been with us! It was like making
+a royal progress. There were exactly six babies, and I quite lost count
+of the dogs, not to mention several old ladies, all waiting to pass the
+time of day with Patricia. My only wonder is that she ever gets to
+school at all. Patrick, I don't believe you realize what a dear child
+she is."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't I!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Cory stood a moment looking down the pleasant tree-bordered street.
+She had not been in Belham before since the death of Patricia's mother,
+more than eight years ago, having been abroad most of the time. Now she
+found herself regretting this long absence. She had been missing a good
+deal&mdash;she would like to have had some share in Patricia's life all these
+years.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was beautifully early this morning," Patricia announced proudly at
+the table that noon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And you will be this afternoon?" grandmother asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm not so apt to be late afternoons," Patricia answered; "I suppose
+it's just happened that way."
+</p>
+<p>
+The next morning after breakfast, Patricia lingered. "Are you going my
+way <i>this</i> morning, grandmother?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, dear," Mrs. Cory answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia caught the smile in her father's eyes and wondered.
+</p>
+<p>
+Half-way to school she suddenly stopped. "Grandmother, you're doing it
+on purpose&mdash;to <i>make</i> me get there early!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Cory smiled. "You see I didn't want to lose my treat, Patricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+When Friday noon came Patricia had not one tardy mark for those four
+days; and on that same Friday noon she met her Waterloo.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was the Dixon baby who caused her downfall.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was one of Patricia's most ardent admirers; and when he saw
+her coming that noon he made as straight for her as his very shaky
+two-year-old legs would allow. Of course he tumbled down and scratched
+his snubby little nose; and of course Patricia stopped to pet and
+comfort him, carrying him back to the house. "Mrs. Dixon," she called
+from the gate, "oh, Mrs. Dixon!"
+</p>
+<p>
+But Mrs. Dixon had just stepped over to a neighbor's. Patricia tried to
+put her charge down, but he stoutly refused to be put.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll be late, Patricia," Nell warned, coming up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Danny won't let me leave him; and I don't know where his mother is,"
+Patricia almost wailed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mercy, put him down and come on!" Nell advised. "He's a little
+nuisance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't know Danny's powers for hanging on," Patricia said; "besides,
+he did hurt himself."
+</p>
+<p>
+Five minutes after school had opened Patricia made her appearance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia," Miss Carrol said, "I had begun to hope that you were not
+going to end the week as you began it."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia took her place without answering.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby and Mrs. Cory had gone in town that afternoon, not to return
+until the late train, and it so happened that the doctor did not come
+home to supper; so there was no one but Sarah to notice the depths into
+which Patricia was plunged. For Patricia never did anything by halves.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is yo' sick, honey?" Sarah asked anxiously, when Patricia refused a
+second piece of chocolate cake.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia shook her head. "I'm just disgusted with life."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Land sakes!" Sarah exclaimed; "and only this noon looked like yo' was
+walkin' on air!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia went to bed early that night; even Custard's powers to comfort
+had proved inadequate. To-morrow stretched ahead a long, blank, dreary
+waste.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was a little late to breakfast the next morning; as she slipped into
+place, after kissing him good-morning, the doctor glanced at her rather
+closely. She was a most subdued Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+And then grandmother came in, also a little late. "Patricia," she said,
+almost at once, "after breakfast I want you to run over and ask Mrs.
+Hardy if Nell may go in town with you and me to-day&mdash;to the circus."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia caught her breath&mdash;so that was the "special reason!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Then she pushed her chair back. "I&mdash;can't go!" she cried; and was
+halfway upstairs before any of the others could speak.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Cory turned to Miss Kirby. "What can be the matter?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby shook her head. "Do you know what it means, Patrick?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor looked guilty. "I am afraid it means&mdash;that Patricia has been
+late to school again."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I thought," grandmother began, then stopped; as soon as she had
+finished her breakfast she went up to Patricia's room.
+</p>
+<p>
+Coming down a few moments after, she went straight to the office.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patrick," she said, "I have been finding out how Patricia came to be
+late; and remember, please, that Patricia herself has given me only the
+barest facts, with no thought of making out a case for herself, but
+reading between the lines&mdash;" and then the doctor was given the
+opportunity to also read between the lines.
+</p>
+<p>
+He listened gravely. "I know," he said at last, "it was a very
+Patricia-like action; still I am afraid I must stand by my word."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patrick, I think I shall claim my prerogative."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your what?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Prerogative&mdash;as a grandmother. From time immemorial it has been the
+right of the grandmother to come to the rescue of the grandchildren."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But Patricia knows&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is my chance, you see,"&mdash;Mrs. Cory had been told why Patricia had
+run away that first night,&mdash;"my chance to prove to Patricia that even
+if I don't wear a cap and spectacles and all the paraphernalia of the
+good old-fashioned grandmother, at heart I really am one&mdash;just as
+soft-hearted and unreasonable as any one of them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patrick, didn't <i>your</i> grandmother ever get <i>you</i> out of a
+tight place?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor looked thoughtfully out at the leaf-covered lawn; it was
+going to be a perfect fall day. "Yes," he said, "she did, more than
+once&mdash;bless her&mdash;in the most reprehensible way."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The way of a grandmother the world over," Mrs. Cory commented softly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And upon my word I don't believe it did me any harm!" the doctor went
+through to the foot of the stairs. "O Pat!" he called.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia came promptly, bravely blinking back the tears.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mustn't lay it up against <i>me</i>, Pat," the doctor said; "it's
+all your grandmother's doing. She simply insists on taking you to that
+circus today."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Daddy!" Patricia's arms were about his neck instantly; "Daddy, I
+<i>will</i> try&mdash;ever 'n' ever so hard! You'll see!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor laughed. "Wish I were going too, Pat. In my young days it was
+<i>after</i> the circus that one appreciated most the advantages of
+owning a grandmother."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is grandmother, Daddy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"In the office."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia flew to the office. "Oh," she cried, her arms around her
+grandmother's neck this time, "you're the very grandmotheriest
+grandmother that ever could be!"
+</p>
+<p>
+And then and there vanished forever from Patricia's heart that picture
+of a placid, wrinkled little old lady, knitting quietly at one corner of
+the fireplace.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER IV
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    PATRICIA'S CHRISTMAS FAMILY
+</h3>
+<p>
+"There!" Patricia stepped back, with a sigh of satisfaction. "It's all
+ready for the presents. Custard Kirby," she bent to pat the small curly
+black dog, stretched lazily out on the hearth-rug, "on your honor, have
+you ever seen a prettier Christmas-tree? Good! There's Daddy!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia ran to open the front door. "Come and admire, Daddy," she
+urged.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dr. Kirby went with her to the library; in the center of the broad
+square room stood the tree, its slender tip just escaping the ceiling.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I trimmed it nearly all myself!" Patricia explained, proudly. "Aunt
+Julia had to go out. Maybe you don't think I've been busy to-day, Daddy!
+I don't know but what it is a good thing that Christmas doesn't come
+more than once a year."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should be bankrupt if it did," the doctor said, pulling one of
+Custard's long ears. "An only daughter is rather an expensive luxury."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As if I were anything more than a plain every-day necessity! And not
+such an incapable after all, am I, Daddy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not when it comes to Christmas-trees."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Daddy, see, it's beginning to snow!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We're going to have a white Christmas, all right," the doctor said;
+then, as the telephone rang sharply, he went to answer it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia heard him give a sudden exclamation, ask one or two rapid
+questions; then he hung up the receiver and came back to the library
+door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia," he said, "there has been a bad accident down at the
+curve&mdash;the eastern express&mdash;they are bringing the injured up here to the
+hotel. 'Phone your aunt for me; and remember, <i>you</i> are not to
+leave the house."
+</p>
+<p>
+"O Daddy!" Patricia followed him into the office; but all he could tell
+her was that it seemed to be a pretty bad affair, and that he was likely
+to be away from home some hours.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A sad Christmas eve for a good many, dear," he said, kissing her
+good-by.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia watched him, as he drove off a few moments later, through the
+fast falling snow. Christmas eve&mdash;and down there at the curve! Patricia
+choked back a sudden sob, as she went to telephone to her aunt, who was
+down at the church, helping with the Christmas decorations.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby decided instantly to go right down to the hotel, where help
+would be needed. And <i>she</i> also warned Patricia that she was not to
+leave home.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But oh, I want to go, Custard!" the girl protested; "I know I could
+help." She closed the library door; the sight of the Christmas-tree,
+its gay ornaments glittering in the firelight, hurt her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia went to curl herself up on one of the sitting-room
+window-seats. Jim had gone with her father; Sarah was down at the gate
+talking over the accident with the maid from next door. Presently,
+across the street, a familiar figure came into view, through the
+gathering twilight. Patricia hurried to the door. "O Nell!" she called.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nell Hardy came running over. "Patricia, you've heard?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; they sent for Daddy. Aunt Julia's gone down to the hotel."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So's Mama; she wouldn't let me go with her. O Patricia! If it had been
+the local!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't, Nell! Come on in and stay; I'm under orders not to leave the
+house."
+</p>
+<p>
+They went into the sitting-room, where Patricia brightened up the fire
+and lit the big lamp, with its crimson shade. Then she came to sit
+beside Nell on the broad old lounge. "Nell, aren't you wild to help too?
+If only Daddy hadn't&mdash;Oh, I know&mdash;" The next moment Patricia was out in
+the hall at the telephone.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nell waited wonderingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come on, Nell!" Patricia stood in the open doorway, her eyes dancing.
+"Five of them coming!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What are you talking about, Pat?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Children." Patricia was leading the way upstairs. "I got Mrs. Brown,
+down at the hotel, on the 'phone. I wish you could have heard her!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Children! I should say so, Miss Patricia! Five of them crying in my own
+sitting-room at this minute. No, not hurt; frightened out of their wits,
+and their own people too hurt to look after them. And when I asked if
+I might have them up here, Nell, I wish you could have heard her. She's
+sending them right up in one of the hotel rigs."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, Patricia&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"There aren't any buts in this affair. We'll take Aunt Julia's room and
+mine. It won't do to turn Daddy out of his, and I must have
+communicating ones."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But your aunt&mdash;" Nell began again.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, Aunt Julia'll understand." Patricia was kneeling before the deep
+fireplace in her aunt's room, piling it generously with wood from the
+box in the corner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia, what yo' up ter?" Sarah demanded, unexpectedly, from the
+doorway. "Yo' know Miss Julia don' like a fire in her room nights&mdash;an'
+de house like summer now, wid de furnuss!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia isn't sleeping here tonight," Patricia answered, calmly;
+"and I particularly want the room cheerful; you know, there's nothing
+like an open fire for making things cheerful."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia, what yo' be'n doin'?"
+</p>
+<p>
+And Patricia explained.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah rolled her black eyes ceiling-wards. "Who ever heerd tell o' sich
+doin's! I'd jus' like ter know who done gib yo' commission ter do this,
+Miss P'tricia! An' whatever is yo' goin' do wid five strange young uns?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Make them happy and comfortable, I hope," Patricia laughed. "There they
+are now. Start a fire in my room, please, Sarah, and make up a bed on my
+lounge. Come on, Nell," and Patricia was out of the room and downstairs
+in a flash.
+</p>
+<p>
+Before the steps stood the carriage from the hotel, and from within it
+five white, frightened little faces looked anxiously out.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia made straight for the youngest one, a two-year-old girl. "You
+poor baby!" she cried, softly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Heedless, impulsive, Patricia had at least the gift of winning her way
+right to a child's heart; and without a moment's hesitation the child
+put a pair of clinging little arms about her neck.
+</p>
+<p>
+She and Nell took the five into the warm, bright sitting-room, where
+they took off hats and coats and gently rubbed the cold little hands.
+"Why, you're not much more than babies, any of you!" Patricia glanced
+pityingly from one to another of her protégés.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm seven," the oldest answered. "I'm Norma Howard; she's my little
+sister Totty." She pointed to the baby on Patricia's lap. "She keeps
+crying for Mama&mdash;Mama was hurt," Norma hid her face against Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia slipped an arm about her. "I shouldn't wonder if my Daddy were
+looking after her right now. He's the best doctor in the whole world!"
+She turned to the two little boys, staring up at her from the depths of
+the doctor's big chair: "And are you brothers?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No'm," the larger one responded; "we've only just 'come 'quainted. He's
+only five; I'm five 'an half. I'm Archibald Sears; his name's Tommy&mdash;I
+want my mother!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Tommy's blue eyes filled. "So do I," he cried.
+</p>
+<p>
+Totty took up the wail; and the little four-year-old girl on Nell's lap
+promptly followed suit.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What shall we do?" Nell asked, imploringly.
+</p>
+<p>
+But at that moment Sarah appeared. She took Tommy up in her strong,
+motherly arms, soothing him in practised fashion. "There, there, honey!
+Yo's goin' have yo' mother pretty soon. What yo' wants now's yo' supper,
+ain't it, honey? I reckon ain't no one had de sense ter gib yo' chillens
+a mite ter eat."
+</p>
+<p>
+Tommy tucked his head down on Sarah's broad shoulder with a pathetic
+little sigh of comfort. In the home which at this moment seemed very far
+away to Tommy was an old colored mammy. He refused to let Sarah put him
+down, so she took him with her while she got ready the five bowls of
+warm bread and milk, which she declared the best possible supper for all
+the children under the circumstances.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But whatever put such a notion in yo' head, Miss P'tricia, is more'n
+I kin figger out," she declared a few moments later, guiding the sleepy
+Tommy's spoon in its journey from bowl to mouth. "What yo' reckon yo'
+pa's goin' say?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," Patricia glanced about the table, "that just at present Daddy
+would say&mdash;bed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"H'm," Sarah grunted, "yo' knows what I means. Well, it's sure got ter
+be a bath for them all 'fore it kin be bed; so we'd best get started."
+</p>
+<p>
+She headed the little procession upstairs, Tommy in her arms, Patricia
+bringing up the rear with Totty.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If it hadn't come about in such a dreadful way, wouldn't it be
+perfectly lovely?" Patricia said. "Think of it, Nell&mdash;<i>five</i>
+children to spend Christmas with one!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Nell laughed. "Your Christmas isn't over yet, Pat; it won't be all
+smooth running."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can't scare me. Nell, we'll hang up their stockings for them. They
+must have their Christmas."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What yo' goin' do fo' night things fo' dem, Miss P'tricia?" Sarah
+asked, suddenly; "'pears like ain't none o' 'em come much laden down wid
+luggage."
+</p>
+<p>
+"N-no," Patricia answered; "probably their things weren't very
+get-atable. We'll have to take some of my gowns, Sarah."
+</p>
+<p>
+Whereupon Archibald lifted up his voice in swift protestation; he didn't
+want to wear a girl's things; he wanted to go home; he wanted to sleep
+in his own bed; he wanted his mother!
+</p>
+<p>
+At that all-compelling word four other voices rose in instantaneous
+lamentation, even Norma catching the general infection.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sarah, can't you do something?" Patricia implored. "Nell, what does
+your mother do when your brothers cry like this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They&mdash;don't cry like this," Nell answered, trying desperately to quiet
+Lydia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mebbe next time, Miss P'tricia," Sarah's tone was strictly of the
+"I-told-you-so" order, "yo' won't go 'vitin' a whole tribe o' young uns,
+widout resultin' any one."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia, walking the room with the screaming Totty, came to a sudden
+halt before Archibald, lying face down on the floor. "If you'll stop
+crying I'll let Custard come up," she said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who's Custard?" Archibald rolled over on his back to consider the
+matter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dog."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Downstairs&mdash;in the kitchen."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Does he like boys?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not when they cry."
+</p>
+<p>
+Archibald rubbed his eyes. "I'm not crying now."
+</p>
+<p>
+But at that moment, Custard, who considered that he had been kept in the
+background quite long enough, came upstairs on his own account. As Sarah
+said, he seemed "ter sense the situation," for he trotted about making
+friends, lapping the tears from Tommy's face, and standing up on his
+hind legs to let Totty pat his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah promptly took advantage of the lull to whisk the boys off to the
+bath-room; half an hour later, all five children, well wrapped in shawls
+and blankets, were gathered about the fire in Patricia's room for the
+hanging of the Christmas stockings.
