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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Patty's Suitors, by Carolyn Wells
+
+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: Patty's Suitors
+
+Author: Carolyn Wells
+
+Posting Date: May 30, 2013 [EBook #5631]
+Release Date: May, 2004
+First Posted: July 26, 2002
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATTY'S SUITORS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PATTY'S SUITORS
+
+BY CAROLYN WELLS
+
+Author of The Patty Books, The Marjorie Books, etc.
+
+
+Illustrations by E.C. Caswell
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+    I   A VALENTINE PARTY
+
+   II   ON THE TELEPHONE
+
+  III   THE HEPWORTHS AT HOME
+
+   IV   A PERFECTLY GOOD JOKE
+
+    V   THREE PICTURES
+
+   VI   PRINCESS POPPYCHEEK
+
+  VII   SUITORS
+
+ VIII   A HOUSE PARTY
+
+   IX   EDDIE BELL
+
+    X   QUARANTINED
+
+   XI   MEETING IT BRAVELY
+
+  XII   A SURPRISE
+
+ XIII   SISTER BEE
+
+  XIV   KENNETH
+
+   XV   AN INVITATION
+
+  XVI   BELLE HARCOURT
+
+ XVII   MAY-DAY
+
+XVIII   MOONLIGHT
+
+  XIX   IN THE RUNABOUT
+
+   XX   THE RIDE HOME
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+  "BEWARE, TAKE CARE, SHE IS FOOLING THEE"
+
+  AFTER DINNER THE WHOLE PARTY WENT TO THE OPERA
+
+  "NOW, WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN A CASE LIKE THAT?"
+
+  "BILL!" SHE CRIED, "LITTLE BILLEE!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A VALENTINE PARTY
+
+
+"It IS a boofy frock, isn't it, Nansome?"
+
+Patty craned her head over her shoulder, as she waited for her
+stepmother's response, which was only, "Yes."
+
+"Oh, my gracious, Nan! Enthuse! Don't you know half the fun in life is
+enthusiasm?"
+
+"What shall I say?" asked Nan, laughing.
+
+"Oh, say it's a peach! a hummer! a lallapaloosa!"
+
+"Patty, Patty! what language!"
+
+"Oh, yes; I forgot I meant to stop using slang. But when any one is so
+lukewarm in her admiration as you are, forcible language is called for."
+
+"Well, it certainly is a lovely gown, and you never looked prettier.
+There! since you are fishing for compliments, are you pleased now?"
+
+Patty was far from being conceited over her pretty face, but she
+honestly liked admiration, and, indeed, she was accustomed to receive
+it from all who knew her. At the present moment, she was standing
+before a long mirror in her boudoir, putting the last touches to her
+new party toilette. Louise, the maid, stood by, with a fur-trimmed
+wrap, and Patty drew on her long gloves with a happy smile of
+anticipation.
+
+"I just feel sure I'm going to have a good time to-night," she said;
+"it's a presentiment or premonition, or whatever you call it."
+
+"Don't flirt too desperately," said Nan, not without cause, for pretty
+Petty was by nature a coquette, and as she had many admirers she
+merrily led them a dance.
+
+"But it's so interesting to flirt, Nancy. And the boys like it,--so why
+not?"
+
+Why not, indeed? thought Nan. Patty's flirtations were harmless,
+roguish affairs, and prompted by mischief and good nature. Patty was a
+sweet, true character, and if she teased the young men a bit, it was
+because of her irrepressible love of fun.
+
+"And this is St. Valentine's night," went on Nan, "so I suppose you
+think yourself privileged to break all the hearts you can."
+
+"Some hearts are so brittle, it's no fun to break them," returned
+Patty, carelessly, as she adjusted her headdress.
+
+She was going to a Valentine party, where the guests were requested to
+come in appropriate costume.
+
+So Patty's gown was of white lace, softly draped with white chiffon. On
+the modish tunic were love-knots of pale blue velvet, and a border of
+tiny pink rosebuds. The head-dress, of gold filigree, was a heart
+pierced by a dart; and on Patty's left shoulder, a dainty little figure
+of Cupid was wobbling rather uncertainly.
+
+"You'll lose that little God of War," said Nan.
+
+"I don't care if I do," Patty answered; "he's a nuisance, anyway, but I
+wanted something Valentinish, so I perched him up there. Now, good-bye,
+Nancy Dancy, and I expect I'll be out pretty late."
+
+"I shall send Louise for you at twelve, and you must be ready then."
+
+"Oh, make it one. You know a Valentine party is lots of fun."
+
+"Well, half-past twelve," agreed Nan, "and not a minute later!"
+
+Then Louise wrapped Patty in a light blue evening cloak, edged with
+white fur, and the happy maiden danced downstairs.
+
+"Good-bye, Popsy-Poppet," she cried, looking in at the library door.
+
+"Bless my soul! what a vision of beauty!" and Mr. Fairfield laid down
+his paper to look at his pretty daughter.
+
+"Yes," she said, demurely, "everybody tells me I look exactly like my
+father."
+
+"You flatter yourself!" said Nan, who had followed, and who now tucked
+her hand through her husband's arm. "My Valentine is the handsomest man
+in the world!"
+
+"Oh, you turtle-doves!" said Patty, laughing, as she ran down the steps
+to the waiting motor.
+
+Unless going with a chaperon, Patty was always accompanied by the maid,
+Louise, who either waited for her young mistress in the dressing-room
+or returned for her when the party was over.
+
+"Shall you be late, Miss Patty?" she asked, as they reached their
+destination.
+
+"Yes; don't wait for me, Louise. Come back about half-past twelve; I'll
+be ready soon after that."
+
+Louise adored Patty, for she was always kind and considerate of the
+servants; and she thought Louise might as well have the evening to
+herself, as to be cooped up in a dressing-room.
+
+The party was at Marie Homer's, a new friend, with whom Patty had but
+recently become acquainted.
+
+The Homers lived in a large apartment house, called The Wimbledon, and
+it was Patty's first visit there. Miss Homer and her mother were
+receiving their guests in a ballroom, and when Patty greeted them, a
+large crowd had already assembled.
+
+"You are a true valentine, my dear," said Mrs. Homer, looking
+admiringly at Patty's garlanded gown.
+
+"And this is a true Valentine party," said Patty, as she noted the
+decorations of red hearts and gold darts, with Cupids of wax or bisque,
+here and there among the floral ornaments.
+
+Marie Homer, who was a pretty brunette, wore a dress of scarlet and
+gold, trimmed with hearts and arrows.
+
+"I'm so glad to have you here," she said to Patty; "for now I know my
+party will be a success."
+
+"I'm sure your parties always are," returned Patty, kindly, for Marie
+was a shy sort of girl, and Patty was glad to encourage her.
+
+As soon as the guests had all arrived St. Valentine appeared in the
+doorway.
+
+It was Mr. Homer, but he was scarcely recognisable in his garb of the
+good old Saint.
+
+He wore a red gown, trimmed with ermine, and a long white beard and wig.
+
+He carried an enormous letter-bag, from which he distributed valentines
+to all. They were of the old-fashioned lace paper variety, and
+beautiful of their kind.
+
+Mrs. Homer explained that on the valentine of every young man was a
+question, and the girl whose valentine had an answer to rhyme with it,
+was his partner for the first dance.
+
+The young men were requested to read their valentines aloud in turn,
+and the girls to read their responsive answers.
+
+This proceeding caused much hilarity, for the lines were exceedingly
+sentimental, and often affectionate.
+
+When it was Roger Farrington's turn, he read out boldly:
+
+     "Where's the girl I love the best?"
+
+and Marie Homer, who chanced to hold the rhyming valentine, whispered,
+shyly:
+
+     "I am sweeter than the rest!"
+
+"You are, indeed!" said Roger, as he offered his arm with his
+courtliest bow.
+
+Then Kenneth Harper read:
+
+     "Who's the fairest girl of all?"
+
+and Mona Galbraith read, with twinkling eyes:
+
+     "I'll respond to that sweet call!"
+
+Then it was Philip Van Reypen's turn. He glanced at his valentine, and
+asked:
+
+     "Who's a roguish little elf?"
+
+Everybody laughed when a tall, serious-faced girl responded:
+
+     "I guess I am that, myself!"
+
+It was toward the last that Clifford Morse asked:
+
+     "Who's the dearest girl I know?"
+
+and as Patty's line rhymed, she said, demurely:
+
+     "Guess I am,--if YOU think so!"
+
+"I'm in luck," said Clifford, as he led her to the dance. "You're such
+a belle, Patty Fairfield, that I seldom get a whole dance with you."
+
+"Faint heart never won fair lady," laughed Patty, shaking her fan at
+him. "I always accept invitations."
+
+"Accept mine, then, for the next dance," said Philip Van Reypen, who
+overheard her words as he was passing.
+
+"No programmes to-night," returned Patty, smiling at him. "Ask me at
+dance time."
+
+As no dances could be engaged ahead, except verbally, Patty was
+besieged by partners for every dance.
+
+"Oh, dear," she cried, as, at the fourth dance, five or six eager young
+men were bowing before her; "what shall I do? I'd have to be a
+centipede to dance with you all! And I can't divide one dance into six
+parts. And I can't CHOOSE,-that would be TOO embarrassing! Let's draw
+lots. Lend me a coin, somebody."
+
+"Here you are," said Van Reypen, handing her a bright quarter.
+
+Patty took it, and put both hands behind her.
+
+"You may try first, Phil, because you put up the capital. Right or
+left?"
+
+"Right," said Philip, promptly.
+
+Patty gaily brought her hands into view, and the quarter lay in her
+left palm.
+
+"Next!" she said; "Mr. Downing."
+
+"Left," chose that young man, as Patty again concealed her hands.
+
+But that time she showed the coin in her right hand.
+
+"My turn now," said Ken Harper, "AND, you'll please keep your hands in
+front of you! You don't do it right."
+
+"Do you mean that I cheat?" cried Patty, in pretended rage.
+
+"Oh, no, no! nothing like that! Only, this game is always played with
+the fists in view."
+
+So Patty held her little gloved fists in front of her, while Kenneth
+chose.
+
+"Right!" he said, and her right hand slowly opened and showed the
+shining coin.
+
+"Were you going to take me, anyway?" asked Kenneth, as they walked off
+together. "And why did you turn down poor Van Reypen? He was awfully
+cut up."
+
+"Ken Harper, do you mean to insinuate that I didn't play fair?"
+
+"Yes, my lady, just that. Oh, cheating never prospers. You have to put
+up with me, you see!"
+
+"I might do worse," and Patty flashed him a saucy glance.
+
+"I wish you meant that."
+
+"Oh, I do! I DO, Ken. Truly, there are lots of worse people than you in
+the world."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Well,--there's Eddie Perkins."
+
+"Oh, Patty! that fop! Well, I'll bet you can't think of another."
+
+"No; I can't."
+
+"Patty, how dare you! Then you'll sit right here until you can."
+
+Laughingly Kenneth stopped dancing, and led Patty to an alcove where
+there were a few chairs. As they sat down, Philip Van Reypen came
+toward them.
+
+"Oh, Ken," Patty cried, "I've thought of a man worse than you are! Oh,
+EVER so much worse! Here he is! And I simply adore bad men, so I'm
+going to dance with him."
+
+Naughty Patty went dancing off with Van Reypen, and Ken looked after
+them, a little crestfallen.
+
+"But," he thought, "there's no use being angry or even annoyed at that
+butterfly of a girl. She doesn't mean anything anyway. Some day, she'll
+wake up and be serious, but now she's only a little bundle of
+frivolity."
+
+Kenneth had been friends with Patty for many years; far longer than any
+of her other young men acquaintances. He was honestly fond of her, and
+had a dawning hope that some time they might be more than friends. But
+he was a slow-going chap, and he was inclined to wait until he had a
+little more to offer, before he should woo the pretty butterfly.
+
+And, too, Patty would never listen to a word of that sort of thing. She
+had often proclaimed in his hearing, that she intended to enjoy several
+years of gay society pleasures, before she would be engaged to any one.
+
+So Kenneth idly watched her, as she circled the room with Van Reypen,
+and took himself off to find another partner.
+
+"Oh, Valentine, fair Valentine," said Van Reypen to Patty, as they
+danced.
+
+"Wilt thou be mine, and I'lt be thine," returned Patty, in mocking
+sing-song tones.
+
+"Forever may our hearts entwine," improvised Philip, in tune to the
+music.
+
+"Like chickwood round a punkin-vine," Patty finished.
+
+"Pshaw, that's not sentimental. You should have said, Like sturdy oak
+and clinging vine."
+
+"But I'm not sentimental. Who could be in a crowded ballroom, in a
+glare of light, and in a mad dance?"
+
+"What conditions would make you feel sentimental?"
+
+"Why,--let me see. Moonlight,--on a balcony,--with the right man."
+
+"I'm the right man, all right,--and you know it. And if I'm not greatly
+mistaken, here's moonlight and a balcony!"
+
+Sure enough, a long French window had been set slightly ajar to cool
+the overheated room, and almost before she knew it, Patty was whisked
+outside.
+
+"Oh, Philip! Don't! you mustn't! I'll take cold. I ought to have
+something around me."
+
+"You have," said Van Reypen, calmly, and as he had not yet released her
+from the dance he held his arms lightly round her shoulders.
+
+Patty was angry. She knew Philip loved her,--several times he had asked
+her to marry him,--but this was taking an unfair advantage.
+
+The February wind itself was not colder than the manner with which she
+drew away from him, and stepped back into the ballroom.
+
+"My dear, my dear," exclaimed Mrs. Homer, who chanced to be near, "how
+imprudent! You should not go out without a wrap."
+
+"I know it, Mrs. Homer," and Patty looked so sweetly penitent that her
+hostess could but smile at her. "But, truly, I just stepped out a
+single second to get a tiny breath of air. The room IS warm, isn't it?
+May I stay here by you a few moments?"
+
+"Yes, indeed," and Mrs. Homer drew the girl down beside her on the
+sofa. "You're not robust, my child, and you mustn't run foolish risks."
+
+"You're quite right, and I won't do it again. But on a night not quite
+so cold, that balcony, flooded with moonlight, must be a romantic spot."
+
+"It is, indeed," said Mrs. Homer, smiling. "My young people think so;
+and I hope you will have many opportunities in the future to see it for
+yourself."
+
+"Your young people? Have you other children besides Marie?"
+
+"Yes; I have a daughter who is away at boarding-school. And, also, I
+have a nephew, whose home is in this same building."
+
+"Is he here to-night?"
+
+"No; Kit hates dances. Of course, that's because he doesn't dance
+himself. He's a musician."
+
+"Kit? What a funny name."
+
+"It's Christopher, really, Christopher Cameron; but he's such a
+happy-go-lucky sort of chap, we naturally call him Kit."
+
+"I think I should like him," said Patty. "Would he like me?"
+
+"No," said Mrs. Homer, her eyes twinkling at Patty's look of amazement.
+"He detests girls. Even my daughters, his cousins, are nuisances, he
+says. Still he likes to come down here and sit on my balcony, and tease
+them. He lives with his parents in the apartment just above us."
+
+"He sounds an interesting youth," said Patty, and then, as Roger came
+up and asked her for a dance, she promptly forgot the musical nephew.
+
+At supper-time, Patty's crowd of intimates gathered around her, and
+they occupied a pleasant corner of the dining-room.
+
+"What'll you have, Patsums?" asked Roger, as a waiter brought a tray
+full of dainty viands.
+
+"Sandwiches and bouillon," said Patty, promptly; "I'm honestly hungry."
+
+"The result of exercise in the open air," murmured Philip Van Reypen,
+as he took a seat directly behind her.
+
+Patty gave an involuntary giggle, and then turned upon Philip what she
+meant to be an icy glare. He grinned back at her, which made her
+furious, and she deliberately and ostentatiously ignored him.
+
+"Hello, you two on the outs?" inquired Kenneth, casually.
+
+"Oh, no!" said Philip, with emphasis; "far from it!"
+
+So, as Patty found it impossible to snub such cheerfulness, she
+concluded to forgive and forget.
+
+"There's something doing after supper," remarked Roger. "Miss Homer
+dropped a hint, and even now they're fixing something in the ballroom."
+
+"What can it be?" said Elise, craning her neck to see through a doorway.
+
+"It's a game," said Marie Homer, who had just joined the group. "I told
+mother, you all considered yourselves too grown-up for games, but she
+said she didn't want to have the whole evening given over to dancing.
+So you will play it, won't you?"
+
+"Sure we will!" declared Kenneth, who admired the shy little girl.
+
+Marie was new in their set, but they all liked her. She was timid only
+because she felt unacquainted, and the good-natured crowd did all they
+could to put her at ease.
+
+"Games!" exclaimed Philip; "why, I just love 'em! I'll play it,
+whatever it is."
+
+"I too," said Patty. "It will be a jolly change from dancing."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ON THE TELEPHONE
+
+
+When the young people returned to the ballroom, it presented a
+decidedly changed appearance. Instead of an interior scene, it was a
+winter landscape.
+
+The floor was covered with snow-white canvas, not laid on smoothly, but
+rumpled over bumps and hillocks, like a real snow field. The numerous
+palms and evergreens that had decorated the room, were powdered with
+flour and strewn with tufts of cotton, like snow. Also diamond dust had
+been lightly sprinkled on them, and glittering crystal icicles hung
+from the branches.
+
+At each end of the room, on the wall, hung a beautiful bear-skin rug.
+
+These rugs were for prizes, one for the girls and one for the boys. And
+this was the game.
+
+The girls were gathered at one end of the room and the boys at the
+other, and one end was called the North Pole, and the other the South
+Pole. Each player was given a small flag which they were to plant on
+reaching the Pole.
+
+This would have been an easy matter, but each traveller was obliged to
+wear snowshoes. These were not the real thing, but smaller affairs made
+of pasteboard. But when they were tied on, the wearer felt clumsy
+indeed, and many of the girls declared they could not walk in them at
+all. And in addition each one was blindfolded.
+
+However, everybody made an attempt, and at a given signal the young
+people started from their opposite ends of the room and endeavoured to
+make progress toward the goal as they blindly stumbled along.
+
+Patty concluded to move very slowly, thinking this the surest way to
+make a successful trip. So she scuffled along among the other laughing
+girls, now and then stumbling over a hillock, which was really a
+hassock or a sofa cushion under the white floor covering. It was great
+fun, and the girls cheered each other on as they pursued their blinded
+way. And then about midway of the room they met the boys coming toward
+them. Then there was scrambling, indeed, as the explorers tried to get
+out of each other's way and follow their own routes.
+
+It was a very long room, and Patty hadn't gone much more than halfway,
+when she concluded to give up the race as being too tiresome. She made
+her way to the side of the room, and reaching the wall she took off her
+blinding handkerchief and kicked off the snowshoes. To her great
+surprise she found that many of the other girls and some of the boys
+had done the same thing, and not half of the original contestants were
+still in the race. And, indeed, it proved to be much greater fun to
+watch those who were still blindly groping along, than to stay in the
+game.
+
+At last the game was concluded, as Roger Farrington proudly planted his
+flag at the very spot that designated the North Pole, and not long
+after, Clementine Morse succeeded in safely reaching the South Pole. So
+the beautiful rugs were given to these two as prizes, and every one
+agreed that they had earned them.
+
+Then, amid much laughter, everybody was unblindfolded, and they all sat
+around on the snow mounds waiting for the next game.
+
+A big snow man was brought in and set in the centre of the room. Of
+course it was not real snow, but made of white plaster, gleaming all
+over with diamond dust. But it was the traditional type of snow man,
+with a top hat on, and grotesque features.
+
+In the mouth of the figure was a cigarette, and each guest was
+presented with a few snowballs, made of cotton wool. The game was to
+knock the cigarette from the snow man's mouth with one of the snowballs.
+
+Of course the cigarette was so arranged that the lightest touch of a
+ball would dislodge it, and as one cigarette was displaced, Mr. Homer
+supplied another.
+
+The guests had been divided into two parties, and each side strove to
+collect the greater number of cigarettes.
+
+Some balls flew very wide of the mark, while others with unerring aim
+would hit a cigarette squarely.
+
+The game caused great hilarity, and everybody was anxious to throw
+balls. They threw in turn, each having three balls at a time.
+
+Patty was especially deft at this, and with true aim succeeded several
+times.
+
+Then when they tired of this play, a few more dances followed before it
+was time to go home.
+
+Some attendants came in and whisked away the snow hillocks and floor
+covering, leaving the ballroom once again in order for dancing.
+
+"Makes me feel young again, to play those kiddy games," said Kenneth,
+as he was dancing with Patty.
+
+"I like them," returned Patty; "I hate to think that my childhood is
+over, and I love games of any kind."
+
+"Your childhood will never be over," returned Kenneth; "I think you are
+the incarnation of youth, and always will be."
+
+"I'm not so much younger than you."
+
+"Five years,--that's a long time at our age. By the way, when are the
+Hepworths coming home?"
+
+"Next week; and we're planning the loveliest reception for them. You
+know their apartment is all ready, and we're going to have just a few
+people to supper there, the night they return."
+
+"Shall I be one of the few?"
+
+"Well, rather! The best man at the wedding must surely be at the
+home-coming. Doesn't it seem funny to think of Christine as mistress of
+her own home? She'll be perfectly lovely, I know. My goodness gracious!
+Ken, what time is it? I'm afraid I'm staying too late. I promised Nan
+I'd leave at half-past twelve."
+
+"It's not much more than that. Can't you stay for another dance?"