+</p>
+<p>
+That ceremony over, Sarah pounced on Tommy and Archibald, carrying them
+off to bed in Miss Kirby's room. "An' mercy knows what Miss Julia done
+say when she find yo' here," she muttered, tucking them in snugly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Archibald sat up in bed. "I want&mdash;Custard!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yo' go 'long ter sleep, young sir," Sarah expostulated. "What yo' think
+Marse Santa Clause goin' say ter such goin's-on?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I want Custard!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let him have him, Sarah!" Patricia exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss P'tricia! 'Low that onery dog on yo' aunt's bed!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia let the insult to her pet pass.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>On</i> it, <i>in</i> it, <i>under</i> it, if it'll keep him quiet!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sarah lifted Custard in far from respectful fashion, dropping him, an
+astonished, but entirely acquiescent heap, between Archibald and Tommy.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lydia, already asleep, was disposed of in Patricia's bed, and Norma and
+Totty settled comfortably on the wide lounge.
+</p>
+<p>
+"An' now, honey," Sarah said, "I's goin' get you and Miss Nell yo'
+supper."
+</p>
+<p>
+They went downstairs, where Sarah made Patricia and Nell comfortable at
+a small table drawn up before the sitting-room fire.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But what are you going to fill those stockings with, Pat?" Nell asked,
+after Sarah had left them alone.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can manage all right for the girls; I've loads of toys stowed away up
+garret. I've always had heaps of things given me, but if I could get
+out-of-doors, and had something alive to play with, I'd let the other
+things go every time. I am a bit puzzled about Archibald's and Tommy's."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll run home and get some of the little boys' toys," Nell offered.
+When supper was over, while Patricia went, as she called it, "shopping
+up garret," Nell made a hurried trip home and back.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There," she exclaimed, coming in breathless, her head and shoulders
+white with snow, "will these do?" She laid a toy engine, a trumpet, a
+tin sword, and a small box of lead soldiers on the table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Beautifully!" Patricia was placing a small jointed doll in the top of
+Norma's stocking. "This is going to be about the realest Christmas I've
+ever had."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's going to be a mighty sad one for a lot of people."
+</p>
+<p>
+All the fun and laughter vanished from Patricia's gray eyes. She looked
+about the pleasant, homelike room, with its trimmings of evergreen and
+holly, and a swift, sharp, realizing sense of what was going on down at
+the hotel came to her. For a moment the girl's lips quivered and the
+hand that held Tommy's empty stocking trembled. "But, Nell," she said
+slowly, "I am sure&mdash;oh, I know they would want their children to have
+their Christmas. It would be too dreadful, afterwards&mdash;if they could
+remember nothing but&mdash;sadness and&mdash;sorrow. O Nell, I wonder if there
+were any children hurt?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know," Nell answered. "Let's&mdash;not talk about it, Patricia.
+Shall I put the trumpet in Archibald's stocking?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose so, he's larger than Tommy. I don't know what Aunt Julia will
+do if he wakes up early and starts to blowing it. Poor Aunt Julia! She's
+got a lot of surprises coming her way." Patricia stuffed out the toe of
+Lydia's stocking with the regulation nuts and raisins. "There," she
+said, a moment later, "I reckon these are ready to hang up again."
+</p>
+<p>
+They tiptoed upstairs softly; the children were all sleeping quietly,
+and even Custard barely opened the corner of one eye at Patricia's
+coming.
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard was having the time of his life. Hitherto, beds had been
+strictly forbidden ground with Custard; and just what could have brought
+about this most delightful state of affairs was quite beyond his powers
+of imagination, but he was wisely wasting no time in idle speculation.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia stroked him a bit dubiously. "I am afraid Aunt Julia will rebel
+at this, old fellow; but Archibald's got fast hold of you, and I simply
+can't risk waking him up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must go now, Pat," Nell said, as they went downstairs again; "I told
+Papa I'd be back soon."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Somehow," she added, as she and Patricia stood a moment on the front
+steps, "I can't make it seem like Christmas eve&mdash;not even with your five
+stockings, Pat."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia looked out at the white whirl of snow; the street seemed
+deserted, but here and there, where a blind had been left undrawn,
+a light shone out.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, from the house next door, came the sound of a Christmas carol:
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>  "Hark! the herald angels sing</p>
+<p>  Glory to the new-born King."</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+Clearly, joyously, through the still, snow-laden air, sounded the
+words&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>  "Risen with healing in His wings,</p>
+<p>  Light and life to all He brings.</p>
+<p>  Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!</p>
+<p>  Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!"</p>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+Patricia drew a long breath. "But it <i>is</i> Christmas eve, Nell. And,
+O Nell, at least <i>we</i> didn't have any one there&mdash;on the express."
+</p>
+<p>
+"N-no," Nell said gravely, "still&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maybe it won't be exactly a 'merry Christmas'," Patricia began&mdash;"Nell,
+listen!"
+</p>
+<p>
+From upstairs came a prolonged wail.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Totty!" Patricia cried.
+</p>
+<hr>
+<p>
+It was more than an hour later when the doctor and Miss Kirby drove
+slowly up the snow-covered drive. "I am afraid Patricia has had rather
+a lonely Christmas eve," Miss Kirby said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It looks as if she had gone to bed," her brother answered; "the door
+would have been open by this time, if she were on hand."
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby went directly upstairs to take off her things; in the upper
+hall she caught the flicker of firelight through her own and Patricia's
+half-opened doors; and although ordinarily she did not care for a fire
+in her room at night, the knowledge that there was one awaiting her now
+brought a sense of comfort. Probably Patricia had thought she would be
+cold and tired&mdash;Patricia was really very considerate at times.
+</p>
+<p>
+Three minutes later Miss Kirby was standing in the middle of her room,
+staring with wide, amazed eyes at her very much occupied bed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Two children and a <i>dog</i>!
+</p>
+<p>
+Involuntary, she lowered the light, so as not to awaken the sleepers.
+Two children and a <i>dog</i>! Could it be the effect of over-wrought
+nerves? Then she recognized Custard.
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard was blinking sleepily up at her, but he did not move. He may
+have realized the desirability of not disturbing his companions, or he
+may have concluded that possession was nine-tenths of the law; with a
+little audacious sigh of comfort, he tucked his head down and dropped
+off to sleep again.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby turned towards Patricia's room. A moment after, the doctor
+heard her calling to him softly from the landing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Anything wrong?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come and see!" Miss Kirby was almost hysterical.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Patricia isn't&mdash;?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come and see!" Miss Kirby led the way to her room, pointing
+dramatically to the bed.
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor surveyed the trio within it. "Upon my&mdash;" his lips twitched.
+"No one from around here! Evidently, Patricia has&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose you look in Patricia's room," Miss Kirby suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+Going to the door, the doctor gave one brief, comprehensive glance; then
+he turned: "And how many in my room?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby gasped. "I'll go see."
+</p>
+<p>
+"None," she reported, "and none in the spare-room. Patrick, these must
+be children from&mdash;the hotel. Oh dear, was there ever such a girl!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor looked about him, more slowly this time, seeing Lydia in the
+bed, Norma on the lounge; seeing the little, flushed contented faces;
+seeing the stockings hanging ready for the morning from the mantelpiece;
+seeing, and here his glance rested longest, Patricia in a low chair
+before the fire, Totty in her arms, both fast asleep; noting the tired
+droop of the dark head against the baby's yellow one.
+</p>
+<p>
+He might have known Patricia would never be content to sit idle, when
+just at hand was so much of pain and suffering to be relieved.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't it exactly like Patricia?" Miss Kirby sighed, wearily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," the doctor's voice was very gentle, "I think it is&mdash;exactly like
+Patricia." Crossing the room, he carefully loosened Patricia's grasp,
+taking Totty from her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia stirred and opened her eyes. "Daddy! Oh, I am glad you're back!
+But, please, please, be very careful not to wake Totty; I'm so afraid
+she'll get to crying again."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor laid Totty beside Norma. "Suppose you come downstairs, Pat,
+and explain this invasion of the premises to your aunt and me," he said,
+holding out his hand to her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sitting on the arm of her father's chair, Patricia told her story.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have&mdash;you been in your room, Aunt Julia?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have, Patricia."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am sorry about Custard, Aunt Julia; but Archibald wouldn't be
+comforted without him; he wanted his&mdash;mother."
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby thought of the long dining-room down at the hotel, turned
+into a hospital ward; where on this Christmas eve more than one mother
+was lying very near the borders of the undiscovered country.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I had to take your room, Aunt Julia," Patricia went on, "so as to
+have two communicating ones. I hope you don't mind much?"
+</p>
+<p>
+And Miss Kirby had not the heart to admit how much, in her present
+weariness of mind and body, she did care.
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor patted Patricia's cheek. "I thought Mrs. Brown was keeping
+those children wonderfully out of the way. I wish their poor mothers
+could have known how well they were being cared for."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia drew a quick breath of pleasure. "And we'll keep them over
+Christmas, Daddy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That depends&mdash;upon various things. By the way, where do you sleep
+to-night, Pat?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I'll go into the spare-room, with Aunt Julia," Patricia responded,
+cheerfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+Miss Kirby stifled a sigh; and hoped that Patricia's activities would
+not recommence too early the next morning.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was not Patricia who woke Miss Kirby the next morning.
+</p>
+<p>
+Custard, waking early, and finding himself in such unaccustomed
+surroundings, decided to look for his young mistress. Having been
+permitted on one bed seemed to Custard sufficient warrant for getting on
+another. Miss Kirby woke with a start to find a little wriggling object
+standing between herself and Patricia, while a small moist tongue did
+active and alternate service on both their faces.
+</p>
+<p>
+Her shriek of dismay awoke Patricia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aunt Julia!" Patricia was shaking with laughter, "I'll tell Daddy&mdash;how
+you woke me up, playing with Custard!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's the most&mdash;" Miss Kirby dived beneath the bed-clothes. "Take him
+away, Patricia!"
+</p>
+<p>
+From across the hall came the shrill blast of a trumpet. Custard,
+his forefeet firmly planted on Miss Kirby's chest, his head cocked
+enquiringly, promptly barked a defiant response.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next moment the spare-room seemed full of children, all, like
+Custard, in search of Patricia, and making, at sight of her, as swift an
+onslaught in her direction as the extreme length of their nightgowns
+would permit.
+</p>
+<p>
+So, after all, Christmas morning began merrily for them, at least.
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor, coming home later from an early visit to the hotel, stopped
+outside Patricia's open door. "Merry Christmas, Pat! Got your hands
+full?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia was kneeling on the floor, buttoning Tommy's shoes. "Merry
+Christmas, Daddy," she answered, gaily; "I certainly have."
+</p>
+<p>
+Norma came slowly up to the doctor; she remembered him from last night;
+for in all the hurry and confusion of the moment he had found time for a
+few comforting words to the frightened, bewildered children. "Have&mdash;have
+you made Mama better?" she asked, wistfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor sat down, taking her on his knee. "What is your mother's
+name, dear?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mrs. Howard."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor brushed the child's soft curls; and Patricia, seeing the
+gravity of his eyes, caught her breath. "Your mother was resting very
+quietly when I left her just now, dear," he said, gently; then he turned
+to Archibald. "Did you find that trumpet in your stocking, young man?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Archibald nodded. "I want my&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I found this!" Lydia held up one of Patricia's many dolls. They all
+crowded about him, claiming his attention, Totty demanding to be taken
+up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Got your hands full, Daddy?" Patricia laughed.
+</p>
+<hr>
+<p>
+About the candle-lighted tree Patricia's small guests circled
+admiringly. It <i>had</i> been a merry Christmas for the little
+travel-wrecked strangers; and now, with the tree, had come the
+culminating point of this long happy day.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't it pretty?" Norma came to lean against Patricia. "I wish Mama
+could see it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must remember to tell her all about it," Patricia answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will I see her to-morrow?" Norma asked longingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps," Patricia said; and when presently her father had to leave
+them, to go down to the hotel, she went with him to the door. "Daddy,
+you'll be back soon?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"As soon as possible, dear."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And&mdash;you think&mdash;with good news for them&mdash;all?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope so, dear."
+</p>
+<p>
+Patricia went back to the library with sober face. "But at least," she
+thought, taking Totty on her lap, "they'll have had their Christmas."
+</p>
+<p>
+It was far from soon before the doctor returned. Patricia's charges were
+in bed and asleep. Custard, who had been looking forward to bedtime all
+day, had retired to his basket&mdash;a disillusioned dog. To-night Archibald
+was finding all the solace needed in a gaily painted Noah's Ark. Miss
+Kirby was lying down in the sitting-room,&mdash;she had not found it a day
+of unbroken calm,&mdash;so that Patricia was alone in the library when her
+father returned.
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew her down beside him on the lounge. "It <i>is</i> good news for
+them all, Patricia, I think Norma and Totty may see their mother
+to-morrow. I have brought you a great deal of love, Patricia, from more
+than one mother; love and gratitude."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I am glad they're all better!" Patricia said. "Daddy, I've been
+thinking; I don't see how we're ever going to get along after this
+without a Christmas family."
+</p>
+<p>
+The doctor bent to kiss her. "What I've been thinking is what your
+'family' would have done for their Christmas without you. I'm proud
+of you, Pat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"O Daddy!" Patricia's eyes were shining.
+</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATRICIA***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Patricia, by Emilia Elliott
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Patricia
+
+Author: Emilia Elliott
+
+Release Date: October 30, 2004  [eBook #13895]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATRICIA***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Garcia and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+PATRICIA
+
+by
+
+EMILIA ELLIOTT
+
+1910
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+It is a deep regret to the publishers that Miss Emilia Elliott, the
+creator of the charming character of Patricia, did not live to see this
+book in print, nor to enjoy the welcome that they are confident it will
+be accorded.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+  I. PATRICIA'S FATIGUING DAY.
+
+ II. THE GINGHAM APRON PARTY
+
+III. THE WAY OF A GRANDMOTHER
+
+ IV. PATRICIA'S CHRISTMAS FAMILY
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PATRICIA'S FATIGUING DAY
+
+
+Patricia sat on the back fence, almost hidden by the low-spreading
+branches of an old apple-tree. Below her, on the grass, lay a small,
+curly, black dog, his brown, trustful eyes fixed confidently on
+Patricia.
+
+"Really, you know," the child said, gravely, "it's a very perplexing
+situation. Aunt Julia needn't have been so inhospitable. Why didn't
+I wait until Daddy got home! Daddy's so much more--convincible. But
+it's no use now; Daddy never goes back on Aunt Julia."
+
+Patricia slipped from the fence. "I rather think you and I'd better go
+down to the back meadow to talk things over; it's getting pretty near
+sewing-time."
+
+Out in the meadow, flat on her back in the long grass, Patricia set
+herself to the task of solving this perplexing situation.
+
+Half an hour earlier she had appeared back from one of her desultory
+rambles, accompanied by this most forlorn of all forlorn dogs,
+explaining that she had met him on the road, and he had followed
+her home.
+
+It was no unusual occurrence, but when Patricia added that he didn't
+seem to belong to anybody, and she thought she would keep him, Miss
+Kirby promptly and firmly protested.
+
+To Patricia's pleading, that he was poor and lame and homeless, that
+Caesar, the pointer, was the only dog they had now, and he was too old
+to play much, Miss Kirby had proved adamant. Patricia might give her
+foundling a good meal, but keep him she _could not_.
+
+Whereupon, Patricia, having given the wanderer what was in reality
+several meals condensed into one, had retired with him to think things
+over.
+
+"It really seems as if you'd been meant for me," she told him now;
+"I found you. I can't see why Aunt Julia won't look at things in a
+proper light. I'm afraid she hurt your feelings. Aunt Julia generally
+means pretty well, but she's apt to speak out sort of quick. We Kirbys
+mostly do. I wonder what your name is?"
+
+The dog stretched comfortably out in the warm grass, quite as happy and
+contented as if he had been everything he wasn't, sat up suddenly, with
+a short little bark, as if trying to give the desired information.
+
+Rolling over, Patricia, her chin in her hands, surveyed him carefully.