+
+"No, I can't possibly. I must run right away, or my motor car will turn
+into a pumpkin, and Louise into a white mouse. Take me to Mrs. Homer,
+please, and I will say good-night to her."
+
+But as they crossed the room, they met Van Reypen coming toward them.
+
+"Our dance, I think," he said, coolly, as he took Patty's hand.
+
+The music had just started, and its beautiful rhythm was too tempting
+for Patty to resist.
+
+"I'm just on my way home," she said, "but we'll go around the room
+once, and then I must go."
+
+"Once indeed!" said Philip, gaily; "we won't stop until the music does."
+
+"Yes, we will; I must go now," but somehow or other they circled the
+room several times. Patty loved dancing, and Philip was one of the best
+of partners.
+
+But at last she laughingly protested that she really must go home, and
+they went together to say good-night to their hostess. And then Patty
+said good-night to Philip, and ran away to the dressing-room, where
+Louise was patiently waiting for her.
+
+And soon, muffled up in her furs, they were rapidly spinning along
+toward home.
+
+"I didn't keep you waiting very long, did I, Louise?" said Patty,
+kindly.
+
+"No, Miss Patty, you're right on time. I expect you would have liked to
+stay longer."
+
+"Yes, I should, but I promised Mrs. Fairfield not to."
+
+When at last Patty reached her own little boudoir, she declared she was
+more tired than she had realised. So Louise took off her pretty frock,
+and Patty sat in her blue silk dressing gown while the maid brushed her
+hair. Then she brought her a cup of hot milk, and left her for the
+night.
+
+Patty wasn't sleepy, and she dawdled around her room, now and then
+sipping the milk, and then looking over her engagements for the next
+day.
+
+"Oh," she thought, suddenly, "I've left my fan at the party. I'm sorry,
+for it's my pet fan. Of course it will be safe there, but I think I'll
+telephone Marie to look it up and put it away."
+
+Knowing that the Homers would not yet have retired, Patty picked up her
+telephone and called the number.
+
+A masculine voice gave back a cheery "Hello!"
+
+"Is this Mr. Homer?" said Patty.
+
+"No, indeed. I'm Kit Cameron. Who are you, please?"
+
+"Isn't this The Wimbledon apartment house?"
+
+"It sure is."
+
+"Isn't this 6483?"
+
+"No, it's 6843. Please tell me who you are?"
+
+A spirit of mischief entered into Patty. She knew this must be Marie
+Homer's cousin, who lived on the floor above the Homers, and who, Mrs.
+Homer had said, detested girls.
+
+"But I have the wrong number," she said. "I didn't mean to call you."
+
+"But since you did call me, you must tell me who you are."
+
+"I'm a captive princess," said Patty, in rather a melancholy tone. "I'm
+imprisoned in the dungeon of a castle."
+
+"How awful! May I get a squad of soldiers and come to your rescue, oh,
+fair lady?"
+
+"Nay, nay, Sir Knight; and anyway you do not know that I am a fair
+lady."
+
+"Your voice tells me that. Surely such musical tones could belong only
+to the most beautiful princess in the world."
+
+"Oh, yes, I am THAT," and Patty laughed, roguishly; "but a well-behaved
+princess would not be talking to a strange man. So I must say good-bye."
+
+"Oh, no, no! wait a minute; you haven't told me your name yet."
+
+"And I don't intend to. You detest girls, anyway."
+
+"Yes, I always have, but you see I never met a princess before."
+
+"You haven't met me yet."
+
+"But I shall! Don't make any mistake about that."
+
+"How can you? I'm going to ring off now, and you have no way of tracing
+me."
+
+"I can find out from Central."
+
+"No, you can't."
+
+"Why can't I?"
+
+"Because I forbid you to do so."
+
+"All right; then I can't find out that way, but I'll find out some
+other way. I'll go on a quest."
+
+"Goodness, what is a quest?"
+
+"Oh, it just means that I henceforth devote my whole life to finding
+you."
+
+"But you can't find me, when you don't know my name."
+
+"I'll make up a name for you. I'll call you Princess Poppycheek."
+
+"How could you guess I'm a brunette?"
+
+"I can tell it from your voice. You have snapping black eyes and dark
+curly hair, and the reddest of red cheeks."
+
+"Exactly right!" exclaimed Patty, giggling to think how far this
+description was from her blonde pink-and-white type.
+
+"I knew it was right!" exclaimed the voice, exultantly; "and I shall
+find you very soon."
+
+"Then I shall await your coming with interest. You prefer brunettes, do
+you?"
+
+"Well, as a matter of fact, I have always admired blondes more, but I'm
+quite willing to change my tastes for you. Do you sing?"
+
+For answer, Patty sang softly into the telephone, the little song of
+"Beware, take care, she is fooling thee."
+
+Although she did little more than hum it, Mr. Cameron was greatly
+impressed with her voice.
+
+"By jove!" he exclaimed. "You CAN sing! Now, I can find you easily.
+There are not many voices like that in this wicked world."
+
+"Do you sing yourself? But I don't want to know, I haven't the least
+interest in a stranger, and besides, I'm going to ring off now."
+
+"Oh, wait a minute! I don't sing, but I do something better. Don't ring
+off, just listen a minute."
+
+Patty listened, and in a moment she heard a violin played softly. It
+was played by a master hand, and she heard an exquisite rendition of
+the "Spring Song."
+
+"Beautiful!" she exclaimed, as the last notes died away, and then
+suddenly realising that she herself was acting in a most unconventional
+manner, she said abruptly, "Thank you; good-bye," and quickly hung up
+her receiver.
+
+For some time she sat thinking about it. Curled up in a big easy chair,
+her blue silk boudoir gown trailing around her, she sat giggling over
+her escapade.
+
+"It's all right," she assured herself, "for of course I know who he is,
+though he doesn't know me. He is Mrs. Homer's nephew, so it's just the
+same as if I had met him properly. And, anyhow, he hasn't an idea who I
+am, and he never can find out from the description he has of me!"
+
+Still giggling over the episode, Patty went to bed and to sleep.
+
+The next morning, as she thought it over, she realised that she hadn't
+succeeded in securing her fan, and she determined to go around and see
+Marie that afternoon, and get it.
+
+So that afternoon she went to make her call.
+
+"It was a beautiful party," she said to Marie, as the two girls chatted
+together. "I love games for a change from dancing, and the games you
+had were so novel."
+
+"I'm glad to hear you say that," said Marie, "for I was afraid they
+would seem too childish."
+
+"No, indeed," returned Patty; "and now put on your hat and come out
+with me for a little while. I'm going to a picture exhibition, and I'd
+love to have you go too. But first, did I leave my fan here last
+evening?"
+
+"There was a beautiful fan left here,--an Empire fan. Is this yours?"
+
+Marie produced the fan and Patty recognised it as her own.
+
+"But I can't go this afternoon," said Marie, "because Cousin Kit is
+coming down to practise some new music. Won't you stay and hear him
+play? He is really a very good violinist."
+
+Patty considered. She rather wanted to meet this young man, but she was
+afraid he would think her forward. So after a little further chat, she
+rose, saying she must go. And it was just as she was going out that Mr.
+Cameron came in, with his violin under his arm.
+
+Patty was obliged to pause a moment, as Marie presented her cousin, but
+the young man, though courteous, showed no interest whatever in Miss
+Fairfield. Patty's pretty face was almost invisible through her motor
+veil, and as Mr. Cameron had no idea that she was the girl who had
+talked to him the night before, and as he really had no interest in
+girls in general, he merely made a very polite bow and went directly
+toward the piano.
+
+"I wish you'd stay and hear some music," said Marie, but Patty only
+murmured a refusal, not wanting Mr. Cameron to hear her voice, lest he
+recognise it.
+
+He was an attractive looking man of fine physique and handsome face,
+but he looked extremely dignified and not very good-natured.
+
+"All musicians are cross," Patty thought to herself as she went down in
+the elevator, "and I wasn't going to have that man think that I went
+around to Marie's to see him!"
+
+She decided to call for Elise to go to the art gallery with her, and
+she found that young woman ready and glad to go.
+
+"I hadn't a thing to do this afternoon," said Elise, as they started
+off, "and I love to go anywhere with you, Patty. Shall we have a cup of
+tea afterwards?"
+
+And so it was after they had seen the pictures, and as they were
+sitting in a cosy little tea-room, that Elise said suddenly:
+
+"Do you know Mr. Cameron? He's a cousin of Marie Homer's."
+
+"I don't know him," said Patty, smiling, "but I've been introduced to
+him. Just as I was leaving Marie's to-day, he came in. But he was very
+abstracted in his manner. He merely bowed, and without a word he went
+straight on to the piano and began fussing with his music."
+
+"You were just leaving, anyway?"
+
+"Yes; but I would have remained a few moments, if he had been more
+sociable. But, of course, I couldn't insist on his talking to me, if he
+didn't want to."
+
+"He doesn't like girls," said Elise, but as she spoke she smiled in a
+self-conscious way.
+
+"So I've heard," said Patty, smiling herself. "He seems young to be
+what they call a woman-hater. I thought only old bachelors were that.
+Well, he has no interest for me. There are plenty of boys in our own
+set."
+
+"Don't you tell, if I tell you something," and now Elise looked
+decidedly important.
+
+"What is it? I won't tell."
+
+"Well, it's the funniest thing! That Mr. Cameron wants to meet me,
+though he never has seen me."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Patty, in astonishment. "Why does he want to meet
+you?"
+
+"I don't know, I'm sure. But he was at Marie's this morning, and asked
+her if she knew any girl who was gay and merry and had a sweet voice,
+and had dark hair and eyes and rosy cheeks. And Marie says she knows he
+means me, and I think he does too! Isn't it exciting?"
+
+"Yes," said Patty, drily. "But you don't sing much, Elise."
+
+"Oh, of course I don't sing like you do, but I have a fairly decent
+voice."
+
+"But how mysterious it is. What does he know about you?"
+
+"I don't know. It IS mysterious. He wouldn't tell Marie anything except
+that he wanted to know the name of the girl he described; and he said
+she must be friendly enough with Marie to call her up on the telephone
+in the middle of the night."
+
+"But did you do that?" asked Patty, who was really shaking with
+laughter.
+
+"Yes; I called her up last night after I got home from the party,
+because I'd left my spangled scarf there, and I wanted her to put it
+away safely for me."
+
+"I always leave things at a party, too," said Patty, looking innocent.
+"I left my fan at Marie's last night. So I went there to-day and got
+it."
+
+"Well, I thought I'd better telephone, for so many girls leave things
+and they get scattered or lost."
+
+"Well, what did your telephoning have to do with Mr. Cameron?"
+
+"I don't know; that's the queer part of it. Perhaps the wires were
+crossed and he heard me talking."
+
+"H'm," said Patty, "perhaps he did. When are you going to meet him,
+Elise?"
+
+"I don't know; but Marie says she'll have a few friends to tea some day
+soon, and she'll ask him. She says it'll have to be a very small tea,
+because he hates to meet people."
+
+"Why doesn't she have just you two? I think it would be more romantic."
+
+"Oh, nonsense. This isn't romance. I think Mr. Cameron is a freak,
+anyway. But it's all amusing, and I hope you'll be at the tea,
+yourself, Patty."
+
+"I will if I'm asked," said Patty.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE HEPWORTHS AT HOME
+
+
+It was the day of Christine's home-coming, and Patty was busy as a bee
+preparing for the great event. The pretty apartment where the Hepworths
+were to live was all furnished and equipped, but Patty was looking
+after the dainty appointments of a party.
+
+Not a large party, only about a dozen of their own set. Nan was there,
+too, and Elise Farrington, and they were arranging flowers in bowls and
+jars and vases, till the rooms were a bower of blossoms.
+
+"What time will they arrive?" said Elise.
+
+"We expected them about six o'clock," returned Patty; "but I had a
+telegram, and their train is delayed, so they can't get here until
+nine. So I want the party all assembled when they come. It's five now,
+and everything's about done, so we can scoot home and get some dinner
+and get dressed, and be back here before they arrive. I'll be here by
+half-past eight, for the caterers are coming then, and I want to see
+about the table."
+
+So they all went home to dress, and before half-past eight Patty was
+back again.
+
+There were two maids already installed, but Patty found plenty to do in
+superintending matters, and she hadn't much more than completed the
+decorations of the table, when the guests began to come.
+
+"Isn't the apartment lovely?" exclaimed Mona Galbraith, as she went
+through the rooms. "This music-room, or living-room, or whatever you
+call it, is just dear! Who selected the furnishings?"
+
+"Oh, Mr. Hepworth and Christine," said Patty; "two artists, you know;
+of course the rooms ought to be beautiful. It is a lovely place, and
+just the right setting for that darling of a Christine."
+
+The whole merry crowd were assembled in the living-room, when the bride
+and groom arrived. A shout of welcome went up from the young people,
+and Christine was smothered in girlish embraces, while the men
+vigorously shook Mr. Hepworth's hand, or clapped him on the shoulder,
+in their masculine way of congratulation.
+
+Christine looked very sweet and smiling, in a pretty travelling gown,
+but Patty carried her off at once and insisted that she get into a
+house gown.
+
+"The idea," said Patty, "of a hostess in a high-collared frock and all
+her guests in evening dress!"
+
+So Christine quickly changed to a little chiffon gown of pale green and
+Patty tucked a pink rose in her hair and some more in her belt.
+
+"Now you look like a bride," said Patty, nodding approval at her, and
+leading her to a mirror; "look at that vision of beauty! Aren't you
+glad I made you change?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am," said Christine, in mock humility; "it's much better so."
+
+The evening was a merry one. They danced and they sang and they chatted
+and finally they had the delightful supper that Patty had ordered.
+
+Christine, blushing prettily, took the head of the table, while Gilbert
+Hepworth, with a proud air of proprietorship, sat at the other end.
+
+Patty, as guest of honour, sat at the right hand of her host.
+
+"It has always been my aspiration," she said, with a beaming smile at
+Christine, "to have a married friend to visit. I warn you, Christine, I
+shall spend most of my time here. There's one little nook of a bedroom
+I claim as my own and I expect to occupy it very frequently. And,
+besides, I have to give you lessons in housekeeping. You're a great
+artist, I know, but you must learn to do lots of other things beside
+paint."
+
+"I wish you would, Patty," and the little bride looked very much in
+earnest; "I truly want to keep house, but being an artist and a
+Southern girl both, I don't believe I'm very capable."
+
+"You're a blessed dear, that's what YOU are"; and Patty turned to
+Hepworth, saying, "Isn't she?"
+
+"Yes, indeed," he returned; "I've only just begun to realise the
+beautiful qualities in her nature. And it is to you, Patty, that I owe
+my happiness. I shall never forget what you did in order that Christine
+might come to New York."
+
+"And now we are surprised at the result," said Patty, who never could
+be serious for long at a time. "Come on, people, you've had enough
+supper, let's have one more dance and then we must go home and leave
+these turtledoves to their own nest."
+
+But the one dance proved to mean several, until at last Patty said,
+"This will never do! Christine is all tired out, and as the
+superintendent of this party I order you all to go home at once."
+
+The others laughingly agreed, except Philip Van Reypen, who came near
+Patty and murmured, "You haven't danced with me once to-night, and
+you've been awful cruel to me lately, anyway. Now let us have one more
+dance in honour of the bride's home-coming."
+
+"No," said Patty, firmly, "not another dance to-night."
+
+"Just a part of one, then," begged Philip; but Patty was inexorable.
+
+And so the merry crowd dispersed, Patty lingering a moment to give
+Christine a good-night kiss and wish her every blessing and happiness
+in her new home.
+
+"And I have you to thank for it all, Patty dear," said Christine, her
+blue eyes looking lovingly into Patty's own.
+
+"Nonsense, thank your own sweet self. You well deserve the happiness
+that has come to you. And now good-night, dear; I'll be over some time
+to-morrow."
+
+The laughing group went away, and as it had been planned, Mona took
+Patty home in her car.
+
+"I wish you'd go on home with me, Patsy," said Mona, as they rolled
+along toward Patty's house.
+
+"Can't possibly do it. I've a thousand and one things to look after
+to-morrow morning."
+
+"But it isn't late; really it's awfully early. And I'll send you home
+early to-morrow morning."
+
+"No, I mustn't, really, Mona. I have to look after some things for the
+Happy Saturday Club, which it won't do to neglect. And I want to run
+over to Christine's to-morrow morning, too. I have some things to take
+to her."
+
+"Do you know, Patty, I think they're an awfully humdrum couple."
+
+"Who? The Hepworths? Oh, I don't think humdrum is the right
+word,--they're just serious-minded."
+
+"But Mr. Hepworth is so old and prosy, and Christine seems to me just a
+little nonentity."
+
+"Now, Mona, that isn't fair. Just because you are a frivolous-headed
+butterfly of fashion, you oughtn't to disdain people who happen to have
+one or two ideas in their heads."
+
+"Well, the only ideas they have are about pictures."
+
+"Pictures are good ideas."
+
+"Yes, good enough, of course. But there's no fun in them."
+
+"That's the whole trouble with the Hepworths. They haven't any fun in
+them. Neither of them has a sense of humour. But that's good, too; for
+if one had and the other hadn't, they'd be miserable for life. But as
+it is they don't know what they miss."
+
+"No, they don't. Patty, don't ever marry a man without a sense of
+humour."
+
+"Trust your Aunt Patty for that. But I don't propose to marry anybody."
+
+"Of course not; he'd propose to you."
+
+"Funny Mona! Don't let your sense of humour run away with you. Well,
+this facetious 'he' that you conjured up in your imagination may
+propose all he likes; I sha'n't accept him,--at least not for many
+years. I mean to have a lot of fun before I get engaged. Can you
+imagine me settled down in a little apartment like Christine's,
+devoting myself to domestic duties?"
+
+"No; but I can fancy you married to a millionaire with two or three
+country houses and yachts and all sorts of things."
+
+"Good gracious, Mona. I don't aspire to all that! Just because YOU're a
+millionairess, yourself, you needn't think everybody else longs for
+untold wealth. After I get pretty well along in years,--I think I shall
+marry a college professor, or a great scientist. I do love brainy men."
+
+"Well, there are no brainy men in our set."
+
+"Oh, Mona, what a libel! Our boys,--somehow I never can think of them
+as men,--are quite brainy enough for their age. And at the present day,
+I'd rather have fun with Ken or Roger, just talking foolishness, than
+to discourse with this wise professor I'm talking about. But of course,
+I wouldn't marry Ken or Roger even if they wanted me to, which they
+don't."
+
+"Oh, yes, they do, Patty; everybody wants to marry you."
+
+"Don't be a goose, Mona; you know perfectly well that Roger is over
+head and ears in love with you. Of course, I'm mortally jealous, for he
+was my friend first, and you stole him away from me. But I'll forgive
+you if you'll let up on this foolish subject and talk about something
+interesting."
+
+"I will, Patty, if you'll tell me one thing. Don't you like Mr. Van
+Reypen very much?"
+
+"Phil Van Reypen? Of course I do! I adore him,--I worship the ground he
+walks on! I think he's the dearest, sweetest chap I ever knew!"
+
+"Would you marry him?"
+
+"Not on your life! Excuse my French, Mona, but you do make me tired!
+NOW will you be good? We're nearly home and I had a lot of things I
+wanted to ask you, and here you've been and went and gone and wasted
+all our time! Foolish girl! Here we are at my house, and I thank you,
+kind lady, for bringing me safely home. If you'll let your statuesque
+footman see me in at my own door, I'll promise to dream of you all
+night."
+
+The girls exchanged affectionate good-nights, and Patty ran up the
+steps and Louise let her in.
+
+"Nobody home?" asked Patty, noting the dim lights in the rooms.
+
+"No, Miss Patty," answered Louise, "Mr. and Mrs. Fairfield are not in
+yet."
+
+"Well, I'm not a bit sleepy, Louise, and I'm not going to bed now. I
+shall stay in the library for awhile,--perhaps until they come home."
+
+Louise took Patty's wraps and went away, and Patty wandered around the
+library selecting a book to read. The girl was a light sleeper, and she
+often liked to read a while before retiring.
+
+But after she had selected a book and arranged a cosy corner in a big
+easy-chair by a reading light, she still sat idle, with her book
+unopened.
+
+"I don't feel a bit like reading," she thought to herself; "I do hate
+to come home from a party so early. Of course I could write some
+letters, but I don't feel like that, either. I feel like doing
+something frisky."
+
+She jumped up and turned on more lights. Then, chancing to see herself
+in the long mirror, she bowed profoundly to the pretty reflected
+figure, saying: "Good-evening, Miss Fairfield, how well you're looking
+this evening. Won't you sing a little for us?"
+
+Then she danced into the music-room, and sitting down at the piano,
+sang a gay little song.
+
+Then she sang another, and then looking over some old music she came
+across the little song, "Beware," that she had sung over the telephone
+to Kit Cameron. Naturally her thoughts turned to that young man, whom
+she had almost forgotten, and she wondered if he had met Elise yet.
+
+"That was quite a jolly little escapade," she said to herself; "that
+young man certainly thought I was a little black-eyed beauty, and when
+he does see Elise, of course he'll think she's the one. I believe I'll
+call him up and mystify him a little more. It's all right, because I've
+really been introduced to him, and if he doesn't remember me, _I_ can't
+help it! Probably he'll be out anyway; but I'll have a try at it."
+
+Returning to the library, Patty sat down at the telephone and called up
+Mr. Cameron's number.
+
+His own gay, cheery self answered "Hello," and Patty said in a shy
+little voice, "Is this you, Mr. Cameron?"
+
+"Bless my soul! if it isn't my fair Unknown, again!"