+"You aren't very handsome just now; but then, I know lots of people who
+aren't very good looking. I don't see why that saying Aunt Julia is so
+fond of--about 'Handsome is as handsome does'--shouldn't apply to dogs
+as well as people. All the same, you are a very mixed numbery sort of
+a dog: you've got one and three-quarters ears, three and one-half
+legs,--at least you don't use that front paw very much,--and half a
+tail; and your hair is rather--patchy. But inside, I'm sure you're all
+right. And you have _beautiful_ eyes; _they're_ all there, too."
+
+The dog blinked back at her soberly, wagging his abbreviated tail in
+apologetic fashion.
+
+"You've simply got to have a home," Patricia went on; "and it's up to me
+to find you one. But I think you'll have to have a bath first, and your
+paw bandaged."
+
+Jumping up, Patricia darted back to the house, and around to the side
+door, leading to her father's office. Presently, she reappeared with a
+cake of antiseptic soap, a box of salve, a roll of bandage, a pair of
+scissors, and a bath-towel; with these gathered up in the skirt of her
+frock she led the way down to the brook, followed by a most unsuspecting
+small dog.
+
+Ten minutes later that same small dog--decidedly sadder and wetter, if
+not wiser--lay shivering on the sunny bank, while Patricia rubbed him
+vigorously with one of her aunt's largest bath-towels.
+
+Then the cut paw was salved and bandaged, and the most hopelessly
+tangled knots of curls cut away. After which, Patricia, sitting back on
+heels, studied her charge approvingly.
+
+"If Aunt Julia could see you _now_! Why didn't I do all this first?
+But--well, Aunt Julia's made up her mind; and she isn't exactly the
+changey kind. I wonder if you'd like it at the Millers'? They've got a
+lot of children, but they're ever so nice children! They've three dogs
+now, so one more oughtn't to count--and you'd have plenty of company."
+
+The dog, whose only present anxiety was to feel dry once more, merely
+rolled over on his back by way of answer.
+
+"Oh, but you mustn't!" Patricia protested. "You'll get all dirty again.
+I know it's horrid to feel too clean, but, you see, it's so necessary to
+make a good first impression! I reckon it was the first impression that
+made all the trouble with Aunt Julia this morning. Come on, we'll start
+right off; it's a pretty long walk to the Millers'."
+
+They went 'cross-lots, stopping for more than one romp by the way, one
+quite as light-hearted and irresponsible as the other; though behind
+Patricia lay more than one neglected task, and before her companion
+stretched a possibly homeless future.
+
+It was a nearly perfect June day, the blue sky overhead just flecked
+with soft, fleecy white clouds, and with enough breeze stirring to lift
+Patricia's short brown curls and fan her sunburned cheeks.
+
+Out on the highroad the wild roses were in bloom, and the air was full
+of soft summer sounds; the very birds hopping lightly about from fence
+to fence had a holiday air--and to Patricia there was something very
+friendly in the inquisitive cock of their pert little heads, as they
+stopped now and then to inspect her.
+
+"Oh!" she cried, joyously, reaching up on tiptoe to gather a spray of
+wild roses just above her head, "aren't we having the loveliest time,
+Dog?"
+
+Her companion wagged agreeingly; he was, at any rate. The hot sun on his
+back felt exceedingly good; he began to entertain hopes of actually
+feeling really and thoroughly dry again--some time.
+
+"That's the Millers' house--the brown one, beyond the curve," Patricia
+told him. And as it was the only house in sight, he had no trouble in
+locating it.
+
+"I'm sure you'll be happy there," Patricia added. "It's funny there
+aren't any children, or dogs, about. There's Mrs. Miller."
+
+Mrs. Miller was hanging out a wash. "Patricia Kirby!" She pushed back
+her sunbonnet, the better to survey the child. "Where is your hat?
+You're redder'n one of my big pinies!"
+
+Patricia put her hand up to her head. "Maybe I left it in the meadow;
+I'm not sure I've had it on at all this morning."
+
+"Well!" Mrs. Miller's tone was emphatic. "The children and the dogs've
+all gone off picnicking," she added. "I suppose you've come to see
+them?"
+
+"N-no," Patricia answered. "I came to bring you a--present, Mrs. Miller.
+The nicest--"
+
+She stopped abruptly, as Mrs. Miller rushed by her, with a shriek,
+waving her apron frantically.
+
+On the grass spread out to bleach, lay one of Mrs. Miller's best
+tablecloths; and in the middle of the cloth Mrs. Miller's present was
+rolling and twisting his damp, dusty little self, uttering all the while
+short, sharp little barks of satisfaction.
+
+But he was on his feet before any one could reach him, and with one
+corner of the cloth caught in his mouth, had run gayly away.
+
+"Head that dog off, Patricia!" Mrs. Miller screamed. "What dog is it,
+anyway--mischievous, good-for-nothing little scamp? He doesn't belong
+about here! Ten to one, he followed you in. I never knew such a child
+for taking up with stray dogs!"
+
+After several strenuous moments the cloth was rescued. "Is it hurt very
+much?" Patricia asked, anxiously.
+
+Mrs. Miller held it up; one of the corners was torn and frayed rather
+badly, and the whole cloth was covered with grass-stains and dirt.
+"You can see for yourself," she said wrathfully; "and it a _new_
+cloth--never used yet!"
+
+"But it'll wash, won't it?" Patricia suggested. "And the torn part won't
+show when it's on the table; and it won't show when it's folded up in
+the drawer." She stooped to lay a restraining hand on the wrongdoer, who
+already had an eye on various other articles scattered about the grass.
+"I wouldn't have thought he could run so, with a lame paw, would you,
+Mrs. Miller?"
+
+"The sooner he runs out of my sight, the better for him," Mrs Miller
+declared, warmly. "If he don't get started mighty quick I'll help him
+along a bit with a broom handle."
+
+Patricia drew herself up. "I--I think I'll be going."
+
+"But, Patricia," Mrs. Miller called after her, "what was that about a
+present? Something your aunt sent?"
+
+"No, Aunt Julia didn't send him. I brought you a--a dog, Mrs. Miller."
+
+"_That_ little nuisance! Well, well, of all--"
+
+Patricia waited to hear no more; not until she was some distance up the
+road did she turn to her charge, limping ostentatiously in the rear.
+
+"That was another bad first impression, Dog! It wasn't my fault this
+time. Really, I'm very much ashamed of you."
+
+Dog sat down, holding up a bandaged paw. His whole dejected little body
+expressed penitence of the deepest dye.
+
+Patricia softened. "I'm not so sure whether, after all, you would have
+liked it at the Millers'. I'm a good deal disappointed in Mrs. Miller,
+myself."
+
+She sat down on the grass beside the road to rearrange the loosened
+bandage. "Puppies will be puppies, I suppose. Daddy says you must always
+take the intention into consideration--and I don't suppose you
+_intended_ to be bad. It's dreadfully easy to be bad, without
+intending to. I certainly hope it won't be washing-day at the next
+place. The idea of having Thursday for a wash-day, anyhow! Dear me,
+where is the next place?"
+
+The dog crawled into her lap, trying to lick her face. He was not
+in the least anxious to decide upon any "next place." Sitting there in
+Patricia's lap, in the shade of a wide-spreading maple, seemed a very
+agreeable method of passing the time.
+
+"I think," Patricia said, stroking the little black head, "we'll try
+Miss Jane. You don't know Miss Jane. She's awfully nice. She and her
+sister haven't any dog but they've got a cat; you wouldn't mind
+that--she's a very intelligent cat; Miss Jane says so."
+
+To reach Miss Jane's it was necessary to leave the highroad for a
+narrow, winding lane. A quarter of a mile further on they came to the
+little white house. Patricia thought it very lonely looking, but perhaps
+her companion might think otherwise. "And I do think," she said,
+gravely, "that it's very good of me to bring them such a nice dog--to
+keep the tramps off."
+
+A large gray cat, sunning herself on one of the gate-posts, was the only
+sign of life about the house.
+
+But not for long. The next moment an exceedingly astonished, irate cat
+was taking an unusual amount of exercise in the prim little garden,
+urged cheerily on by a small, curly dog, whose three legs seemed quite
+as effective as most dogs' four. While down the path from the house
+came Miss Jane and Miss Susan, also stout, elderly, and unaddicted to
+overmuch exercise, anxious for their cat, anxious for their garden,
+most of all anxious to get this strange intruder off the premises.
+
+"Go away, little girl, and take that horrid dog with you," Miss Jane
+commanded, shaking a stick she had picked up.
+
+Patricia's eyes flashed. "I'm not '_little girl_.' I'm _Patricia Kirby_!"
+
+"Pa-tri-cia Kir-by! Upon my word!"
+
+Patricia's bare curls were blown and tangled; her face, hot and dusty;
+her blue gingham frock, fresh that morning, between water and dust was a
+sight to behold. She bore very little resemblance to the Patricia Kirby
+Miss Jane was accustomed to see in church on Sunday, or sometimes
+driving about with Dr. Kirby.
+
+"Whatever are you doing alone so far from home, Patricia?" Miss Susan
+asked, coming up. The cat had retired to the shelter of a tall tree,
+from a branch of which she glared down on her pursuer, who lay hot and
+panting on the ground below.
+
+Patricia pointed to the dog. "Why, I came on purpose to bring you
+him--for a present, you know."
+
+Miss Jane gasped.
+
+"He's a very nice dog," Patricia went on. "I'd love to keep him for
+myself; only Aunt Julia--Aunt Julia seemed to think one dog was enough.
+I don't think Aunt Julia is particularly--enthusiastic, about dogs. You
+would like him, wouldn't you?"
+
+Not dust, heat, nor weariness could hide the persuasive charm of
+Patricia's quick upward smile.
+
+Before that smile Miss Jane, who was very soft-hearted, wavered; but
+Miss Susan shook her head resolutely. "Augusta would never hear of it
+for one moment!"
+
+"Is Augusta your cook?" Patricia asked. Cooks were that way sometimes;
+even Sarah had her moments of revolt--so far as Patricia was concerned.
+
+"Augusta is our cat," Miss Jane explained. She felt grateful to Susan,
+and sorry for Patricia.
+
+Patricia sighed; she had recognized the finality in Miss Susan's tone.
+"Do you know of any one who would like a dog," she asked, "a very nice
+dog?"
+
+"You might try the Millers'," Miss Jane suggested.
+
+"I--I don't believe Mrs. Miller would care for him," Patricia answered,
+hurriedly. She turned to go. "Why, where is he?"
+
+"Perhaps he's waiting outside in the road for you." Miss Susan was not
+ordinarily so inhospitable, but the minister was coming to supper that
+evening; and, like Martha of old, Miss Susan was burdened with many
+cares.
+
+Patricia sighed again; the road outside the low white fence seemed
+suddenly very long and sunny. She was tired and discouraged; above all,
+she was hungry.
+
+"Before you go, Patricia," Miss Jane said, kindly, "come round to the
+kitchen and have a glass of cool milk and a cookie."
+
+The kitchen door had been left open in the excited rush of a few moments
+before. As the three neared it now, Miss Susan darted forward, with very
+much the same shriek of horrified dismay as Mrs. Miller had uttered not
+long since.
+
+Mounted on a chair, his feet firmly planted on the kitchen-table was
+a small black dog, just finishing the contents of a large glass dish
+standing at the edge of the table.
+
+"It's my custard," Miss Susan wailed, "and the minister coming to
+supper!"
+
+The "very nice dog" turned round, licking his chops contentedly. It
+almost seemed as if he winked at Patricia.
+
+The next instant, skilfully dodging Miss Susan, he had retired to the
+side yard, to finish licking his chops. Truly, it was a red-letter day
+for him. He wagged affably at the eloquent Miss Susan; surely he had
+paid her the highest compliment in his power.
+
+"Oh, I am so sorry," Patricia declared. "He must have been very
+hungry--I couldn't have given him nearly enough breakfast." Then she
+brightened. "After all, Miss Susan, I don't suppose he's ever had
+custard before; and I know Dr. Vail has--lots of times."
+
+Which view of the case did not in the least appeal to the indignant
+maker of the custard.
+
+Seeing which, Patricia concluded that the best thing to do was to take
+her charge away as quickly as possible. And in the confusion milk and
+cookies were quite forgotten.
+
+"Really, you know," Patricia admonished, once they were outside the
+gate, "you're not behaving at all well! Tearing table-cloths, chasing
+cats, and eating up custards aren't at all good dog manners."
+
+The culprit, quick to detect the disapproval in Patricia's voice,
+thought it time to limp again.
+
+"Is your paw very bad?" Patricia asked.
+
+The dog assured her that it was.
+
+"I don't know what we're going to do next," Patricia told him. And
+once back on the main road, she came to a standstill. She couldn't take
+her protege home; even less could she desert him. She sat down by the
+roadside to consider the matter--to consider various other matters, as
+well. Even with Patricias there comes the moment of reckoning.
+
+Aunt Julia had said that the next time she evaded sewing-lesson she must
+go to bed at five o'clock. Patricia stretched out her tired little legs;
+at the present moment that particular form of punishment did not appear
+very unendurable. Just now, however, it seemed doubtful if she would be
+at home by five o'clock.
+
+Also, Daddy had said that the next time she broke bounds in this way
+he should be obliged to punish her. Patricia fanned herself with a
+decidedly dingy pocket-handkerchief; she wished Daddy had
+said--_how_.
+
+"I'm not saying you're not a very nice dog," Patricia patted her
+companion, curled up on the folds of her short skirts; "still, if
+I hadn't met you this morning--"
+
+The dog blinked sleepily, licking her hand. Perhaps he was thinking of
+a poor, forlorn little animal who had until that morning been hunted and
+driven, half starved, never caressed.
+
+"I wonder," Patricia said, anxiously, "if Mr. Carr wouldn't like you?
+We'll go see, at any rate."
+
+Up the hill they trudged, to where, in his little cabin, lived old Carr,
+the cobbler.
+
+He was at his bench as usual, and he paused, needle in air, at sight of
+his visitors.
+
+Patricia was growing desperate; she went straight to the heart of her
+errand.
+
+She and Carr were great friends, and the latter was immensely
+interested. Over his spectacles he surveyed the pair. Patricia's gray
+eyes had lost their confidence; they were almost as unconsciously
+pathetic as the dog's brown ones.
+
+"Well," Carr said, slowly, "there's no denying a dog's company; and
+since old Sampson died--"
+
+Patricia beamed. "Then you will take him? And you won't mind if he's
+rather--lively? You see, he's so very young. Maybe, I'd better tell you
+everything." And sitting down on one end of the workbench, Patricia made
+full confession of her charge's misdoings. "But I think he's sorry," she
+ended, hopefully.
+
+"Sure, Miss," Carr assented; "especially as to the custard--that there
+wasn't more. What's his name, Miss?"
+
+"I don't know. I've called him just Dog."
+
+"I reckon he won't care what he's called, so long as you don't call him
+too late for dinner," Carr remarked. "How about Custard? It'd keep his
+sin afore him." He took a piece of rope from the floor. "I'd best tie
+him for a bit at first."
+
+It was half-past four when Patricia reached home. Sarah was upstairs and
+Aunt Julia busy with callers.
+
+Making a hasty raid on the pantry, Patricia slipped quietly up the back
+way to her own room. Aunt Julia had said it must be bed; and there was
+no particular use in waiting to be sent.
+
+She was just getting into bed, after a hurried bath, when Miss Kirby,
+having learned from certain unmistakable evidence that Patricia had
+returned, came upstairs.
+
+"Patricia!" she exclaimed, her voice expressing almost as much relief as
+displeasure, "where have you been?"
+
+Patricia moved restlessly. "I've been--everywhere!"
+
+"Sarah has ransacked the entire neighborhood." Displeasure was fast
+becoming the dominant note in Miss Kirby's voice now that Patricia was
+safe in bed before her. "Of course you understand," she began.
+
+Patricia raised a small, flushed face. "Please, Aunt Julia, I'm in
+bed--and you didn't have to send me. I've had a most _fatiguing_
+day; and I'm dreadfully afraid that if you start in to talk to me the
+'Kirby temper''ll make me say something back."
+
+Miss Kirby sat down, surveying her niece in silence for a moment.
+Patricia had frankly stated a quite undeniable fact; and she had no
+desire to put the matter to the test. "Very well," she said, presently,
+"we will wait until to-morrow morning."