+
+"Why do you call me, fair, when you know I'm dark?"
+
+"Oh, fair in this case means bewitching and lovely. It doesn't stand
+for tow hair and light blue eyes! and neither do I!"
+
+"But you said you liked blondes."
+
+"I used to, before I knew you."
+
+"But you don't know me."
+
+"Oh, but I do! I know you a whole heap better than lots of people who
+have seen you. There's something in a telephone conversation that
+discloses the real inner nature. It was dear of you to call me up
+to-night. You don't know how it pleases me!"
+
+"Oh, I didn't do it to please you. But I'm all alone in my dungeon
+tower--"
+
+"Wait a minute; what IS a dungeon tower?"
+
+"Oh, don't quibble. Anyway, I'm all alone, and I simply had to have
+some one to speak to."
+
+"How did you know I'd be here?"
+
+"Be there! Why, I assumed that you sat at your telephone every evening,
+waiting to see if I would call you!"
+
+"You little rascal! That's exactly what I have done, but I don't see
+how you knew it. Are you still a captive princess?"
+
+"Yes; they keep me on bread and water, and not very much of that."
+
+"Couldn't I come and try to liberate you?"
+
+"No, Sir Knight. Alas, you would but be captured yourself."
+
+"But to be captured in such a cause, would be a glorious fate!"
+
+"Oh, aren't you romantic! I really wish it were the Fifteenth Century,
+and you could come on a dashing charger, and rescue me with a rope
+ladder! I'm simply dying for an escapade!"
+
+"All right; I'll be there in a few minutes!"
+
+"No, no! it's just five centuries too late. Now, one can only meet
+people in humdrum drawing-rooms."
+
+"And do you think there's no romance left in the world?"
+
+"_I_ can't find any." Naughty Patty put a most pathetic inflection in
+her voice, which touched Mr. Cameron's heart.
+
+"Look here, my lady," he said, "there IS romance left in this old
+world, and we're IT! Now, this telephoning is all very well, but I'm
+determined to meet you face to face. And that before long, too."
+
+"Oh, you've been making inquiries about me. You know I forbade that."
+
+"No, you didn't; you only said I mustn't ask Central who telephoned.
+There was surely no harm in asking my cousin who called her up the
+other night. And very naturally she told me. So she's going to be the
+Fairy Godmother who will bring us together by the touch of her magic
+wand."
+
+"Oh, if you know who I am, the fun is all gone out of our escapade!"
+
+"Not at all; the fun is only about to begin."
+
+"Then Marie did tell you all about me?" And Patty's tones betokened
+disappointment.
+
+"She didn't need to tell me much about you. She told me your name, and
+the rest I want to know about you, I either know already or I shall
+learn for myself."
+
+"If you know my name, why don't you call me by it?" And Patty had great
+difficulty to stifle her laughter.
+
+"May I call you by your first name?"
+
+"Not as a regular thing, of course. But if you know it, you may use it
+just once. But you can only use it to say good-night. For this session
+is over now."
+
+"But I don't WANT to say good-night. I want to talk to you a long time
+yet."
+
+"Alas, that may not be. It is even now time for my jailers to visit my
+dungeon, and if they catch me at this foolish trick, they will probably
+reduce my allowance of bread and water. And so, if you're going to call
+me by name, you must do it quickly, for I'm going to hang up this
+receiver, as soon as I say good-night!"
+
+Patty's positive tones apparently carried conviction that she would do
+just as she said, for Mr. Cameron sighed deeply and responded, "It is
+such a beautiful name it seems a pity to use it only once. But I know
+you mean what you say, so as your liege knight, fair lady, I obey.
+Good-night--Elise--"
+
+The name came slowly, as if the speaker wished to make the most of it,
+and Patty fairly thrust the receiver back on its hook as she burst into
+laughter. It surely was a joke on the young man! He had asked Marie who
+was her pretty brunette friend, and Marie had honestly thought he must
+mean Elise Farrington.
+
+Patty was still giggling when her parents came in from a concert they
+had been attending.
+
+"What IS the matter, Patty?" asked Nan. "Why do you sit up here alone,
+grinning like a Chessy cat, and giggling like a school-girl? Were the
+Hepworths so funny that you can't get over it?"
+
+And then Patty told Nan and her father the whole story of Kit Cameron
+and the telephone.
+
+Nan laughed in sympathy, but Mr. Fairfield looked a little dubious.
+
+"And I thought you a well-brought up young woman," he said,--half in
+earnest and half in jest. "Do you think it's correct to telephone to
+strange young men? I'm shocked! that's what I am,--SHOCKED."
+
+"Fiddlesticks, Fred," said Nan; "it's perfectly all right. In the first
+place, the man HAS been introduced to Patty. She met him at Miss
+Homer's."
+
+"But she telephoned BEFORE she met him," stormed Mr. Fairfield, for
+Patty had told the whole story.
+
+"But she didn't do it purposely," said Nan, impatiently. "She got him
+on the wire by mistake. She couldn't help THAT. And, anyway, when he
+said he was Miss Homer's cousin, that made it all right. I think it's a
+gay little joke, and I'd like to see that young man's face when he
+meets Patty!"
+
+"I shan't meet him," said Patty, pretending to look doleful; "he hates
+tow-headed girls."
+
+"Well, you're certainly that," said her father, looking at her with
+pretended disapproval. "I have to tell you the truth once in awhile,
+because everybody else flatters you until you're a spoiled baby."
+
+"Tow-headed, am I?" and Patty ran to her father, and rubbed her golden
+curls against his own blond head. "And, if you please, where did I
+inherit my tow? If I hadn't had a tow-headed father I might have been
+the poppy-cheeked brunette that everybody admires. It isn't fair for
+YOU to comment on MY tow-head!"
+
+"That's so, Pattikins; and I take it all back," for Mr. Fairfield could
+never resist his pretty daughter's cajolery. "You are a pretty little
+doll-faced thing, and I expect I'll have to forgive your very
+reprehensible behaviour."
+
+"I'm NOT a doll-face," said Patty, pouting; "I shan't let you go until
+you take THAT back."
+
+As Patty had her arms tightly round her father's neck, he considered it
+the better part of valour to take back his words. "All right," he said,
+"rather than be garroted,--I retract! You're a beautiful and dignified
+lady, and your notions of convention and etiquette are above reproach."
+
+"They're above YOUR reproaches, anyhow," returned Patty, saucily, and
+then she ran away to her own room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A PERFECTLY GOOD JOKE
+
+
+Patty decided to do nothing in the matter of meeting Kit Cameron. She
+dearly loved a joke, and this seemed to her a good one. But she thought
+it would spoil it, if she made any move in the game herself. So she
+bided her time, and it was perhaps a week later that Marie Homer came
+to call on her.
+
+As Marie hadn't the slightest notion that Patty was the girl her cousin
+had in mind, the subject was not mentioned until just before Marie
+left, when she asked Patty if she would come to her home the next week
+to a little musicale.
+
+"Not a big party," said Miss Homer, "just a dozen or so really musical
+people to spend the evening. And I want you to sing, if you will. My
+cousin will be there,--the one who plays the violin."
+
+"I thought he detested society," said Patty, her eyes twinkling a
+little.
+
+"I don't know what's come over Kit," returned Marie, looking perplexed.
+"He's been the funniest thing of late. He has some girl in his mind--"
+
+"A girl!" exclaimed Patty; "I thought he scorned them."
+
+"Well, I can't make this out. It's awfully mysterious. I think I'll
+tell you about it."
+
+"Do," said Patty, demurely.
+
+"Two or three weeks ago,--in fact, it was the day after my valentine
+party,--Kit asked me which of my friends had telephoned me late the
+night before. You know he lives in the apartment just above ours, and
+it seems the wires were crossed or something, but he heard this girl's
+voice, and now he insists he wants to meet her. I don't think Elise
+Farrington has such a fascinating voice, do you?" "Elise!" exclaimed
+Patty, in pretended surprise; "what has SHE to do with it?"
+
+"Why," explained Marie, "Elise did call me up that night, to say she
+had left her scarf. But how Kit discovered that she was a red-cheeked
+brunette, is more than _I_ can understand. You can't know that from a
+voice, now, can you?"
+
+"No," said Patty, decidedly, "you CAN'T!"
+
+"Well, then, a week or two went by, and I told Elise about this, but
+somehow I couldn't manage to get them together. Every time Elise came
+to our house, Kit would be away somewhere. But a few days ago I did
+manage to have them meet."
+
+"Did you?" exclaimed Patty; "for gracious sake, WHAT happened?"
+
+Marie looked a little surprised at Patty's excited interest, but she
+went on: "Oh, it was AWFULLY funny. Elise looked lovely that day. She
+had just come in from skating, and her cheeks were red and her eyes
+sparkled, and her furs were SO becoming! I introduced Kit, and I could
+see he admired her immensely. There were several people there, so I
+left these two together. They were getting on famously, when Kit said
+to her, 'Are you still a Captive Princess?'
+
+"I didn't know what he meant, and Elise didn't either, for she looked
+perfectly blank, and asked him why he said that. And Kit told her she
+knew well enough why he said it, and Elise thought he must be crazy.
+However, they got along all right until Kit asked me to get Elise to
+sing. Now, you know Elise doesn't sing much; she has a nice little
+contralto voice, but she never sings for people. But do you know, she
+was perfectly willing, and she sang a little lullaby or something like
+that, rather sweetly, _I_ thought. But such a change came over Kit's
+manner! I don't know how to express it. He was polite and courteous, of
+course; but he seemed to have lost all interest in Elise."
+
+"But your cousin IS a sort of a freak, isn't he?" said Patty, who was
+deeply interested in Marie's story.
+
+"Why, no, he isn't a freak. He's a musician, but he's an awfully nice
+chap, and real sensible. He hates society as a bunch, but he often
+likes an individual here and there, and when he does he can be awfully
+nice and friendly. But this whole performance was so QUEER. He wanted
+to meet Elise, and when he did, he admired her, I could see that; but
+when she sang, the light all went out of his face, and he looked
+terribly disappointed. The girl isn't a great singer, but why in the
+world should he expect her to be, or care so much because she isn't?"
+
+"It IS strange!" murmured Patty; "how did Elise take it?"
+
+"Oh, I don't think she minded much; she thinks the boy half crazy,
+anyway; asking her if she was a captive princess! And, of course, he
+didn't let HER see that he was disappointed in her voice. But I know
+Kit so well, that I can tell the moment he loses interest in anybody.
+I'm awfully fond of Kit,--we've grown up more like brother and sister
+than cousins."
+
+"What's he like? Has he any fun in him?"
+
+"Well, he loves practical jokes,--that is, if they're not mean. He
+couldn't do a mean or unkind thing to anybody. But he likes anything
+out of the ordinary. Escapades or cutting up jinks. He and
+Beatrice,--that's my younger sister,--are always playing tricks on us,
+when she's at home. But it's always good-natured fun, so we don't mind.