+
+"But that would be ever so much worse," Patricia pleaded. "I do so hate
+waiting for things. I thought--maybe--if I went straight to bed--you'd
+skip the--talk part, this time. I'm very tired; finding a home for a dog
+takes it out of you a lot. People 'round here don't seem very anxious to
+have dogs. And--I went considerably beyond bounds--so I've got Daddy to
+settle with yet. All the same, I did find him a home, Aunt Julia--I
+haven't got that on my mind."
+
+Miss Kirby rose, and going over to the bed bent and kissed the tired,
+wistful face. Patricia had a fashion of exciting sympathy at the wrong
+time, in a way that was perilous to discipline. "For this time, then,
+Patricia," she said. "Now I must go downstairs."
+
+Left to herself, Patricia suddenly remembered that there was to be
+strawberry shortcake for supper. Oh, dear, if only Custard had chosen
+any other day to drift across her path! A sent-to-bed bed-supper meant
+simply bread and milk. Patricia wondered if Dr. Vail would mind about
+not having custard as much as she did about not having strawberry
+shortcake. She decided that when she was grown up and had little girls
+of her own she'd never send them to bed early on strawberry shortcake
+night.
+
+She heard her father drive into the yard, heralded by Caesar's deep bark.
+Caesar had gone with the doctor on his day's round. Patricia knew how he
+was running about now, looking for her. She hoped Sarah would forget and
+leave the screen door open. Caesar would be sure to come upstairs then.
+She rather thought Daddy would delay his coming until after supper.
+
+Sarah was taking in supper now; she could hear the dishes rattling.
+She was very hungry; that hasty raid on the pantry had not been very
+satisfactory. If Custard had felt that way she didn't much blame him for
+eating up Miss Susan's custard. Probably no one had ever taught him that
+it was wrong to take what didn't belong to him.
+
+There! Sarah was bringing up her supper now!
+
+Patricia sat up in bed; even bread and milk appeared highly desirable at
+that moment.
+
+But there was more than bread and milk on the tray Sarah carried.
+Patricia stared at the generous square of strawberry shortcake,
+plentifully supplied with cream, in wondering silence.
+
+Sarah brought a small table to the side of the bed. "Miss Julia, she
+done send some message 'bout this 'ere cake, Miss P'tricia; but, law
+o' mercy, I'se clean forgot the most 'portant word. Hit were something
+'bout you-uns having had a fat-fat-"
+
+"Fatiguing day?" Patricia suggested, taking little anticipatory pickings
+at the corners of the shortcake.
+
+Sarah nodded her turbaned head. "Where's you-un been all day, Miss
+P'tricia?" she enquired, severely.
+
+"If you don't mind, Sarah--I'm very hungry and tired--I won't go into
+that at present. I had something very important to see to."
+
+"Humph!" Sarah grunted. "Nice doings, worrying your pore aunt near to
+'straction--the doctor, he ain't come home to dinner--to hear 'bout your
+carryings-on. What you think he's goin' say--when Miss Julia tells him?"
+
+Patricia was absorbed in eating bread and milk. "It must be dreadful to
+be really starved, Sarah," she observed.
+
+"Where you get your dinner, Miss P'tricia?"
+
+"I didn't have any," Patricia answered.
+
+"My sakes!" Further speech failed Sarah. She turned away.
+
+Patricia's next visitor was old Caesar. Standing by the bed, he asked as
+plainly as dog may what in the world she was doing there at that time
+of day? He accepted solemnly his share of the good things going, then
+stretched himself out on the floor beside the bed, to mount guard--but
+not until he had told her as forcibly as he could that the summer
+evening was unusually fine, and that there were several little affairs
+in the garden requiring their joint supervision.
+
+"But I can't go, Caesar," Patricia told him. She was always sure that her
+dumb friends understood quite well all she said to them. "There comes
+Daddy now."
+
+"It doesn't seem to be solitary confinement, Patricia," Dr. Kirby said,
+as he came in and seated himself on the side of the bed.
+
+Patricia stretched out a welcoming hand. "It's hours and hours since
+I've seen you, Daddy."
+
+Dr. Kirby took the outstretched hand gravely. "From your aunt's account,
+there would appear to have been hours and hours in which she did not see
+you, Patricia?"
+
+"I'm afraid I was gone a long while, Daddy; but I came home just as soon
+as I got things straightened out.
+
+"Suppose you give me the particulars, Patricia."
+
+And moving so as to rest her head on her father's knee, Patricia told
+in detail the story of her day's experiences. She had the comforting
+conviction that when Daddy knew all he would not be very displeased
+with her.
+
+More than once, during that recital, the doctor's mouth twitched under
+his mustache, and he turned rather suddenly to look out of the window.
+
+"But, Pat," he exclaimed, as she finished, "what made it so imperative
+for you to find that tramp dog a home?"
+
+Patricia's gray eyes were very earnest. "Some one had to do it, Daddy."
+
+The doctor smoothed back the soft, thick curls. "But, Pat, I cannot have
+you burdening yourself with the responsibility of finding homes for all
+the stray animals that cross your path."
+
+"He was so miserable, Daddy--outside; and so really nice--inside.
+I don't believe he liked being a tramp dog."
+
+The doctor stooped and kissed her; it was not easy to be severe with
+Patricia. "Still, dear, it must not happen again; you run too great
+a risk; stray dogs are not always very dependable as to temper."
+
+"It's going to be mighty hard not to, Daddy."
+
+"And Patricia, where are my scissors, and salve, and soap?"
+
+"I'm afraid--down by the brook; so's the towel. I was glad I'd watched
+you bandage Caesar's paw that time."
+
+"That is all very well; but, Patricia, you are not to meddle with any of
+the office things again without permission. And now, about this matter
+of breaking bounds to-day?"
+
+Patricia looked up quickly. "You--you'll 'take the intention into
+consideration,' Daddy?"
+
+The doctor smiled. "Yes, but," his face grew grave again, "I must also
+take into consideration the fact that this is by no means the first time
+you have gone wandering off, causing your aunt a great deal of anxiety."
+
+"I can't think why she will worry so. I always come back all right."
+
+"That is not the point. It must be only the yard for the rest of the
+week, Patricia."
+
+Patricia drew a long breath. "Well," she said, slowly, "I _am_ glad
+it's Thursday night 'stead of Monday morning."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Patricia sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. What had wakened her?
+
+A second series of short, sharp little barks sent her hurrying to the
+window. On the path below, a bit of frayed rope dangling from his neck,
+stood Custard.
+
+When the doctor came downstairs, twenty minutes later, he found Patricia
+on the back steps, with Custard in her lap, busily placing a fresh
+bandage on the hurt paw. "Daddy," she cried, lifting her face for his
+morning greeting, "wasn't it too lovely of him to hunt me up. Isn't he
+the most grateful dog ever was?"
+
+The doctor patted the dog's rough head, then stooped to examine
+Patricia's work. "Not a bad job for an eleven-year-old, Pat."
+
+"I could do it better, only I had to make a strip from a piece I found
+in Aunt Julia's scrap-bag," Patricia explained.
+
+"Patricia!" Miss Kirby exclaimed from the doorway, "your dress is only
+half buttoned, and your hair is--_Patricia Kirby_, have you gone
+and hunted up another dog!"
+
+"It's the same one, Aunt Julia. He has improved a lot, hasn't he? If
+you'd seen how glad he was to see me! I suppose he'll have to be sent
+back. Caesar likes him pretty well; he didn't growl at him once when I
+introduced them to each other."
+
+"It's a question whether _sending_ back will do any good," the
+doctor said. He was watching the two on the steps.
+
+Patricia stroked the bandaged paw gently. "I can't take him--I can't go
+out of the yard, can I, Daddy?"
+
+"Decidedly not."
+
+"Couldn't you take him in the gig with you, Patrick?" Miss Kirby felt
+that she was playing a losing game.
+
+"Going quite in the opposite direction."
+
+"And Jim?"
+
+"Goes with me." The doctor was still studying the two on the steps.
+
+"If he stays one day we are doomed!" Miss Kirby declared.
+
+"That only leaves you and Sarah, doesn't it, Aunt Julia?" Patricia
+asked, cheerfully.
+
+Miss Kirby was not without a sense of humor. "I am afraid Sarah is out
+of the question," she said; "and if he waits for me to take him he will
+stay here--altogether."
+
+Patricia was quick to catch the longed-for concession in her aunt's
+voice. Dropping Custard, she ran to hug Miss Kirby. "Oh, you darling!
+But, Daddy," she turned anxiously, "oh, do you suppose Mr. Carr will
+mind _very_ much?"
+
+"I rather think he will be able to bear the disappointment," the doctor
+answered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE GINGHAM APRON PARTY
+
+
+Fortunately, the ground under the big apple tree was soft and springy,
+and Patricia was used to both low and lofty tumbling; so when she
+landed, a little surprised heap, in the tangled grass, she lay still
+just long enough for the small black dog, nosing anxiously about her, to
+get in one or two licks of her sunburnt, bewildered face; then she sat
+up.
+
+"My, Custard, that was a stunner! I reckon if Daddy was here he'd say,
+'what a fall was there, my countrymen!'" Custard wagged agreeingly, and
+sniffed inquiringly at the strip of pink leg showing through the long
+jagged tear in one of his small mistress's tan stockings.
+
+Patricia scrambled to her feet and began taking stock. There was another
+tear in the short skirt of her blue gingham frock, and one in one of the
+sleeves.
+
+"Goodness! What will Aunt Julia say!" Patricia said ruefully; then
+remembered suddenly what Aunt Julia had said, no longer ago than
+yesterday morning, after a similar catastrophe.
+
+"And if Aunt Julia isn't a 'Mede 'n' Persian,' she might almost as well
+be one--when it comes to unsaying things," Patricia told herself, as she
+started for the house.
+
+Half-way up the back garden path, she came to an abrupt halt. "Custard,"
+she gasped, "it's party day!"
+
+As if Custard did not know that! He had never been to a party, but he
+was mighty glad to have been invited to this one. The pantry, always an
+enchanted spot to him, smelled even more delicious than usual. He had
+quite lost count of the number of times that Sarah had run him out of it
+this morning, with more haste than dignity.
+
+Patricia sat down in an empty wheelbarrow to consider matters, not
+noticing that Jim had been using it that morning to bring fresh mold
+for Miss Kirby's flower beds.
+
+"I didn't want to give a party anyhow." Patricia stared gravely out
+across the sunny drying-ground. Privately, she considered the average
+party a great waste of valuable time. Least of all had she wanted to
+give an "honor party" for Susy Vail. Susy was the rector's grandchild,
+and was on a visit here.
+
+Patricia hadn't much use for Susy Vail. She was a city girl, she was
+quiet and shy, and she would be sure to come to the party in a stiff
+white dress and blue ribbons. Patricia was positive as to the blue
+ribbons.
+
+"I've a good mind to run off to the woods and stay all day, Custard,"
+Patricia said, getting up; "they can have the party without us."
+
+Custard barked a prompt disapproval of this scheme. Maybe the party
+could do without him, but he was quite sure he could not do without
+the party.
+
+"Come on," Patricia told him, starting back down the path.
+
+She had got as far as the gate leading into the meadow, when a new idea
+came to her. Swinging slowly back and forth on the gate, she considered
+this idea; her gray eyes dancing, as its possibilities opened up before
+her mental vision.
+
+"And if Susy Vail hasn't a gingham apron, I'll lend her one; she seems
+the sort of girl not to have one," Patricia confided to Custard, as they
+once more made their way towards the house.
+
+If only the coast were clear!
+
+Sarah was on the back piazza, pitting cherries, but Sarah was easily
+managed.
+
+"My sakes, Miss P'tricia!" Sarah lifted her plump hands in horror,
+"whatever is you-un been up to now?"
+
+"Where's Aunt Julia, Sarah?"
+
+"Done left for Gar's Hollow just five minutes ago, your pa sent Jim back
+for her in the gig. What you say, Miss P'tricia?"
+
+For under her breath, Patrica was saying jubilantly:
+"It's--providential!"
+
+"N-nothing--that is, I was only thinking out loud," she told Sarah.
+
+"Don't you go worrying 'bout dat ere party, honey; hit'll come off all
+right."
+
+"I think it will--now," Patricia answered; her tone so full of some
+hidden enjoyment that Sarah glanced at her suspiciously.
+
+"Miss Julia, she done left word for you-un to do everything like you
+know she'd want you to, Miss P'tricia."
+
+Patricia selected a pair of earrings from the finest of Sarah's bowl of
+cherries. "Don't you worry, Sarah."
+
+"You ain't 'xplained yet how you come to be in such a disrepec'ble
+condition, Miss P'tricia. If the rag man was to see you, he'd just up
+and toss you into his cart--he shore would."
+
+"Have I got a clean gingham apron, Sarah?" Patricia was a past-mistress
+in the art of ignoring what she considered inconvenient, or personal,
+remarks.
+
+"Looks to me like you's got more clean gingham aprons than you's got
+manners," Sarah said severely.
+
+Patricia went indoors to the telephone, shutting the door behind her
+as she went. Sarah was too fat and too heavy on her feet to get out of
+a chair, once comfortably settled in it, unless the call were really
+urgent.
+
+Patricia first called up Mrs. Hardy. Quite unconsciously--being on her
+dignity and feeling, besides, very important--she spoke more slowly than
+was usual, and with more than a trace of her aunt's formality.
+
+Back over the line came a prompt: "Why, good morning, Miss Kirby!"
+
+Patricia's eyes sparkled and the demon of mischief, always lurking in
+her neighborhood, immediately put idea number two into her head. Her
+imitation of her aunt's voice and manner this time was perfect. "Good
+morning, Mrs. Hardy, I just called you up to let you know that the
+little party we are giving this afternoon is to be a gingham apron
+party."
+
+"A w-what?" Mrs. Hardy questioned.
+
+"Miss Kirby" gave herself vigorous mental treatment for a moment or
+so--one giggle and the game was up. As if Aunt Julia ever giggled!
+
+"A gingham apron party," she repeated; "it is Patricia's suggestion, so
+that the children may have a nice jolly time."
+
+"That sounds exactly like Patricia," Mrs. Hardy commented, laughing.
+"I'll tell Nell; I'm sure she will approve."
+
+"Miss Kirby" said thank you, then she hung up the receiver; after which,
+seizing Custard, she hugged him ecstatically. "I really am 'Miss Kirby,'
+you know," she explained. "Daddy's only got me--and I didn't say a word
+that wasn't perfectly true. And Mr. Baker, out at Long Farm, always
+calls me that. Now, I'll have to finish 'phoning."
+
+Mrs. Lane and Mrs. Blake were next informed as to the kind of party
+under way for that afternoon; then came Mrs. Vail, with her Patricia
+made a break. "And if Susy hasn't any gingham--" she began.
+
+"If Susy hasn't what?" Mrs. Vail interrupted. "Why, of course--"
+
+"I only thought--I mean," Patricia felt herself floundering--and Aunt
+Julia never floundered. "Then we may look for Susy," she said hastily.
+
+"Why, certainly," Mrs. Vail answered.
+
+"That is well. Good-by."
+
+"Miss Kirby" hung up the receiver hastily.
+
+"I think she almost suspected--something, Custard; I reckon she's the
+suspiciony kind--Susy Vail looks the kind of girl to have a suspiciony
+mother. But the rest didn't." Patricia danced the interested Custard
+down the hall.
+
+As she reappeared on the back piazza, Sarah asked sternly: "What you
+been up to now, Miss P'tricia? You've been doing a heap of talking at
+dat ere 'phone."
+
+"I had some very important business to transact," Patricia answered
+loftily, the mantle of her aunt's manner still enveloping her. "I guess
+I'll go put my apron on now."
+
+Sarah sniffed indignantly, "You needn't tell me dere ain't some
+foolishness afoot," she declared.
+
+"What time was you-un 'spectin' the comin' cer'mony to commence?" she
+asked, when Patricia came in to her solitary dinner. Neither Miss Kirby
+nor the doctor would be back before late afternoon.
+
+"Aunt Julia said half-past three to seven; I suppose they'll begin
+coming 'long about three."
+
+That note of hidden jubilation in her voice worried Sarah. She had not
+known Patricia for all of her eleven years for nothing. "Honey, what you
+cog'tating?" she coaxed; as she brought Patricia a generous slice of
+fresh cherry pie.
+
+"I'm thinking about--my party. It's going to be a--a--corker, Sarah!
+You'll see!"
+
+Sarah groaned, both in spirit and outwardly. "Honey," she pleaded,
+leaning on the back of a chair and studying her charge anxiously;
+"Honey, dat Miss Susy's a stranger in dis yere part--why, she's come
+clare from Phil'delphy. I'm told the chillerns down in Phil'delphy has
+beau-ti-ful manners."
+
+"I dare say," Patricia did not appear greatly interested.
+
+"And Miss Julia, she done plan dis yere party jest for her."
+
+"I know--I didn't ask her to--I--"
+
+"Honey, you wouldn't--you shore wouldn't do anything to--to disbobulate
+your aunt's plans?"
+
+"May I have another piece of pie, Sarah, please?"
+
+Sarah cast a pair of imploring eyes ceilingwards. "Of all the
+ignoringest young uns! I isn't discoursing 'bout pie, Miss P'tricia."
+
+"But it's mighty good pie, Sarah! Will there be cherry pie among the
+refreshments this afternoon?"
+
+"Miss P'tricia! And the cherry juice all a dripping down, like's not,
+on you-uns clean white dresses," Sarah protested. However, she brought
+Patricia a second piece, which was the important thing at the moment;
+the future might very well be allowed to take care of itself.
+
+Later, as she did up her dinner work, Sarah cast more than one anxious
+glance out of the window to where Patricia lay on the back lawn, under
+the shade of the big cherry tree. Patricia's very quietness was
+alarming.
+
+Was it too much cherry pie? Or was she plotting something.
+
+"Honey," Sarah came out on the piazza, "it's getting time for you to get
+dressed for the festiv'ties."
+
+Patricia, tickling one of Custard's long ears with a blade of grass,
+smiled serenely. "But I am dressed, Sarah."
+
+Sarah sat down heavily on the piazza bench; "I knowed it! I jest
+'spicioned you-un was shore up to something!"
+
+Patricia rolled over on her back, stretching her wiry little frame out
+lazily.
+
+"You come right 'long into dis yere house, Miss P'tricia!" Sarah rose
+commandingly.
+
+"But what for?" Patricia questioned.
+
+"What for? If you wasn't a white child, Miss P'tricia, I'd shore say you
+was onery. I's going be 'bliged to disport you to your pa, if you
+continues such disbehavior."
+
+Patricia scrambled to her feet, and came slowly over to the edge of the
+lawn. Then, lifting her apron, she asked quietly: "Is my frock torn,
+Sarah, or isn't it?"
+
+"You knows it is, Miss P'tricia!"
+
+Patricia stretched out one slender leg. "Is my stocking torn, or isn't
+it?"
+
+Sarah groaned.
+
+Wheeling suddenly round, and still holding up her apron, Patricia
+demanded: "Is my frock dirty, or isn't it?"
+
+"Miss P'tricia, you's shore possessed to-day!"
+
+"Aunt Julia said yesterday morning, that the very next time I got myself
+torn or dirty, needlessly, I must put a clean gingham apron on and go
+that way for the rest of the day."
+
+"But, honey--you know Miss Julia never 'tended you to come to your own
+party in any such fixings! A gingham apron at a party! You come 'long
+upstairs with me, Miss P'tricia; I'll resume all the 'sponsibility."
+
+"Aunt Julia said 'the very next time'; this is the very next time."
+
+"She done lay out your dress 'fore she went, honey--so crisp and nice
+and all the pretty pink ribbons," Sarah spoke coaxingly.
+
+"Aunt Julia didn't know--I hadn't tumbled out of the apple tree then."
+
+"I'se going phonegraph your aunt right off!" Sarah declared.
+
+Patricia caught her breath. Then she remembered. "But they haven't any
+'phone at Gar's Hollow!"
+
+Sarah wrung her hands. "And all them little ladies in white dresses, and
+the hostess o' the 'casion looking like 'straction!"
+
+"I always _feel_ like distraction when I'm all stiff and starchy
+and uncomfortable," Patricia said; "I'd rather look it than feel it."
+
+"Oh, I ain't overlooking that you're powerful reconciled to going to
+your own party dressed like you is now, Miss P'tricia! Anyhow, you're
+going to have a good wash-up and your hair combed; Miss Julia ain't laid
+down no commands against that."
+
+"W-well," Patricia slowly conceded, "only I'll see to it myself, Sarah."
+
+Patricia's thick mop of brown curls was of the tangly order; and when
+things had gone wrong, Sarah's touch was not always of the gentlest.
+
+An hour later, Sarah, from her post of vantage on the side porch, saw
+six little girls coming up the path. There were no boys invited. Miss
+Kirby thought it so much nicer for little girls to play quietly by
+themselves.
+
+A moment, Sarah stared at them in amazement; then her fat sides shook
+with laughter. "I shore might've knowed it! So that's what she was so
+busy phonegraphing 'bout! That chile shore weren't born yesterday.
+Gingham aprons, every last one o' them!"
+
+Some of the six wore sunbonnets, the rest plain garden hats; and all
+wore stout serviceable shoes and stockings. Never had those six little
+girls gone to a party before in such unparty-like costumes.
+
+Patricia came dancing to meet them, bareheaded as usual. "Let's go down
+to the barn right off," she proposed. "Goodness, how funny you do look!"
+she giggled.
+
+"So do you," Nell Hardy retorted; then the seven stood still a moment to
+survey one another.
+
+"Oh!" Mable Lane cried, "whatever put such an idea into your head, Pat?"
+
+"I--I happened to think of it, that was all," Patricia answered vaguely.
+"Come on--we'll play hide and seek, and no going out of the barn."
+
+"Are--are there any horses there?" Susy asked.
+
+Patricia shook her head. "Not today; Daddy's got Sam and Dick's gone to
+pasture."
+
+They played hide and seek all over the delightful big dusty old barn;
+until Patricia, trying to reach goal by a short cut down from the loft,
+came to an abrupt halt in her descent, caught on a projecting beam.
+
+"Go back!" Ruth Martin advised; but Patricia, wriggling herself free,
+dropped in a laughing heap on the barn floor.
+
+"But you've torn your apron, Pat!" Nell exclaimed.
+
+Patricia glanced up at the bit of blue gingham hanging from a nail in
+the beam.
+
+"Look's like this was my busy day," she observed; "I'll go put another
+on."
+
+"I put it on over the first," she explained, on her return. "You see,
+Aunt Julia said--I mean, I thought it would be--fun; and, anyhow, it
+saved time, it takes a lot of time to unbutton these aprons. Let's go
+down to the brook and wade." She glanced at Susy, who was looking rather
+doubtful. "Aren't you allowed to wade in brooks?"
+
+"I--don't know," Susy began, then her mild little face took on a look of
+sudden resolution, "but I'm going to."
+
+Patricia smiled in prompt friendliness. "Mostly, when I'm not sure
+I just take the chance," she encouraged.
+
+Sitting on the edge of the brook, the seven took off shoes and
+stockings. "It's the queerest, nicest party," Bessy Martin declared.
+
+It was a gay little brook, running between a broad, sunny meadow and the
+old Kirby apple orchard, broad enough in places to make the crossing of
+it on stepping stones delightfully uncertain, and again narrowing to a
+mere thread. To Patricia, it was like some live thing, one of the
+dearest and most intimate of playmates.
+
+"Let's play Follow my Leader," Nell suggested, and they drew lots to see
+who should be first leader.
+
+It fell to Kitty Hall, next to Susy the quietest of the seven; the lead
+she set them was a very mild affair, limited to the shallowest and
+narrowest parts of the brook.
+
+But with Patricia's turn, matters took a change for the better, or
+worse, according to the point of view. Patricia hopped and skipped, and
+did everything except walk demurely on two feet, out of the safe,
+pleasant shallows straight for the "pool," which was quite knee deep at
+this time of year.
+
+Once there, she turned to view her followers, and it wouldn't have been
+Patricia, if she hadn't slipped and, with a little shriek of surprise,
+sat right down in the pool.
+
+There was a moment's hesitation, then Nell boldly followed suit; one by
+one, ending with Susy, the other five dropped down in the cool rippling
+water, which seemed to laugh, as if it saw the joke.
+
+"Oh!" Patricia cried, "I never meant--" She was on her feet as quickly
+as possible. Susy was just the kind to go and catch cold, why she had
+begun to shiver and shake already.
+
+The next few moments were strenuous ones for Patricia's followers. Never
+had she led them such a chase, through all the hottest, sunniest parts
+of the big meadow.
+
+"We've got to run, so as not to catch cold," she panted; and run
+they did, their wet skirts flapping against their bare legs, hats and
+sunbonnets sent scattering in every direction. While Custard, regarding
+it as a game gotten up for his especial benefit, urged them on, barking
+and leaping about them, taking little pretend nips at the seven sets of
+bare toes, choosing Susy's the oftenest, because she always squealed
+the loudest.
+
+At last the seven dropped down breathless in the middle of the meadow.
+Patricia felt of Susy's skirts anxiously. "They're 'most dry; let's--"
+She turned over on her face, and the six followed suit once more.
+
+"The sun feels good, doesn't it," Susy said, she was on one side of
+Patricia. "I'm having a be-au-ti-ful time!"
+
+Patricia raised herself on her elbows, and, chin in hand, surveyed Susy
+closely. "Truly true?"
+
+"Truly true," Susy insisted.
+
+Patricia smiled approvingly; and, when she liked, Patricia's smile could
+be very approving indeed. "I guess maybe I'm going to like knowing you,"
+she said.
+
+Susy's little pink and white face had lost its look of peaceful
+placidity, her yellow curls their smoothness. Wet, bedraggled, but
+happier than ever before in her life, and joyfully conscious that she
+had for once boldly strayed from the narrow path of harmless routine,
+she smiled back at Patricia.
+
+"I guess we're all dry now," Patricia said presently. "It seems to me as
+if it must be pretty near supper time."
+
+Nell spread out her limp skirts. "Pretty looking set, we are, to go to
+supper!"
+
+But Patricia was thinking. "A gingham apron party supper ought to be
+different," she said slowly; "Nell, let's you and me go get the
+refreshments and bring them out here."
+
+It was a glorious suggestion. Six pairs of eyes opened wide with
+delight.
+
+"B-but Sarah--" Mabel asked. Mabel had a knack of asking such questions.
+
+"Oh, I reckon Sarah'll ask a heap of questions--Sarah's mighty
+inquisitive at times," Patricia answered. "I rather think the best way
+will be just to go ahead and not bother her about it."
+
+"But how?" Mabel insisted.
+
+"You leave that to Nell and me--we'll manage. The rest of you must wait
+here; keep Custard with you. Oh, dear! I thought you were beautifully
+dry, Susy Vail; what did you go sneeze for? Well, you'll just have to
+keep moving, that's all. You see that she does, Mabel."
+
+Patricia's commands seldom fell on deaf ears and Mabel promptly insisted
+on a game of tag; while Patricia herself, accompanied by Nell Hardy,
+started on a brisk run across the meadow.
+
+At the garden gate, Patricia called a halt. "Duck," she ordered,
+dropping on the grass. From half-way up the path, came Sarah's voice:
+"Oh, Miss P'tricia! Miss P'tricia!"
+
+"She'll go back presently, if she doesn't hear us," Patricia whispered
+with elaborate caution; "then we must get to the house as quickly and as
+quietly as possible and secure the re--the booty. Oh, go away!" she
+added sternly, as Custard came sniffing about them.
+
+But Custard only wriggled and danced about and over them, urging them as
+eloquently as he could to get up and continue their way indoors. Wasn't
+the pantry indoors? Custard could have told his mistress long ago that
+it was quite supper time.
+
+At half-past six, the doctor and Miss Kirby drove into the yard.
+As the gig drew up before the side door, Sarah, voluble and indignant,
+appeared. From the mass of information she hurled upon them, one fact
+only was quite clear--Patricia was missing.
+
+She was so often missing, that the announcement failed to excite any
+great apprehension in the mind of either her father or her aunt.
+
+"But the party--" Miss Kirby began.
+
+"She done take the party with her!" Sarah wailed.
+
+Miss Kirby looked more indignant than surprised; to have come home and
+found that nothing untowards had happened would have been the surprising
+thing.
+
+"I ain't laid my eyes on her since them six gingham aprons came
+gavorting up the walk!" Sarah proclaimed dramatically. "That young-un's
+a limb, for shore!"
+
+Miss Kirby sat down on the piazza bench. "Gingham aprons, Sarah," she
+repeated. "Patrick, what can she mean?"
+
+The doctor shook his head, smiling, "That remains to be discovered."
+
+"For the love o' goodness, Miss Julia!" Sarah implored; "the nexest time
+you sets out to give a party for that there young-un, I hopes and prays
+you stays home to sup'intend the obsequies youself!"
+
+The doctor turned to send Sam on to the barn.
+
+"Gingham aprons," Miss Kirby murmured.
+
+"Ain't Miss P'tricia done 'tire herself in one for the 'casion!" Sarah
+exclaimed; "and ain't she done tell all the others over that 'phone
+to do the very same--I ain't never held with thet there 'phone,
+nohow--'tain't nothin' better'n devilment, anyhow. My sakes, such
+doings, Marse Doctor! You and Miss Julia just come cast your glance
+over this supper table!"
+
+They followed her into the dining-room.
+
+"It certainly looks very pretty," the doctor said, glancing at the
+table.
+
+Sarah groaned. "Where's them plates o' sandwiches gone? I ask you that!
+Where's them plates o' biscuits gone? I ask you that! Where's the little
+cakes, what I iced so pretty, gone? I ask you that! Ain't I done fix
+them all in place and then I goes out to call them--ginham aprons--to
+come in,--and I done galivant all over the place and all up and down the
+street and I ain't seen the least speck o' one o' them--but when I comes
+indoors--the party done vanish! And that ain't all--the cherry pie I
+done make for you's and Miss Julia's supper done vanish too. But they
+ain't got the ice cream--I reckon the freezer was too heavy."
+
+"That at least is something to be thankful for," the doctor said, "there
+would probably have been--consequences--had they secured both the cherry
+pie and the ice cream."
+
+"And the table looking so stylish," Sarah mourned, "with the flowers and
+all the fixings. Where's that plate o' chicken gone? I ask you that!"
+
+"Patrick," Miss Kirby said, "you really must go look that child up! such
+behavior is--"
+
+"I'm going," the doctor assured her, and as he went Miss Kirby saw him
+put his handkerchief to his eyes more than once.
+
+Through the garden he went, through the orchard. Half-way across the
+meadow beyond the orchard he came upon Custard dining at second table,
+and too busy to do more than wag a welcome.
+
+A few yards further on stood an old apple tree, and from the top-most
+branch came, in Patricia's clear notes:
+
+  "'If I could find a higher tree
+  Farther and farther I should see,
+  To where the grown-up river slips
+  Into the sea among the ships.'"
+
+
+The doctor stood still, making a trumpet of his hands. "Ship ahoy!" he
+called.
+
+The next instant seven girls came wriggling and scrambling down from the
+various branches. "Oh! Daddy," Patricia cried joyously, "we're having
+the jolliest time--we're pirates! I'm captain--
+
+  "'My name is Captain Kidd,
+  And most wickedly I did,
+  As I sailed, as I sailed!'"
+
+
+"And, according to report, before you sailed, young lady. Suppose you
+make explanation regarding certain late extremely piratical
+proceedings."
+
+"You mean about the supper, Daddy? You see, we didn't feel very
+partified--at least, we thought we didn't look exactly--"
+
+As she hesitated, the doctor, glancing from one to another of the seven,
+nodded comprehendingly. "I quite agree with you, Pat; you do not look
+very--partified."
+
+They were so dusty, so disheveled; all but Patricia had shoes
+on--Custard had made off with both of Susy's, and Patricia had most
+willingly offered hers--the opportunity to go barefoot was too good to
+be lost; Nell had only one stocking, Kitty none at all, Ruth was wearing
+Patricia's, Custard had certainly made the most of his chance to carry
+off things that afternoon.