+Oh, Kit's a dear; but you never can tell whether he's going to like
+people or not. He likes so very few."
+
+"But he liked Elise?"
+
+"Oh, yes; in a general way. But, for some reason I can't make out, he
+was terribly disappointed in her."
+
+"And he's going to play at your musicale?"
+
+"Yes; and I want you to sing. We have two or three other musicians, and
+it will really be rather worth while."
+
+Patty hesitated. If she went to this party, and met Kit, all the
+mystery of her little romance with him would be ended. He would be more
+disappointed in her than he had been in Elise, for at least she
+conformed to his favourite type of beauty, and Patty was quite the
+reverse. She could sing, to be sure, but probably her voice would not
+charm him, when robbed of the glamour lent by the telephone.
+
+"Oh, DO say yes," Marie urged; "it will be a nice party, and if I've
+left out any people you specially want, I'll invite them."
+
+But Marie's list included all of Patty's set, and as she rather wanted
+to go, she finally decided to say yes.
+
+"Good for you!" exclaimed Marie; "now I know the party will be a
+success!"
+
+"You always say that to me," said Patty, laughing. "_I_ don't make
+parties a success."
+
+"Yes, you do," said Marie, in a tone of firm conviction; "you're so
+nice, and pretty, and smiling, and always seem to have such a good
+time, that it makes everybody else have a good time."
+
+"What do you want me to sing?"
+
+"I don't care at all. Make your own selections. I like you best, I
+think, in some of those sweet, simple ballads."
+
+"I rarely sing anything but ballads or simple music," said Patty, "my
+voice isn't strong enough for operatic soaring."
+
+"Well, sing what you like, Patty, if you only come," and Marie went
+away, greatly elated at having secured Patty's consent to sing at her
+musicale.
+
+Patty at once went to the piano, and began to look over her music. She
+smiled as she came across "Beware," but she concluded that would not do
+for a regular program, though she might use it as an encore.
+
+She made her selections with care, as she honestly wanted to do credit
+to Marie's musicale, and then, taking several pieces of music, she ran
+up to Nan's room to ask her final judgment in the matter.
+
+"You'll have a lot of fun out of this, Patty," said Nan, laughing, as
+she heard the whole story. "When is it to be?"
+
+"Friday night. Do you know, Nan, I'd like to play a joke on that boy,
+between now and then."
+
+"I think you are playing a joke on him,--and, besides, he isn't a boy."
+
+"No; Marie says he's about twenty-four. He's a civil engineer, besides
+being a musician. But, anyway, I've got him guessing. I'm glad Elise
+didn't take it to heart, that she wasn't the right girl,--but Marie
+says Elise thinks he's a freak, anyway. And, too, I believe he's not
+very nice to girls as a rule, so of course Elise won't want him. Oh,
+_I_'M the only girl in the world for him!"
+
+Patty pirouetted about the room on the tips of her toes, waving a sheet
+of music in either hand.
+
+"What a silly you are, Patty, with your foolishness!"
+
+Patty dropped on one knee at her stepmother's side, and clasping her
+hands, looked up beseechingly into the smiling face over her.
+
+"But you love silly, foolish little girls, don't you, Nancy Nan?"
+
+"Yes, when they're you," and Nan patted the shining head at her knee.
+
+"Well, very few of them ARE me!"
+
+"Thank goodness for that! I don't know what I'd do if you were a half a
+dozen!"
+
+"You'd have just six times as much fun in your life!" and Patty jumped
+up and began to sing the songs she had brought.
+
+Then together they decided on the ones she should sing at the musicale.
+
+Although Patty's voice was not very strong, it was sweet and true and
+had been carefully cultivated. She sang with much charm, and her music
+always gave pleasure. She never attempted anything beyond her powers,
+and so her songs, while selected with good taste, were not pretentious.
+
+That evening, while Patty was fluttering around her room, pretending to
+get ready for bed, but really dawdling, she was moved to telephone once
+again to the young man who was fond of jokes.
+
+"It's you, is it?" he almost growled, in response to her call.
+
+"Yes," said Patty, in a meek little voice; "shall I go away?"
+
+"Great jumping cows! NO! Don't go away, stay right where you are!"
+
+"But I'm going away for ever," said Patty, moved by a dramatic impulse;
+"my captors have found out that I'm holding communication with you, and
+they're going to take me away to another castle, and imprison me there."
+
+"Stop your fooling; I want to know who you are, and I want to know it
+quick! Do you hear THAT?"
+
+"Yes, I hear," returned Patty, saucily, "but I don't have to answer!
+And if you talk to me like that, I shall hang up this receiver."
+
+"I won't talk like that any more. But, do you know, I thought I had
+found you, and you turned out to be somebody else."
+
+"But I can't be anybody else. I'm only myself."
+
+"Be serious a minute, won't you? I went to my cousin's and met a
+beautiful, poppy-cheeked princess; but she wasn't you."
+
+"How do you know she wasn't?"
+
+"Because she couldn't sing a LITTLE bit! And you can."
+
+"I can sing a LITTLE bit! Oh, thank you!"
+
+"Now, I want to ask you something. You know my cousin, don't you?"
+
+"Have you sisters and cousins, whom you reckon up by dozens?"
+
+"It doesn't matter if I have. I mean my cousin, Marie Homer, to whom
+you telephoned, or tried to, on the fourteenth of February. But you got
+me, instead, and that means we're each other's valentine. See?"
+
+"No, I don't see at all. I only like pretty valentines."
+
+"Oh, I'm as pretty as a picture! That part is all right. Now, I've
+tried my best to find out who you are, from Marie. But either she can't
+or won't tell. But I've found out one thing, for certain. You're NOT
+Miss Farrington."
+
+"No, I'm not; but I never said I was."
+
+"I know you didn't, but you told me you were a pretty brunette, with
+poppy cheeks,--and Miss Farrington is that."
+
+"Did I tell you I was PRETTY? Oh, I'm SURE I didn't!"
+
+"You didn't have to. I know that myself. Now, if you'll keep still a
+minute, _I_'D like to speak."
+
+"If I can't talk, I may as well hang up this receiver, for I'm sure I
+don't want to sit here and listen to you."
+
+"Chatterbox! Now, listen; Marie is having a musicale next Friday night,
+and I want you to come."
+
+"Without an invitation!" Patty's voice sounded horrified.
+
+"Yes;" impatiently. "Marie would invite you fast enough if she knew who
+you were."
+
+"Perhaps she HAS invited me."
+
+"No, she hasn't; I saw her list. It's a small party, not more than
+twenty. And I asked her about each one, and not one of the ladies
+seemed to correspond to your description."
+
+"Who's going to sing?" asked Patty, calmly.
+
+"Only two ladies; a Miss Curtiss and a Miss Fairfield."
+
+"Perhaps I'm one of those."
+
+"No; I asked Marie, and she says Miss Fairfield is a pretty little
+blonde, and Miss Curtiss is a tall, brown-haired young woman."
+
+"Don't you know either of these ladies?"
+
+"No; that is, I've never seen Miss Curtiss, but Marie says I met Miss
+Fairfield one day, for a moment."
+
+"Don't you remember her?"
+
+"Hardly; she seemed an insignificant little thing."
+
+"Pretty?"
+
+"How do I know! She was all wrapped up in motor togs, and acted like a
+gawky schoolgirl."
+
+"She did! Why, _I_ know that Fairfield girl, and she isn't gawky a bit!
+She's a fascinating blonde."
+
+"No blonde can fascinate ME! MY girl is a poppy-cheeked brunette, and
+I'm going to catch her before long. Ah, DO come to Marie's
+party,--won't you?"
+
+"I've never yet gone where I wasn't invited, and I don't propose to
+begin now. But if you can get Marie to invite me, I'll go."
+
+"Don't be so cruel! I can't do more than I have in the matter. I've
+teased Marie to death over this thing, and she can't think who you can
+be, unless you're a Miss Galbraith. You're not, are you?"
+
+"Gracious, no! I'm not Mona Galbraith!"
+
+"I knew you weren't; Marie says SHE can't sing. Oh, dear, you're a
+perfect torment! Pretty princess,--pretty Princess Poppy-cheek, WON'T
+you take pity on your humble slave and adorer, and tell me your name?"
+
+"No; but I'll tell you what I will do. I'll send you my photograph."
+
+"Oh, you heavenly angel! You dear, beautiful princess! When will you
+send it? Don't wait for the morning; call a messenger, and send it
+to-night!"
+
+"I'll do nothing of the sort. I'll send it to-morrow morning,--by
+messenger, if you like,--and if you'll promise not to ask the messenger
+who sent it."
+
+"I'll promise that if you so ordain. I guess I can play cricket!"
+
+"All right then; now listen, yourself. I shall send you three pictures.
+You pick out the one you think I am, and take it to Marie, and if you
+are right, she'll invite me. She knows me well enough, but she can't
+recognise me from your description."
+
+"I don't think it's fair for you to play that way; but I'm dead sure I
+can pick out your picture from the three."
+
+"All right then; good-night!" And Patty hung up the receiver with a
+snap.
+
+Then she lay back in her big chair and indulged in a series of giggles.
+
+"Sam Weller says," she said, to herself, "that the great art of letter
+writing is to break off suddenly and make 'em wish they was more,--and
+I expect that applies equally well to telephoning."
+
+And she was quite right, for the impatient young man at the other end
+of the wire was chagrined indeed when the connection was cut off. He
+was too honourable to use any forbidden means of discovering Patty's
+identity, and so would not ask to see any telephone records, and was
+quite willing to promise not to quiz a messenger boy. And so, he could
+do nothing but wait impatiently for the promised photograph.
+
+Meanwhile Miss Patricia Fairfield was looking over her portrait
+collection to see what ones to send. She had a box full of old
+photographs, but she wanted to select just the right ones.
+
+But at last she tumbled them all on the table in a heap, and wisely
+decided to leave the decision till morning.
+
+And so it happened, that when Nan came to Patty's room next morning, as
+she often did, she found that coquettish damsel, sitting up in bed,
+wrapped in a blue silk nightingale, and with a flower-decked lace cap
+somewhat askew on her tumbled curls.
+
+Her breakfast tray sat untouched on its little stand, while on the
+counterpane were spread out some twoscore portraits of more or less
+beautiful maidens.
+
+"What ARE you doing?" said Nan; "playing photograph solitaire?"
+
+"I'm playing a game of photographs," said Patty, raising a pair of
+solemn blue eyes to Nan, "but it isn't exactly solitaire."
+
+"You needn't tell ME! You're cutting up some trick with that new man of
+yours." And Nan deliberately brushed away some pictures, and sat down
+on the side of the bed.
+
+"You're a wizard!" and Patty gazed at her stepmother. "You could have
+made your fortune, Nan, as a clairvoyant, telling people what they knew
+already! But since you're here, DO help me out." And Patty told Nan the
+scheme of the three photographs.