+
+"But we've had a be-au-ti-ful time," Susy said, slipping a hand into
+the doctor's. She quite forgot that he was a comparative stranger,
+remembering only that he was Patricia's father--Patricia, who had
+invited her to this most wonderful of parties, where one had been so
+busy having fun that there had been no time for feeling shy and strange.
+
+Dr. Kirby smiled down at the little guest of honor. "Upon my word, I
+believe you have," he said.
+
+"Aunt Julia says," Patricia possessed herself of his other hand, "that
+to feel sure that one's guests have honestly enjoyed themselves is to
+know that one's party has been a success. So I reckon mine's been a
+perfectly tremendous success."
+
+"Suppose you come up to the house--all of you--and see if you can
+reassure Aunt Julia and--Sarah," the doctor suggested.
+
+Patricia sighed. "I--I sort of wish Aunt Julia--looked at things the way
+we do, Daddy."
+
+They went on up to the house. On the back steps, Miss Kirby was waiting;
+in the kitchen doorway stood Sarah.
+
+"Patricia Kirby!" Aunt Julia exclaimed. "Well of all the--"
+
+"Miss P'tricia," Sarah broke in wrathfully, "where's that cherry pie I
+done made for Marse Doctor's supper?"
+
+Patricia slowly drew up her uppermost apron. "It's here--most of it;
+Custard got the rest. I--I stumbled and fell--into it. You see, we were
+playing pirate--and we were smuggling."
+
+The doctor, much to his sister's indignation, sat down suddenly on one
+of the garden benches. "Oh, Pat, Pat!" he gasped.
+
+"Patricia Kirby, how many gingham aprons have you on?" Miss Kirby
+demanded.
+
+"Three, Aunt Julia; you said I must wear the first one all the
+afternoon--and I tore it--and then the pie sort of stained the second;
+I got kind of interested to see how many it would take to get me through
+the afternoon. I had to make it a gingham apron party, Aunt Julia, on
+account of what you said yesterday. You see, I got pretty well torn and
+dirty this morning--and, of course, I needn't have climbed that tree."
+
+"Casabianca," the doctor murmured; Miss Kirby was past murmuring
+anything; all her efforts were directed towards at least a semblance
+of self-control.
+
+"I shore told you, that young-un was a limb," Sarah muttered.
+
+"Sarah was very anxious to fix me all up properly, Aunt Julia," Patricia
+went on, "but of course, after you had said--and I thought you'd feel
+better if the rest wore gingham aprons too. Sarah was very kind about it
+though," with a smile in her direction.
+
+"You go 'long, Miss P'tricia," Sarah protested.
+
+Miss Kirby bit her lip. "That is all very well, Patricia, but--"
+
+"We've had such fun, haven't we, girls?" Captain Kidd appealed to her
+fellow pirates.
+
+"Oh, we have," they chorused back.
+
+"And having supper out in the meadow when we hadn't expected it was the
+best part," Nell added.
+
+"What would you suggest?" Miss Kirby turned to her brother.
+
+His smile told her that he knew quite well that she was shifting upon
+him the responsibility of deciding. As a strict disciplinarian--in
+theory--it would never do for her to countenance such unlawful
+proceedings. He rose to the occasion promptly. "Soap and water for these
+highly reprehensible young folks, after that--the ice cream--seeing that
+the cherry pie came to a timely end. And for us--supper."
+
+"Isn't Daddy the dearest?" Patricia demanded, as she led her guests
+upstairs. "Daddy's always so understandified."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE WAY OF A GRANDMOTHER
+
+
+Patricia sat on the back steps carefully arranging purple and white
+asters in an old blue and white punchbowl, the pride of her Aunt Julia's
+heart.
+
+"It's the 'Washington bowl,' Custard," she explained to the small curly
+black dog, watching her intently. "Daddy says it's called that because
+it is just as easy to prove that Washington never did have punch from it
+as that he did." Patricia paused to rearrange one particularly wobbly
+aster, too short as to stem and too big as to head. "Anyhow, it's one
+of the very nicest things we've got."
+
+Custard sighed restlessly; to spend this breezy October afternoon in
+fussing over flowers, when just beyond the gate a whole world waited to
+be explored, seemed to him a most un-Patricia-like wasting of time.
+
+Then as Patricia rose slowly to her feet, the bowl of flowers in her
+hands, he sprang up at her with a sharp little bark of delight.
+
+"Down!" she warned sharply. "Custard Kirby, if you make me drop this
+punchbowl I don't know what Aunt Julia _will_ say!"
+
+It seemed to Patricia as if that journey upstairs to the spare bedroom
+never would be made in safety; but it was accomplished at last, and her
+burden placed right in the center of the low reading-table, standing at
+one side of the south window.
+
+With a long breath of relief, Patricia sat down on the edge of the bed,
+looking about the big pleasant room with approving eyes. It was exactly
+the sort of room she should like to have when she got be a grandmother.
+There were fresh muslin curtains at the windows, the fine old-fashioned
+mahogany furniture shone from its recent polishing; on the broad hearth
+a light fire was laid ready for the lighting, and at one corner of the
+fireplace stood a big chintz-covered armchair. Of course there was a
+footstool beside it. Patricia had seen to the footstool herself, hunting
+it out up garret that morning. She had wondered why Daddy's eyes
+twinkled at sight of it--Daddy would tell her nothing about grandmother,
+she must wait and see. And Patricia so hated waiting for anything, from
+surprises to scoldings.
+
+"Yes, it certainly does look grandmothery, Custard," she said; "and
+the flowers help a lot. I know she'll love asters; they're such an
+old-ladyish flower. Mind, sir, you're not to go rushing at her! And the
+very first time you run off with any of her things you're going to get
+your ears boxed."
+
+Custard wagged tentatively; boxing his ears appeared to him to belong to
+Miss Kirby's special department.
+
+"Miss P'tricia!" Sarah stood in the doorway, indignation in the very
+points of her knotted turban--"Miss P'tricia, ain't yo' never be'n tole
+not to sit on beds? 'Tic'larly beds all ready fo' comp'ny!"
+
+Patricia slipped hurriedly to her feet; but by this time Sarah had
+caught sight of something else. "Land sakes, Miss P'tricia! Ef yo' isn't
+gone an' tuk Miss Julia's punchbowl--what she don't 'low no one but
+herse'f to tech!"
+
+Patricia put an arm around Sarah's waist, or rather, around as much of
+it as she could encompass. "Aunt Julia wasn't in--and I wanted the very
+nicest bowl I could think of. It is so perfectly lovely to have a
+grandmother coming!"
+
+There was a world of unconscious longing in Patricia's voice; no one,
+not even Daddy, knew quite what the coming of her grandmother meant to
+the little motherless girl. And a grandmother she had not seen since
+babyhood. The coming weeks seemed to Patricia full of untold
+possibilities.
+
+"It do look pretty," Sarah admitted, as she went to smooth out the bed
+covers. "'Pears like it was time yo' was gettin' your dress changed,
+honey. Yo' best let me giv yo' hair a brush; seems like yo' never did
+get the kinks out."
+
+Patricia submitted with most unaccustomed patience to the finishing
+touches Sarah insisted on giving her toilet. "I reckon yo'll do now,
+honey," Sarah said at last.
+
+"Only half an hour more and she'll be here, Custard," Patricia said to
+the dog, sniffing inquiringly at the tips of her best shoes; "Daddy's
+to meet the five-thirty train."
+
+Patricia settled herself circumspectly in the hammock, smoothing out
+her crisp white skirts. "Oh, I do wonder what she'll be like, really
+I haven't even a photograph--grandmother doesn't like being
+photographed--and I haven't seen her since I was three years old.
+Custard, do you suppose she'll have an ear trumpet, like the Barkers'
+grandmother? It's very embarrassing talking into an ear trumpet.
+I rather hope she's short and--stoutish. I've been thinking over all
+the people I know, and it seems to me that the short, stout ones are
+mostly more good-natured than the other kinds."
+
+Custard wagged agreeingly; he was short, and not his worst enemy could
+accuse him of being thin. So far this coming of a grandmother did not
+appeal to Custard; never before had he been refused a share of the
+hammock; and those one or two preliminary nips he had taken at the toes
+of Patricia's shiny shoes had been promptly squelched. To be talked to
+and confided in was all very well, but a game of tag in the meadow
+behind the house would have been a great deal more fun. Nor was Custard
+quite sure what a grandmother was; he hoped it was something good to
+eat.
+
+Patricia had never known such a long half hour; she made one or two
+trips down to the gate, walking carefully on the edge of the grass, so
+as not to get her shoes dusty. It was very odd that Aunt Julia didn't
+come home--Good, she was coming now.
+
+"Isn't the train late?" Patricia demanded, the moment her aunt was
+within earshot.
+
+Miss Kirby smiled. "It isn't due yet, Patricia, for five minutes." She
+didn't look in the least excited, going calmly up the garden path to the
+house.
+
+But then it wasn't _her_ grandmother who was coming; besides,
+Patricia's gray eyes danced mischievously, she didn't know about the
+punchbowl.
+
+Patricia decided to wait down by the gate--explanations were such
+tiresome things.
+
+Then, in a few moments, far down the quiet village street she caught
+sight of a familiar gig, duly attended by old Caesar, the pointer.
+
+The gig was quite close now. Patricia's heart gave a great jump, then
+seemed to stand quite still.
+
+She hadn't come!
+
+There was a lady in the gig with Daddy; but--
+
+Patricia turned sharply, and regardless of her shoes ran swiftly back up
+the driveway and through the garden to the meadow beyond; never stopping
+until she dropped, a little breathless heap, beside the brook.
+
+Custard barked excitedly, thinking it some new move in this grandmother
+game; then suddenly he poked his cold black nose in under the tossed
+thatch of Patricia's brown curls. For Patricia was crying--and doing it
+quite as earnestly and as thoroughly as she did most things.
+
+At last she sat up, dabbing her eyes.
+
+"She didn't come! And we were all ready--and now it can't be just the
+same--when she does come. Custard, do you suppose it's a--a judgment
+on me, for taking the punchbowl?"
+
+Custard looked sober.
+
+"I'll go put it right back. Oh, dear, I do hope that other person hasn't
+stayed to supper!"
+
+Patricia went back to the house, forlorn, bedraggled; very different
+from the Patricia whom Sarah had sent downstairs not an hour before,
+imploring her to "try and keep smarted up for once."
+
+On the back porch she met her father.
+
+"Patricia," he asked, "what does this mean? Why did you run away when
+you saw your grandmother coming?"
+
+Patricia gasped. "But, Daddy, she didn't come! I didn't see her! Oh, do
+you mean, was that--I expected she'd have on a bonnet tied under her
+chin--and a shawl--and glasses." Patricia was half crying again, her
+head on her father's shoulder.
+
+It was hard to relinquish the picture of the grandmother she had been
+carrying in her mind for the past fortnight; a sort of composite picture
+of all the grandmothers she knew in Belham.
+
+And the doctor, understanding, comforted her, sending her to freshen
+herself up again for supper, with the promise that it would all come
+right--she would see.
+
+On the upper landing Patricia came face to face with grandmother; a
+grandmother who was tall and slender and dressed in some delicate gray
+material that rustled softly when she walked, and gave forth a faint
+scent of violets. There was very little gray in the dark wavy hair,
+that framed a face altogether different from the placid wrinkled one
+of Patricia's imaginings; but when Mrs. Cory said, "O Patricia!" and
+held out her arms, Patricia went to her at once.
+
+They sat down on the broad window seat to get acquainted; Patricia hoped
+grandmother would not see she had been crying and how tumbled her clean
+dress was. Though Mrs. Cory saw, she said nothing, she had the gift of
+knowing what questions not to ask; only asking instead, "Patricia dear,
+who put that delightful bowl of flowers in my room?"
+
+Patricia's color deepened. "I did--grandmother; I thought you would
+like them--they were," Patricia caught herself up, doubting now the
+appropriateness of those "old-ladyish" flowers.
+
+Fortunately Custard appeared at that moment, wagging ingratiatingly; and
+grandmother at once responded to his overtures with a friendliness that
+warmed not only the heart of Custard but of Custard's small mistress.
+
+Patricia went to bed that night with her thoughts rather in a whirl.
+"I suppose," she decided finally, "that she is one of those 'up-to-date
+grandmothers' one reads about; anyhow, she's a dear and I love her, and
+oh, Aunt Julia did behave beautifully about the punchbowl--she seemed to
+appreciate what a delicate situation it was--and I'll never, never take
+it again without asking."
+
+On the whole, this "up-to-date grandmother" proved a most charming
+possession; a grandmother who took long walks with one, who played
+croquet with one, who planned delightful trips in town to shops and even
+to matinees. And how delightful to know that one was the object of both
+envy and interest to the other girls; to be able to show the tiniest of
+enameled watches, straight from Paris; to have a grandmother who had
+actually been in Egypt, and had seen the king and queen of England.
+Patricia held her head very high in these days.
+
+Yet at times there was an odd, barely defined feeling of something like
+regret at the bottom of Patricia's heart.
+
+This new grandmother was the best of chums and companions, but somehow
+it was hard to realize that she was really a _grandmother_. And
+before Patricia's inward gaze would pass the picture of a little
+white-capped old lady, quietly knitting at one corner of the fireplace;
+an old lady whose big Dutch pocket held an unfailing supply of ginger
+nuts and peppermint drops, whose stories were all of those far-off days
+when "I was a little girl."
+
+But only at times; as a rule these days were too full for Patricia to
+find time for inner visions.
+
+"You're the luckiest girl, Patricia Kirby," Patricia's particular chum,
+Nell Hardy, declared one morning on the way to school. "I think Mrs.
+Cory's perfectly lovely; she always acts as if she was ever so glad to
+see you."
+
+Patricia swung her strap of books thoughtfully. "Daddy says she has a
+beautiful manner. I'm going to be just like her."
+
+Nell's quick glance was hardly flattering. "When?"
+
+"Anyhow, she's _my_ grandmother!" Patricia retorted; she shook out
+her short skirts, if only she could have silk linings. Clothes were
+beginning to take on new meanings for Patricia.
+
+"We'd better hurry," Nell said, "or we'll be late."
+
+"Grandmother never really hurries."
+
+"Maybe she did when she was going to school; there's the bell now!"
+
+"Bet I'll be there first," Patricia said, darting ahead.
+
+But she wasn't; it seemed as if all the babies and dogs in town chose
+that particular moment to get right in her path, avoiding with equal
+skill Nell's eager rush. What with picking up a baby here and stopping
+to speak to one there--Patricia never could get by babies--Patricia
+reached the schoolhouse just too late to join her line and had to wait
+outside until the opening exercises were over.
+
+It was by no means the first time; and Miss Carrol looked very grave as
+Patricia slipped into her place a little later, trying to ignore Nell's
+bob of triumph.
+
+It was after supper that evening that the doctor called Patricia into
+the office. "Patricia," he said, as she came to stand before him, "I met
+Miss Carrol this afternoon."
+
+"Yes, Daddy." Patricia's thoughts flew rapidly backward; had she been
+doing anything very dreadful?
+
+"She tells me that you have been tardy very frequently of late,
+Patricia."
+
+"Y-yes, Daddy."
+
+"And yet you usually appear to start in good season?"
+
+"Yes, Daddy; it--it doesn't seem to be the _starting_ early.
+It's--such a lot of things always do seem to happen on the way."
+
+"What kind of things, Patricia?"
+
+"Well, you see, Daddy, there are such a lot of babies all along, they
+just expect to be noticed; and sometimes I go for some of the girls and
+they've something to do and I wait to help; and sometimes I go an errand
+for old Mrs. Daly--you know she hasn't any one to go at home. If you
+were with me you'd understand, Daddy."
+
+The doctor smiled. "Oh, I understand all right, Patricia; still, this
+being late for school has got to stop. Suppose every one in the room
+came just a little late?"
+
+"They don't," Patricia said; "most of the girls hate it."
+
+"And you must learn to hate it too; as a means to that end, if it
+happens again this week it must be only the yard on Saturday, Patricia."
+
+"Daddy!" Patricia made swift calculation on the tips of her fingers; it
+was Monday night--twice four made eight--eight pitfalls to be avoided or
+else--Not once since her coming had grandmother failed to take Patricia
+somewhere on Saturday afternoon.