+
+Now, Nan was only six years older than Patty herself, and she entered
+into the joke with almost as much enthusiasm as the younger girl.
+
+"Shall you send one of your own, really?" she inquired.
+
+"No; I think not. But I want to get three different types, just to fool
+him."
+
+After much consideration the two conspirators selected a picture of a
+dark-eyed actress, who was pretty, but of rather flashy effects. Next
+they chose a picture of an intellectual young woman, with no pretension
+to beauty or style, and whose tightly drawn black hair and stiff white
+collar proclaimed a high brow. It was a picture of one of the girls in
+Patty's class, who had been noted for her intellect and her lack of a
+sense of humour.
+
+"He'll know that isn't you, Patty," said Nan, objecting.
+
+"No," said Patty, sapiently; "he's pretty clever, that young man, and
+probably he'll think I'm just that sort. Now for the third, Nancy."
+
+It took a long time to select a third one, for Nan was in favour of a
+pretty girl, while Patty thought it would be more fun to send a plain
+one.
+
+At last they agreed on a picture of another of Patty's school friends,
+who was of the willowy, die-away kind. She was a blonde, but of a pale,
+ashen-haired variety, not at all like Patty's Dresden china type. The
+pose was aesthetic, and the girl looked soulful and languishing.
+
+"Just the thing!" cried Patty. "If he thinks I look like THAT, I'll
+never speak to him again!"
+
+And so, amid great glee, the three pictures were made into a neat
+parcel, and addressed to Mr. Christopher Cameron.
+
+"Now, for goodness' sake, Patty, eat your breakfast! Your chocolate is
+stone cold. I'll go down and call a messenger and despatch this
+precious bundle of beauty to its destination."
+
+"All right," returned Patty, and, with a feeling of having successfully
+accomplished her task, she turned her attention to her breakfast tray.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THREE PICTURES
+
+
+It was Tuesday morning that Patty had sent the pictures, and that same
+evening she was invited to dine and go to the opera with Mrs. Van
+Reypen.
+
+Patty was a great favourite with the aristocratic old lady, and was
+frequently asked to the Van Reypen home. It is needless to say that
+Mrs. Van Reypen's nephew, Philip, usually managed to be present at any
+of his aunt's affairs that were graced by Patty's presence. And,
+indeed, it was an open secret that Mrs. Van Reypen would be greatly
+pleased if Patty would smile on the suit of her favourite and beloved
+nephew.
+
+But Patty's smiles were uncertain. Sometimes it would suit her caprice
+to smile on Philip, and again she would positively snub him to such an
+extent that the young man was disgruntled for days at a time.
+
+"But," as Patty remarked to herself, "if I'm nice to him, he takes too
+much for granted. So I have to discipline him to keep him where he
+belongs."
+
+The dinner at the Van Reypen mansion was, as always, long and
+elaborate, and perhaps a trifle dull.
+
+Mrs. Van Reypen's affection for Patty was of a selfish sort, and it
+never occurred to her to invite guests of Patty's age, or who could be
+entertaining to the girl.
+
+And so to-night the other guests were an elderly couple by the name of
+Bellamy and a rather stupid, middle-aged bachelor,--Mr. Crosby. These
+with the two Van Reypens and Patty made up the whole party.
+
+Patty found herself assigned to walk out to dinner with Mr. Crosby,
+but, as Philip sat on her other side, she had no fear of being too
+greatly bored.
+
+But to her surprise the elderly bachelor turned out to be exceedingly
+interesting. He had travelled a great deal, and talked well about his
+experiences, and it was soon discovered that he and Patty had mutual
+friends in Paris, where Patty had spent the winter several years before.
+
+"I do love to hear you talk," Patty declared, ingenuously, after Mr.
+Crosby had given her a thrilling and picturesque description of an
+incident in his trip to the Orient.
+
+"Oh, thank you," Mr. Crosby returned, a little bewildered by this
+outright compliment, for he was unaccustomed to talking to young girls.
+
+"But, you see," Patty went on, "I mustn't monopolise you. You know,
+it's etiquette to talk fifteen minutes to your neighbour on one side
+and then turn to your neighbour on the other."
+
+"Bless my soul! you're quite right,--quite right!" and Mr. Crosby
+stared at Patty over his glasses. "How do you know so much, and you
+such a young thing?"
+
+"Oh, I'm out," returned Patty, smiling, "and of course, when a girl
+comes out, she has to learn the rules of the game."
+
+So Mr. Crosby turned to talk to the lady on his other side, and Patty
+turned to Philip, who looked a trifle sulky.
+
+"Thought you were going to talk to that chap all evening," he growled,
+under his breath.
+
+"I should like to," said Patty, sweetly, "he's SO interesting. But I
+can't monopolise him, you know. As I don't want to talk to a growly
+bear, I think, if you'll excuse me from polite conversation, I'll
+meditate for awhile."
+
+"Meditate on your sins; it'll do you good!"
+
+Patty opened her blue eyes wide and stared at the speaker. "Why," she
+said, "to meditate, one must have something to meditate on!"
+
+"And you think you haven't any sins! Oh, would some power the giftie
+gi'e us!"
+
+"To see ourselves as ithers see us," Patty completed the rhyme. "But
+you see, Philip, as I don't see any sins in myself, I can't meditate on
+the sins that ithers see in me, if I don't know what they are."
+
+"Well, I'll tell you a big, black one! You simply ignored me for half
+an hour, while you jabbered to that duffer on the other side! Now
+meditate on THAT!"
+
+Patty obediently cast down her eyes, and assumed a mournful expression.
+She continued to sit thus without speaking; until Philip exclaimed:
+
+"Patty, you little goose, stop your nonsense! What's the matter with
+you to-night, anyway?"
+
+"Honestly, Philip," said Patty, very low, "your aunt's parties always
+make me want to giggle. They're heavenly parties, and I simply ADORE to
+be at them, but her friends are so--well, so aged, you know, and they
+seem to--well, to be so interested in their dinner."
+
+"_I_'m my aunt's guest, and _I_'m not a bit interested in my dinner."
+
+"Well, you may as well be, for I'm going to talk to Mr. Crosby now."
+
+Seeing that Mr. Crosby's attention was unclaimed for the moment, Patty
+turned to him, saying, with great animation: "Oh, Mr. Crosby, MAY I ask
+you something? I'm AWFULLY ignorant, you know, and you're so wise."
+
+"Yes, yes, what is it?" And the great Oriental scholar looked benignly
+at her over his glasses.
+
+Now naughty Patty hadn't any question to ask, and she had only turned
+to her neighbour to tease Philip, so she floundered a little as she
+tried to think of some intelligent enquiry.
+
+"What is it. Miss Fairfield?" prompted Mr. Crosby.
+
+Patty cast a fleeting glance toward Philip, as if appealing for help,
+and that young man, though engaged in a desultory conversation,
+whispered under his breath, "Ask him about the Aztecs."
+
+"Oh, yes, Mr. Crosby," said Patty, "it's about the--the Aztecs,--you
+know."
+
+"Ah, yes, the Aztecs,--a most interesting race, MOST interesting,
+indeed. And what do you want to know about them, Miss Fairfield?"
+
+Patty was tempted to say ALL about them, for her knowledge of the
+ancient people was practically nothing.
+
+"Did they--did they--"
+
+"Eat snails," said Philip, in a whisper.
+
+"Did they eat snails, Mr. Crosby?" And Patty's big blue eyes were
+innocent of anything, save an intense desire to know about the Aztec
+diet.
+
+"Snails?--snails?--well, bless my soul! I don't believe I know.
+Important, too,--most important. I'll look it up, and let you know.
+Snails--queer I DON'T know. I made a study of the Aztecs, and they are
+most interesting,--but as to snails--"
+
+Apparently Mr. Crosby's mind was wrestling with the question.
+
+"He's gone 'way back and sat down with the Aztecs," Philip murmured to
+Patty, "so you ask questions of me."
+
+"You don't know anything that I want to know."
+
+"Then _I_'ll ask a question of YOU."
+
+Philip's voice was full of meaning, so Patty said hastily: "No, no; it
+isn't polite to ask questions in society; one should make observations."
+
+"All right, observe me. That's what I'm here for. Observe me early and
+often, and I'll be only too well pleased."
+
+"But that isn't what _I_'m here for. Your aunt invited me to be a
+pleasant dinner guest and so I have to make myself entertaining to my
+Aztec friend."
+
+And then Patty turned again to Mr. Crosby, and by a few skilful hints
+she soon had him started on another description of his travelling
+experiences, and this time it proved so thrilling that all at the table
+were glad to listen to it.
+
+After dinner the whole party went to the opera and occupied Mrs. Van
+Reypen's box.
+
+Patty was passionately fond of music, and never talked during a
+performance. Between the acts, she was a smiling chatterbox, but while
+the curtain was up, she behaved in most exemplary fashion. Mrs. Van
+Reypen knew this, or she would not have asked her, for that lady was
+old-fashioned in her ways, and had no patience with people who
+chattered while the great singers were pouring forth their marvellous
+notes.
+
+[Illustration: After dinner the whole party went to the opera]
+
+When the final curtain fell, Mrs. Van Reypen invited her guests to
+return to her house for supper, but Patty declined.
+
+"Very well, my dear," said her hostess, "I think, myself, you're too
+young to be out any later than this. We will set you down at your own
+door, and you must hop right into bed and get your beauty sleep. Young
+things like you can't stay young unless you take good care of your
+pinky cheeks."
+
+"But I don't want Patty to go home," Philip grumbled, to his aunt.
+
+"Your wishes are not consulted, my boy; this is my party. You're merely
+my guest, and, if you don't behave yourself, you won't get invited
+again."
+
+"That scares me dreadfully," and Philip lightly pinched his aunt's
+cheek. "I will be good, so I'll be asked again."
+
+The big limousine stopped at Patty's door, and Philip escorted her up
+the steps.
+
+"I think you might have come to supper," he said, reproachfully, as he
+touched the bell.
+
+"It's too late," said Patty, decidedly; "and, besides, I have other
+plans for the rest of the evening."
+
+And with this enigmatical announcement Philip was forced to be content,
+for Patty said good-night and vanished through the doorway.
+
+"And, indeed, I HAVE other plans," Patty said, to herself. "I'm simply
+consumed with curiosity to know which of those three beauties that
+ridiculous Kit man likes the best. I'm going to call him up and see. I
+wish he could call me up,--it would suit me far better. But I suppose
+nobody can call anybody else up if nobody knows anybody else's name."
+
+"Do you want any supper, Miss Patty?" asked Louise, as she unhooked
+Patty's frock.
+
+"No, thank you, I'm not a bit hungry. You might bring me a cup of milk
+and a biscuit, and then give me a kimono. I'm not going to bed just
+yet."
+
+So Louise arranged everything just as Patty wanted it, and finally went
+away.
+
+"May as well be comfortable," said Patty, as she tucked herself into a
+favourite big chair, with the telephone on a little stand beside her.