+
+All of this was in Patricia's gray eyes, as she lifted them appealingly
+to her father. "Daddy, if you _could_ make it something else?"
+
+"Are you going to give up the fight beforehand, Pat?"
+
+"But you see, Daddy," Patricia quoted gravely, "I 'know my limitations.'
+And besides, it isn't just me--grandmother'll be so disappointed; you
+know we always go somewhere together Saturday afternoon."
+
+"Which means a double reason for coming up to the mark, Patricia," the
+doctor answered; and Patricia, with a little sigh, turned away.
+
+She and Custard were alone in the sitting-room a little later, when Mrs.
+Cory came in. Grandmother glanced at the sober face. "Is anything wrong,
+dear?" she asked.
+
+"I'm positive I can't make it," Patricia said forlornly.
+
+"Make what?"
+
+And Patricia explained.
+
+"Of course you can, dear," grandmother said cheerily; "and indeed you
+must; I've got a very special reason for wanting you to--I'm not going
+to tell you what it is, however, until Saturday morning at breakfast."
+
+"Over four days to wait! Grandmother, mayn't I have just the first
+letter?"
+
+Grandmother shook her head.
+
+The next morning at breakfast she announced that she felt the need of
+more regular exercise, and she thought she should take a short walk
+every morning.
+
+"Ah!" Dr. Kirby said, "about what time?"
+
+"I should think--about half past eight," Mrs. Cory answered.
+
+"A short walk _before_ breakfast is considered more beneficial by some."
+
+Miss Kirby looked interested. "There are a good many pretty walks about
+Belham," she said.
+
+When Patricia came down the path, her strap of books over her shoulder,
+and a get-there-early-or-die expression on her face, Mrs. Cory was just
+turning out of the gate.
+
+"Are you going in my direction, grandmother?" Patricia asked; and
+grandmother replied that she was.
+
+Later, sauntering slowly homewards, Mrs. Cory met the doctor. He drew
+rein. "Well?" he asked.
+
+She laughed softly. "Patrick, if you'd been with us! It was like making
+a royal progress. There were exactly six babies, and I quite lost count
+of the dogs, not to mention several old ladies, all waiting to pass the
+time of day with Patricia. My only wonder is that she ever gets to
+school at all. Patrick, I don't believe you realize what a dear child
+she is."
+
+"Don't I!"
+
+Mrs. Cory stood a moment looking down the pleasant tree-bordered street.
+She had not been in Belham before since the death of Patricia's mother,
+more than eight years ago, having been abroad most of the time. Now she
+found herself regretting this long absence. She had been missing a good
+deal--she would like to have had some share in Patricia's life all these
+years.
+
+"I was beautifully early this morning," Patricia announced proudly at
+the table that noon.
+
+"And you will be this afternoon?" grandmother asked.
+
+"I'm not so apt to be late afternoons," Patricia answered; "I suppose
+it's just happened that way."
+
+The next morning after breakfast, Patricia lingered. "Are you going my
+way _this_ morning, grandmother?"
+
+"Yes, dear," Mrs. Cory answered.
+
+Patricia caught the smile in her father's eyes and wondered.
+
+Half-way to school she suddenly stopped. "Grandmother, you're doing it
+on purpose--to _make_ me get there early!"
+
+Mrs. Cory smiled. "You see I didn't want to lose my treat, Patricia."
+
+When Friday noon came Patricia had not one tardy mark for those four
+days; and on that same Friday noon she met her Waterloo.
+
+It was the Dixon baby who caused her downfall.
+
+He was one of Patricia's most ardent admirers; and when he saw
+her coming that noon he made as straight for her as his very shaky
+two-year-old legs would allow. Of course he tumbled down and scratched
+his snubby little nose; and of course Patricia stopped to pet and
+comfort him, carrying him back to the house. "Mrs. Dixon," she called
+from the gate, "oh, Mrs. Dixon!"
+
+But Mrs. Dixon had just stepped over to a neighbor's. Patricia tried to
+put her charge down, but he stoutly refused to be put.
+
+"You'll be late, Patricia," Nell warned, coming up.
+
+"Danny won't let me leave him; and I don't know where his mother is,"
+Patricia almost wailed.
+
+"Mercy, put him down and come on!" Nell advised. "He's a little
+nuisance."
+
+"You don't know Danny's powers for hanging on," Patricia said; "besides,
+he did hurt himself."
+
+Five minutes after school had opened Patricia made her appearance.
+
+"Patricia," Miss Carrol said, "I had begun to hope that you were not
+going to end the week as you began it."
+
+Patricia took her place without answering.
+
+Miss Kirby and Mrs. Cory had gone in town that afternoon, not to return
+until the late train, and it so happened that the doctor did not come
+home to supper; so there was no one but Sarah to notice the depths into
+which Patricia was plunged. For Patricia never did anything by halves.
+
+"Is yo' sick, honey?" Sarah asked anxiously, when Patricia refused a
+second piece of chocolate cake.
+
+Patricia shook her head. "I'm just disgusted with life."
+
+"Land sakes!" Sarah exclaimed; "and only this noon looked like yo' was
+walkin' on air!"
+
+Patricia went to bed early that night; even Custard's powers to comfort
+had proved inadequate. To-morrow stretched ahead a long, blank, dreary
+waste.
+
+She was a little late to breakfast the next morning; as she slipped into
+place, after kissing him good-morning, the doctor glanced at her rather
+closely. She was a most subdued Patricia.
+
+And then grandmother came in, also a little late. "Patricia," she said,
+almost at once, "after breakfast I want you to run over and ask Mrs.
+Hardy if Nell may go in town with you and me to-day--to the circus."
+
+Patricia caught her breath--so that was the "special reason!"
+
+Then she pushed her chair back. "I--can't go!" she cried; and was
+halfway upstairs before any of the others could speak.
+
+Mrs. Cory turned to Miss Kirby. "What can be the matter?"
+
+Miss Kirby shook her head. "Do you know what it means, Patrick?"
+
+The doctor looked guilty. "I am afraid it means--that Patricia has been
+late to school again."
+
+"But I thought," grandmother began, then stopped; as soon as she had
+finished her breakfast she went up to Patricia's room.
+
+Coming down a few moments after, she went straight to the office.
+
+"Patrick," she said, "I have been finding out how Patricia came to be
+late; and remember, please, that Patricia herself has given me only the
+barest facts, with no thought of making out a case for herself, but
+reading between the lines--" and then the doctor was given the
+opportunity to also read between the lines.
+
+He listened gravely. "I know," he said at last, "it was a very
+Patricia-like action; still I am afraid I must stand by my word."
+
+"Patrick, I think I shall claim my prerogative."
+
+"Your what?"
+
+"Prerogative--as a grandmother. From time immemorial it has been the
+right of the grandmother to come to the rescue of the grandchildren."
+
+"But Patricia knows--"
+
+"It is my chance, you see,"--Mrs. Cory had been told why Patricia had
+run away that first night,--"my chance to prove to Patricia that even
+if I don't wear a cap and spectacles and all the paraphernalia of the
+good old-fashioned grandmother, at heart I really am one--just as
+soft-hearted and unreasonable as any one of them."
+
+"But--"
+
+"Patrick, didn't _your_ grandmother ever get _you_ out of a
+tight place?"
+
+The doctor looked thoughtfully out at the leaf-covered lawn; it was
+going to be a perfect fall day. "Yes," he said, "she did, more than
+once--bless her--in the most reprehensible way."
+
+"The way of a grandmother the world over," Mrs. Cory commented softly.
+
+"And upon my word I don't believe it did me any harm!" the doctor went
+through to the foot of the stairs. "O Pat!" he called.
+
+Patricia came promptly, bravely blinking back the tears.
+
+"You mustn't lay it up against _me_, Pat," the doctor said; "it's
+all your grandmother's doing. She simply insists on taking you to that
+circus today."
+
+"Daddy!" Patricia's arms were about his neck instantly; "Daddy, I
+_will_ try--ever 'n' ever so hard! You'll see!"
+
+The doctor laughed. "Wish I were going too, Pat. In my young days it was
+_after_ the circus that one appreciated most the advantages of
+owning a grandmother."
+
+"Where is grandmother, Daddy?"
+
+"In the office."
+
+Patricia flew to the office. "Oh," she cried, her arms around her
+grandmother's neck this time, "you're the very grandmotheriest
+grandmother that ever could be!"
+
+And then and there vanished forever from Patricia's heart that picture
+of a placid, wrinkled little old lady, knitting quietly at one corner of
+the fireplace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PATRICIA'S CHRISTMAS FAMILY
+
+
+"There!" Patricia stepped back, with a sigh of satisfaction. "It's all
+ready for the presents. Custard Kirby," she bent to pat the small curly
+black dog, stretched lazily out on the hearth-rug, "on your honor, have
+you ever seen a prettier Christmas-tree? Good! There's Daddy!"
+
+Patricia ran to open the front door. "Come and admire, Daddy," she
+urged.
+
+Dr. Kirby went with her to the library; in the center of the broad
+square room stood the tree, its slender tip just escaping the ceiling.
+
+"And I trimmed it nearly all myself!" Patricia explained, proudly. "Aunt
+Julia had to go out. Maybe you don't think I've been busy to-day, Daddy!
+I don't know but what it is a good thing that Christmas doesn't come
+more than once a year."
+
+"I should be bankrupt if it did," the doctor said, pulling one of
+Custard's long ears. "An only daughter is rather an expensive luxury."
+
+"As if I were anything more than a plain every-day necessity! And not
+such an incapable after all, am I, Daddy?"
+
+"Not when it comes to Christmas-trees."
+
+"Daddy, see, it's beginning to snow!"
+
+"We're going to have a white Christmas, all right," the doctor said;
+then, as the telephone rang sharply, he went to answer it.
+
+Patricia heard him give a sudden exclamation, ask one or two rapid
+questions; then he hung up the receiver and came back to the library
+door.
+
+"Patricia," he said, "there has been a bad accident down at the
+curve--the eastern express--they are bringing the injured up here to the
+hotel. 'Phone your aunt for me; and remember, _you_ are not to
+leave the house."
+
+"O Daddy!" Patricia followed him into the office; but all he could tell
+her was that it seemed to be a pretty bad affair, and that he was likely
+to be away from home some hours.
+
+"A sad Christmas eve for a good many, dear," he said, kissing her
+good-by.
+
+Patricia watched him, as he drove off a few moments later, through the
+fast falling snow. Christmas eve--and down there at the curve! Patricia
+choked back a sudden sob, as she went to telephone to her aunt, who was
+down at the church, helping with the Christmas decorations.
+
+Miss Kirby decided instantly to go right down to the hotel, where help
+would be needed. And _she_ also warned Patricia that she was not to
+leave home.
+
+"But oh, I want to go, Custard!" the girl protested; "I know I could
+help." She closed the library door; the sight of the Christmas-tree,
+its gay ornaments glittering in the firelight, hurt her.
+
+Patricia went to curl herself up on one of the sitting-room
+window-seats. Jim had gone with her father; Sarah was down at the gate
+talking over the accident with the maid from next door. Presently,
+across the street, a familiar figure came into view, through the
+gathering twilight. Patricia hurried to the door. "O Nell!" she called.
+
+Nell Hardy came running over. "Patricia, you've heard?"
+
+"Yes; they sent for Daddy. Aunt Julia's gone down to the hotel."
+
+"So's Mama; she wouldn't let me go with her. O Patricia! If it had been
+the local!"
+
+"Don't, Nell! Come on in and stay; I'm under orders not to leave the
+house."
+
+They went into the sitting-room, where Patricia brightened up the fire
+and lit the big lamp, with its crimson shade. Then she came to sit
+beside Nell on the broad old lounge. "Nell, aren't you wild to help too?
+If only Daddy hadn't--Oh, I know--" The next moment Patricia was out in
+the hall at the telephone.
+
+Nell waited wonderingly.
+
+"Come on, Nell!" Patricia stood in the open doorway, her eyes dancing.
+"Five of them coming!"
+
+"What are you talking about, Pat?"
+
+"Children." Patricia was leading the way upstairs. "I got Mrs. Brown,
+down at the hotel, on the 'phone. I wish you could have heard her!"
+
+"Children! I should say so, Miss Patricia! Five of them crying in my own
+sitting-room at this minute. No, not hurt; frightened out of their wits,
+and their own people too hurt to look after them. And when I asked if
+I might have them up here, Nell, I wish you could have heard her. She's
+sending them right up in one of the hotel rigs."
+
+"But, Patricia--"
+
+"There aren't any buts in this affair. We'll take Aunt Julia's room and
+mine. It won't do to turn Daddy out of his, and I must have
+communicating ones."
+
+"But your aunt--" Nell began again.
+
+"Oh, Aunt Julia'll understand." Patricia was kneeling before the deep
+fireplace in her aunt's room, piling it generously with wood from the
+box in the corner.
+
+"Miss P'tricia, what yo' up ter?" Sarah demanded, unexpectedly, from the
+doorway. "Yo' know Miss Julia don' like a fire in her room nights--an'
+de house like summer now, wid de furnuss!"
+
+"Aunt Julia isn't sleeping here tonight," Patricia answered, calmly;
+"and I particularly want the room cheerful; you know, there's nothing
+like an open fire for making things cheerful."
+
+"Miss P'tricia, what yo' be'n doin'?"
+
+And Patricia explained.
+
+Sarah rolled her black eyes ceiling-wards. "Who ever heerd tell o' sich
+doin's! I'd jus' like ter know who done gib yo' commission ter do this,
+Miss P'tricia! An' whatever is yo' goin' do wid five strange young uns?"
+
+"Make them happy and comfortable, I hope," Patricia laughed. "There they
+are now. Start a fire in my room, please, Sarah, and make up a bed on my
+lounge. Come on, Nell," and Patricia was out of the room and downstairs
+in a flash.
+
+Before the steps stood the carriage from the hotel, and from within it
+five white, frightened little faces looked anxiously out.
+
+Patricia made straight for the youngest one, a two-year-old girl. "You
+poor baby!" she cried, softly.
+
+Heedless, impulsive, Patricia had at least the gift of winning her way
+right to a child's heart; and without a moment's hesitation the child
+put a pair of clinging little arms about her neck.
+
+She and Nell took the five into the warm, bright sitting-room, where
+they took off hats and coats and gently rubbed the cold little hands.
+"Why, you're not much more than babies, any of you!" Patricia glanced
+pityingly from one to another of her proteges.
+
+"I'm seven," the oldest answered. "I'm Norma Howard; she's my little
+sister Totty." She pointed to the baby on Patricia's lap. "She keeps
+crying for Mama--Mama was hurt," Norma hid her face against Patricia.
+
+Patricia slipped an arm about her. "I shouldn't wonder if my Daddy were
+looking after her right now. He's the best doctor in the whole world!"
+She turned to the two little boys, staring up at her from the depths of
+the doctor's big chair: "And are you brothers?"
+
+"No'm," the larger one responded; "we've only just 'come 'quainted. He's
+only five; I'm five 'an half. I'm Archibald Sears; his name's Tommy--I
+want my mother!"
+
+Tommy's blue eyes filled. "So do I," he cried.
+
+Totty took up the wail; and the little four-year-old girl on Nell's lap
+promptly followed suit.
+
+"What shall we do?" Nell asked, imploringly.
+
+But at that moment Sarah appeared. She took Tommy up in her strong,
+motherly arms, soothing him in practised fashion. "There, there, honey!
+Yo's goin' have yo' mother pretty soon. What yo' wants now's yo' supper,
+ain't it, honey? I reckon ain't no one had de sense ter gib yo' chillens
+a mite ter eat."
+
+Tommy tucked his head down on Sarah's broad shoulder with a pathetic
+little sigh of comfort. In the home which at this moment seemed very far
+away to Tommy was an old colored mammy. He refused to let Sarah put him
+down, so she took him with her while she got ready the five bowls of
+warm bread and milk, which she declared the best possible supper for all
+the children under the circumstances.
+
+"But whatever put such a notion in yo' head, Miss P'tricia, is more'n
+I kin figger out," she declared a few moments later, guiding the sleepy
+Tommy's spoon in its journey from bowl to mouth. "What yo' reckon yo'
+pa's goin' say?"
+
+"I think," Patricia glanced about the table, "that just at present Daddy
+would say--bed."
+
+"H'm," Sarah grunted, "yo' knows what I means. Well, it's sure got ter
+be a bath for them all 'fore it kin be bed; so we'd best get started."
+
+She headed the little procession upstairs, Tommy in her arms, Patricia
+bringing up the rear with Totty.
+
+"If it hadn't come about in such a dreadful way, wouldn't it be
+perfectly lovely?" Patricia said. "Think of it, Nell--_five_
+children to spend Christmas with one!"
+
+Nell laughed. "Your Christmas isn't over yet, Pat; it won't be all
+smooth running."
+
+"You can't scare me. Nell, we'll hang up their stockings for them. They
+must have their Christmas."
+
+"What yo' goin' do fo' night things fo' dem, Miss P'tricia?" Sarah
+asked, suddenly; "'pears like ain't none o' 'em come much laden down wid
+luggage."
+
+"N-no," Patricia answered; "probably their things weren't very
+get-atable. We'll have to take some of my gowns, Sarah."
+
+Whereupon Archibald lifted up his voice in swift protestation; he didn't
+want to wear a girl's things; he wanted to go home; he wanted to sleep
+in his own bed; he wanted his mother!
+
+At that all-compelling word four other voices rose in instantaneous
+lamentation, even Norma catching the general infection.
+
+"Sarah, can't you do something?" Patricia implored. "Nell, what does
+your mother do when your brothers cry like this?"
+
+"They--don't cry like this," Nell answered, trying desperately to quiet
+Lydia.
+
+"Mebbe next time, Miss P'tricia," Sarah's tone was strictly of the
+"I-told-you-so" order, "yo' won't go 'vitin' a whole tribe o' young uns,
+widout resultin' any one."
+
+Patricia, walking the room with the screaming Totty, came to a sudden
+halt before Archibald, lying face down on the floor. "If you'll stop
+crying I'll let Custard come up," she said.
+
+"Who's Custard?" Archibald rolled over on his back to consider the
+matter.
+
+"My dog."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Downstairs--in the kitchen."
+
+"Does he like boys?"
+
+"Not when they cry."
+
+Archibald rubbed his eyes. "I'm not crying now."
+
+But at that moment, Custard, who considered that he had been kept in the
+background quite long enough, came upstairs on his own account. As Sarah
+said, he seemed "ter sense the situation," for he trotted about making
+friends, lapping the tears from Tommy's face, and standing up on his
+hind legs to let Totty pat his head.
+
+Sarah promptly took advantage of the lull to whisk the boys off to the
+bath-room; half an hour later, all five children, well wrapped in shawls
+and blankets, were gathered about the fire in Patricia's room for the
+hanging of the Christmas stockings.
+
+That ceremony over, Sarah pounced on Tommy and Archibald, carrying them
+off to bed in Miss Kirby's room. "An' mercy knows what Miss Julia done
+say when she find yo' here," she muttered, tucking them in snugly.
+
+Archibald sat up in bed. "I want--Custard!"
+
+"Yo' go 'long ter sleep, young sir," Sarah expostulated. "What yo' think
+Marse Santa Clause goin' say ter such goin's-on?"
+
+"I want Custard!"
+
+"Let him have him, Sarah!" Patricia exclaimed.
+
+"Miss P'tricia! 'Low that onery dog on yo' aunt's bed!"
+
+Patricia let the insult to her pet pass.
+
+"_On_ it, _in_ it, _under_ it, if it'll keep him quiet!"
+
+Sarah lifted Custard in far from respectful fashion, dropping him, an
+astonished, but entirely acquiescent heap, between Archibald and Tommy.
+
+Lydia, already asleep, was disposed of in Patricia's bed, and Norma and
+Totty settled comfortably on the wide lounge.
+
+"An' now, honey," Sarah said, "I's goin' get you and Miss Nell yo'
+supper."
+
+They went downstairs, where Sarah made Patricia and Nell comfortable at
+a small table drawn up before the sitting-room fire.
+
+"But what are you going to fill those stockings with, Pat?" Nell asked,
+after Sarah had left them alone.
+
+"I can manage all right for the girls; I've loads of toys stowed away up
+garret. I've always had heaps of things given me, but if I could get
+out-of-doors, and had something alive to play with, I'd let the other
+things go every time. I am a bit puzzled about Archibald's and Tommy's."
+
+"I'll run home and get some of the little boys' toys," Nell offered.
+When supper was over, while Patricia went, as she called it, "shopping
+up garret," Nell made a hurried trip home and back.
+
+"There," she exclaimed, coming in breathless, her head and shoulders
+white with snow, "will these do?" She laid a toy engine, a trumpet, a
+tin sword, and a small box of lead soldiers on the table.
+
+"Beautifully!" Patricia was placing a small jointed doll in the top of
+Norma's stocking. "This is going to be about the realest Christmas I've
+ever had."
+
+"It's going to be a mighty sad one for a lot of people."
+
+All the fun and laughter vanished from Patricia's gray eyes. She looked
+about the pleasant, homelike room, with its trimmings of evergreen and
+holly, and a swift, sharp, realizing sense of what was going on down at
+the hotel came to her. For a moment the girl's lips quivered and the
+hand that held Tommy's empty stocking trembled. "But, Nell," she said
+slowly, "I am sure--oh, I know they would want their children to have
+their Christmas. It would be too dreadful, afterwards--if they could
+remember nothing but--sadness and--sorrow. O Nell, I wonder if there
+were any children hurt?"
+
+"I don't know," Nell answered. "Let's--not talk about it, Patricia.
+Shall I put the trumpet in Archibald's stocking?"
+
+"I suppose so, he's larger than Tommy. I don't know what Aunt Julia will
+do if he wakes up early and starts to blowing it. Poor Aunt Julia! She's
+got a lot of surprises coming her way." Patricia stuffed out the toe of
+Lydia's stocking with the regulation nuts and raisins. "There," she
+said, a moment later, "I reckon these are ready to hang up again."
+
+They tiptoed upstairs softly; the children were all sleeping quietly,
+and even Custard barely opened the corner of one eye at Patricia's
+coming.
+
+Custard was having the time of his life. Hitherto, beds had been
+strictly forbidden ground with Custard; and just what could have brought
+about this most delightful state of affairs was quite beyond his powers
+of imagination, but he was wisely wasting no time in idle speculation.
+
+Patricia stroked him a bit dubiously. "I am afraid Aunt Julia will rebel
+at this, old fellow; but Archibald's got fast hold of you, and I simply
+can't risk waking him up."
+
+"I must go now, Pat," Nell said, as they went downstairs again; "I told
+Papa I'd be back soon."
+
+"Somehow," she added, as she and Patricia stood a moment on the front
+steps, "I can't make it seem like Christmas eve--not even with your five
+stockings, Pat."
+
+Patricia looked out at the white whirl of snow; the street seemed
+deserted, but here and there, where a blind had been left undrawn,
+a light shone out.
+
+Then, from the house next door, came the sound of a Christmas carol:
+
+  "Hark! the herald angels sing
+  Glory to the new-born King."
+
+
+Clearly, joyously, through the still, snow-laden air, sounded the
+words--
+
+  "Risen with healing in His wings,
+  Light and life to all He brings.
+  Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
+  Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!"
+
+
+Patricia drew a long breath. "But it _is_ Christmas eve, Nell. And,
+O Nell, at least _we_ didn't have any one there--on the express."
+
+"N-no," Nell said gravely, "still--"
+
+"Maybe it won't be exactly a 'merry Christmas'," Patricia began--"Nell,
+listen!"
+
+From upstairs came a prolonged wail.
+
+"Totty!" Patricia cried.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was more than an hour later when the doctor and Miss Kirby drove
+slowly up the snow-covered drive. "I am afraid Patricia has had rather
+a lonely Christmas eve," Miss Kirby said.
+
+"It looks as if she had gone to bed," her brother answered; "the door
+would have been open by this time, if she were on hand."
+
+Miss Kirby went directly upstairs to take off her things; in the upper
+hall she caught the flicker of firelight through her own and Patricia's
+half-opened doors; and although ordinarily she did not care for a fire
+in her room at night, the knowledge that there was one awaiting her now
+brought a sense of comfort. Probably Patricia had thought she would be
+cold and tired--Patricia was really very considerate at times.
+
+Three minutes later Miss Kirby was standing in the middle of her room,
+staring with wide, amazed eyes at her very much occupied bed.
+
+Two children and a _dog_!
+
+Involuntary, she lowered the light, so as not to awaken the sleepers.
+Two children and a _dog_! Could it be the effect of over-wrought
+nerves? Then she recognized Custard.
+
+Custard was blinking sleepily up at her, but he did not move. He may
+have realized the desirability of not disturbing his companions, or he
+may have concluded that possession was nine-tenths of the law; with a
+little audacious sigh of comfort, he tucked his head down and dropped
+off to sleep again.
+
+Miss Kirby turned towards Patricia's room. A moment after, the doctor
+heard her calling to him softly from the landing.
+
+"Anything wrong?" he asked.
+
+"Come and see!" Miss Kirby was almost hysterical.
+
+"Patricia isn't--?"
+
+"Come and see!" Miss Kirby led the way to her room, pointing
+dramatically to the bed.
+
+The doctor surveyed the trio within it. "Upon my--" his lips twitched.
+"No one from around here! Evidently, Patricia has--"
+
+"Suppose you look in Patricia's room," Miss Kirby suggested.
+
+Going to the door, the doctor gave one brief, comprehensive glance; then
+he turned: "And how many in my room?"
+
+Miss Kirby gasped. "I'll go see."
+
+"None," she reported, "and none in the spare-room. Patrick, these must
+be children from--the hotel. Oh dear, was there ever such a girl!"
+
+The doctor looked about him, more slowly this time, seeing Lydia in the
+bed, Norma on the lounge; seeing the little, flushed contented faces;
+seeing the stockings hanging ready for the morning from the mantelpiece;
+seeing, and here his glance rested longest, Patricia in a low chair
+before the fire, Totty in her arms, both fast asleep; noting the tired
+droop of the dark head against the baby's yellow one.
+
+He might have known Patricia would never be content to sit idle, when
+just at hand was so much of pain and suffering to be relieved.
+
+"Isn't it exactly like Patricia?" Miss Kirby sighed, wearily.
+
+"Yes," the doctor's voice was very gentle, "I think it is--exactly like
+Patricia." Crossing the room, he carefully loosened Patricia's grasp,
+taking Totty from her.
+
+Patricia stirred and opened her eyes. "Daddy! Oh, I am glad you're back!
+But, please, please, be very careful not to wake Totty; I'm so afraid
+she'll get to crying again."
+
+The doctor laid Totty beside Norma. "Suppose you come downstairs, Pat,
+and explain this invasion of the premises to your aunt and me," he said,
+holding out his hand to her.
+
+Sitting on the arm of her father's chair, Patricia told her story.
+
+"Have--you been in your room, Aunt Julia?" she asked.
+
+"I have, Patricia."
+
+"I am sorry about Custard, Aunt Julia; but Archibald wouldn't be
+comforted without him; he wanted his--mother."
+
+Miss Kirby thought of the long dining-room down at the hotel, turned
+into a hospital ward; where on this Christmas eve more than one mother
+was lying very near the borders of the undiscovered country.
+
+"And I had to take your room, Aunt Julia," Patricia went on, "so as to
+have two communicating ones. I hope you don't mind much?"
+
+And Miss Kirby had not the heart to admit how much, in her present
+weariness of mind and body, she did care.
+
+The doctor patted Patricia's cheek. "I thought Mrs. Brown was keeping
+those children wonderfully out of the way. I wish their poor mothers
+could have known how well they were being cared for."
+
+Patricia drew a quick breath of pleasure. "And we'll keep them over
+Christmas, Daddy?"
+
+"That depends--upon various things. By the way, where do you sleep
+to-night, Pat?"
+
+"Oh, I'll go into the spare-room, with Aunt Julia," Patricia responded,
+cheerfully.
+
+Miss Kirby stifled a sigh; and hoped that Patricia's activities would
+not recommence too early the next morning.
+
+It was not Patricia who woke Miss Kirby the next morning.
+
+Custard, waking early, and finding himself in such unaccustomed
+surroundings, decided to look for his young mistress. Having been
+permitted on one bed seemed to Custard sufficient warrant for getting on
+another. Miss Kirby woke with a start to find a little wriggling object
+standing between herself and Patricia, while a small moist tongue did
+active and alternate service on both their faces.
+
+Her shriek of dismay awoke Patricia.
+
+"Aunt Julia!" Patricia was shaking with laughter, "I'll tell Daddy--how
+you woke me up, playing with Custard!"
+
+"He's the most--" Miss Kirby dived beneath the bed-clothes. "Take him
+away, Patricia!"
+
+From across the hall came the shrill blast of a trumpet. Custard,
+his forefeet firmly planted on Miss Kirby's chest, his head cocked
+enquiringly, promptly barked a defiant response.
+
+The next moment the spare-room seemed full of children, all, like
+Custard, in search of Patricia, and making, at sight of her, as swift an
+onslaught in her direction as the extreme length of their nightgowns
+would permit.
+
+So, after all, Christmas morning began merrily for them, at least.
+
+The doctor, coming home later from an early visit to the hotel, stopped
+outside Patricia's open door. "Merry Christmas, Pat! Got your hands
+full?"
+
+Patricia was kneeling on the floor, buttoning Tommy's shoes. "Merry
+Christmas, Daddy," she answered, gaily; "I certainly have."
+
+Norma came slowly up to the doctor; she remembered him from last night;
+for in all the hurry and confusion of the moment he had found time for a
+few comforting words to the frightened, bewildered children. "Have--have
+you made Mama better?" she asked, wistfully.
+
+The doctor sat down, taking her on his knee. "What is your mother's
+name, dear?"
+
+"Mrs. Howard."
+
+The doctor brushed the child's soft curls; and Patricia, seeing the
+gravity of his eyes, caught her breath. "Your mother was resting very
+quietly when I left her just now, dear," he said, gently; then he turned
+to Archibald. "Did you find that trumpet in your stocking, young man?"
+
+Archibald nodded. "I want my--"
+
+"I found this!" Lydia held up one of Patricia's many dolls. They all
+crowded about him, claiming his attention, Totty demanding to be taken
+up.
+
+"Got your hands full, Daddy?" Patricia laughed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+About the candle-lighted tree Patricia's small guests circled
+admiringly. It _had_ been a merry Christmas for the little
+travel-wrecked strangers; and now, with the tree, had come the
+culminating point of this long happy day.
+
+"Isn't it pretty?" Norma came to lean against Patricia. "I wish Mama
+could see it."
+
+"You must remember to tell her all about it," Patricia answered.
+
+"Will I see her to-morrow?" Norma asked longingly.
+
+"Perhaps," Patricia said; and when presently her father had to leave
+them, to go down to the hotel, she went with him to the door. "Daddy,
+you'll be back soon?"
+
+"As soon as possible, dear."
+
+"And--you think--with good news for them--all?"
+
+"I hope so, dear."
+
+Patricia went back to the library with sober face. "But at least," she
+thought, taking Totty on her lap, "they'll have had their Christmas."
+
+It was far from soon before the doctor returned. Patricia's charges were
+in bed and asleep. Custard, who had been looking forward to bedtime all
+day, had retired to his basket--a disillusioned dog. To-night Archibald
+was finding all the solace needed in a gaily painted Noah's Ark. Miss
+Kirby was lying down in the sitting-room,--she had not found it a day
+of unbroken calm,--so that Patricia was alone in the library when her
+father returned.
+
+He drew her down beside him on the lounge. "It _is_ good news for
+them all, Patricia, I think Norma and Totty may see their mother
+to-morrow. I have brought you a great deal of love, Patricia, from more
+than one mother; love and gratitude."
+
+"Oh, I am glad they're all better!" Patricia said. "Daddy, I've been
+thinking; I don't see how we're ever going to get along after this
+without a Christmas family."
+
+The doctor bent to kiss her. "What I've been thinking is what your
+'family' would have done for their Christmas without you. I'm proud
+of you, Pat."
+
+"O Daddy!" Patricia's eyes were shining.
+
+
+
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