+"I suppose I'll run up a fine bill for extra time, but, after all, it's
+less extravagant than a good many other things. Wonder how much they
+charge for overtime. I must ask Daddy."
+
+With a smile of anticipation Patty picked up the telephone.
+
+"Hello!" said Mr. Cameron's eager voice. "I thought you'd never come.
+I've been waiting since ten."
+
+"I've been to the opera," said Patty, nonchalantly. "And you've NO
+reason to sit and wait for me! I'm not a dead certainty, like the
+sunrise or the postman."
+
+"You're more welcome than either."
+
+"Now that's a real pretty speech. Are you a poet?"
+
+"Only to you."
+
+"Did you get the pictures?" Patty was unable longer to restrain her
+impatience.
+
+"Of course I got the pictures. I knew yours at once! You needn't think
+you can fool ME."
+
+"Which was mine? The girl with the black curls?"
+
+"Mercy, no! I know you're not THAT type. She looks like an actress, and
+hasn't a brain in her silly head. And you're not that lackadaisical
+lily-like one, either. Oh, I know YOU! You're that delightful,
+sensible, really brainy girl with the smooth black hair."
+
+"Oh, I AM, am I?"
+
+"Yes; and I'm SO glad you're not a rattle-pated beauty! What's a pretty
+face compared to real mind and intellect!"
+
+Patty was furious. She didn't aspire to nor desire this great mind and
+intellect, and she was quite satisfied with the amount of brains in her
+pretty, curly head.
+
+"I don't think much of your taste!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Why! you don't want me to be disappointed because you're not pretty,
+do you?"
+
+"But I AM pretty."
+
+"Yes; as I said, the beauty of deep thought and education shines from
+your clear eyes. That is far better than dimples and curls."
+
+Patty shook her curls at the telephone and her dimples came and went
+with her varying emotions.
+
+"Why, I shouldn't like you half as well if you were pretty," Mr.
+Cameron went on. "The only things I consider worth while are
+seriousness and scholarship. These you have in abundance, as I can see
+at once from your picture."
+
+"And how do you like the way I dress?"
+
+"It suits your type exactly. That large black-and-white check denotes a
+mind far above the frivolities of fashion, and that stiff white collar,
+to my mind, indicates a high order of mentality."
+
+"I think you're perfectly horrid!" And this exclamation seemed wrung
+from the depths of Patty's soul.
+
+A ringing laugh answered her--a laugh so hearty and so full of absolute
+enjoyment that Patty listened in astonishment.
+
+"Poor little Princess Poppycheek! It's a shame to tease her! WAS she
+maligned by a bad, horrid man that she doesn't even know? There, Little
+Girl, don't cry! I know perfectly well that stiff old schoolmarm isn't
+you! Now, will you tell me who you are, and what you really look like?"
+
+Patty had to think quickly. She had supposed that Cameron meant what he
+said, but after all he was fooling her. And she had thought she fooled
+him!
+
+"Which is me, then?" she said, in a small, low voice.
+
+"None of 'ern! You goosie! To think you could fool ME. In the first
+place, I knew you wouldn't send your own photograph; and when I saw
+those three charming specimens, in out-of-date clothes, I knew you had
+ransacked your album to find them. However, I took the whole bunch down
+to Marie, and she vowed she had never laid eyes on one of them before.
+So there, now!"
+
+"Then we're just back where we started from," said Patty, cheerfully.
+
+"Yes; but, if you'll come to the musicale on Friday night, we can make
+great progress in a short time."
+
+"I told you I'd go, if you would persuade Marie to invite me."
+
+"Nonsense! I believe she HAS invited you. I believe you're Miss
+Curtiss. SHE has dark hair."
+
+"Why not that other singer, Miss Fairfield?"
+
+"Oh, Marie says she's a blonde. The 'raving beauty' sort. I detest that
+kind. I know she's vain."
+
+"Yes, she is. I hate to speak against another girl, but I know that
+Patty Fairfield, and she IS vain."
+
+"Well, never mind about Patty Fairfield She doesn't interest me a bit.
+But what about you? Will you come to the party? Oh, DO-ee,
+DO-ee,--now,--as my old Scotch nurse used to say. Come to your waiting
+knight!"
+
+Kit's voice was very wheedlesome, and Patty was moved to encourage him
+a little.
+
+"Do you know,--I almost think--that maybe--possibly--perhaps, I WILL
+go."
+
+"Really? Oh, Poppycheek, I'm SO glad! I do want to see My Girl!"
+
+"YOUR girl, indeed!"
+
+"Yes; mine by right of discovery."
+
+"But you haven't discovered me yet."
+
+"But I will,--on Friday night. You'll TRULY come, WON'T you?"
+
+"Honest, I've never been where I wasn't invited--"
+
+"But this is different----"
+
+"Yes,--it IS different----"
+
+"Oh, then you will come! Goody, GOODY! I'm so glad!"
+
+"Don't break the telephone with your gladness! Suppose I DO come, how
+will you know me? How will you know that it is I?"
+
+"Oh, I'll know! 'I shall know it, I shall feel it, something subtle
+will reveal it, for a glory round thee hovers that will lighten up the
+gloom.'"
+
+"Oh, you ARE a poet."
+
+"I am a poet, but I didn't write that. However, it was only because the
+other fellow got ahead of me."
+
+"Who was he? Who wrote it?"
+
+"I'll tell you Friday night. Come early, won't you?" "No; I always get
+to a party late."
+
+"Don't be too late. I want to play to you. And will you sing?"
+
+"Mercy, gracious! I might go to a party without being invited, but I
+can't SING without being asked. You tell Marie I'm coming, will you?"
+
+"You bet I will. What shall you wear?"
+
+"What's your favourite colour?"
+
+"Red."
+
+"Red is becoming to brunettes; but I haven't any red evening gown. How
+about yellow?"
+
+"All right, wear yellow. I shall adore you in any colour."
+
+"Well; perhaps I'll come, and perhaps I won't. Good-night."
+
+Patty hung up the receiver with a sudden click, and Mr. Kit Cameron was
+left very much in doubt as to whether the whole thing was a joke or not.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+PRINCESS POPPYCHEEK
+
+
+On the night of the musicale at Marie Homer's, her talented cousin
+arrived long before any guests were expected.
+
+"I couldn't wait, Aunt Frances," he said, as Mrs. Homer greeted him.
+"I'm so impatient to see My Girl."
+
+Kit had told the Homers of the telephone conversations, because he was
+so anxious to find out his lady's name. Of course, he had not told all
+they said, and from his incoherent ravings about a black-haired beauty
+Marie never guessed he could mean Patty.
+
+"You're a foolish boy, Kit," said his Aunt.
+
+"I don't believe that girl is any one we know, but is some mischievous
+hoyden who is leading you a dance. You won't see her to-night,--if you
+ever do."
+
+"Then I shall think up the easiest death possible, and die it,"
+declared Kit, cheerfully. "Why, you know, Aunt Frances, I never took
+any interest in a girl before, except of course Marie and Bee, but this
+girl is so different from everybody else in the world. Her voice is
+like a chime of silver bells,--and her laugh----"
+
+"There, there, Kit, I haven't time to listen to your rhapsodies! You're
+here altogether too early, and you'll have to excuse me, for I have
+some household matters to look after. Marie isn't quite dressed yet, so
+you'll have to amuse yourself for awhile. Play some sentimental music
+on your violin, if that fits your mood."
+
+With a kindly smile at her nephew, Mrs. Homer bustled away, and Kit was
+left alone in the music-room.
+
+He played some soft, low music for a time, and then Marie came in.
+
+"You're an old goose, Kit," she remarked, affectionately, "to think
+that mysterious girl of yours will be here to-night. There isn't
+anybody who knows me well enough to come without an invitation, that I
+haven't already invited. I've added to my list of invitations until it
+now numbers about thirty, and that's all the really musical friends I
+have. If this girl of yours sings as well as you say, she's probably a
+soubrette or a chorus girl."
+
+"Nothing of the sort!" Kit exclaimed. "She's the sweetest, daintiest,
+refinedest, culturedest little thing you ever saw!"
+
+"How do you know? You haven't seen her."
+
+"No, but I've talked with her. I guess I know." And Kit turned
+decidedly sulky, for he began to think it WAS rather doubtful about his
+seeing his girl that evening.
+
+And then the guests began to arrive, and Mr. Kit put on a smiling face
+and made himself agreeable to his cousin's friends.
+
+Patty came among the latest arrivals. She looked her prettiest in a
+filmy gown of pale-blue chiffon, with touches of silver embroidery. An
+ornament in her hair was of silver filigree, with a wisp of pale-blue
+feather, and her cheeks were a little pinker than usual.
+
+Kit glanced at her as she came in, and, though he noticed that she was
+an extremely pretty girl, he immediately glanced away again and
+continued his watch for the black-eyed girl he expected. The room was
+well filled by this time, and Patty took a seat near the front, where
+sat a group of her intimate friends. They greeted her gaily, and Kit,
+on the other side of the room, paid no attention to them.
+
+The programme began with a duet by Kit on his violin, and his Cousin
+Marie at the piano.
+
+The man was really a virtuoso, and his beautiful playing held the
+audience spellbound. Patty watched him, enthralled with his music, and
+admiring, too, his generally worth-while appearance.
+
+"He does look awfully jolly," she thought, to herself, "and it's plain
+to be seen he has brains. I wonder if he will be terribly disappointed
+in me, after all. I've a notion to run away."
+
+For the first time in her life Patty felt shy about singing. Usually
+she had no trace of self-consciousness, but to-night she experienced a
+feeling of embarrassment she had never known before. She realized this,
+and scolded herself roundly for it. "You idiot!" she observed,
+mentally, to her own soul; "if you want to make a good impression,
+you'd better stop feeling like a simpleton. Now brace up, and do the
+best you can, and behave yourself!"
+
+Miss Curtiss sang before Patty did. She was a sweet-faced young woman,
+with a beautiful and well-trained contralto voice. Patty cast a furtive
+glance at Kit Cameron, and found that he was looking intently at the
+singer. She knew perfectly well he was wondering whether this might be
+the girl of the telephone conversations, and she saw, too, that he
+decided in the negative, for he shook his head slightly, but with
+conviction.
+
+Suddenly the humour of the whole situation struck Patty. The incident
+was not serious, but humorous, and as soon as she realised this her
+shyness disappeared, and the spirit of mischief once again took
+possession of her. She knew now she would do herself credit when she
+sang, and when her turn came she rose and walked slowly and gracefully
+to the platform which had been temporarily placed for the musicians.
+
+Marie was to play her accompaniment, and Patty had expected to sing
+first a somewhat elaborate aria, using "Beware" as an encore.
+
+But as she reached the platform, and as she noticed Kit Cameron's face,
+its expression politely interested, but in no wise enthusiastic, she
+suddenly changed her mind. She put the music of "Beware" on the piano
+rack, and murmured to Marie, "This one first."
+
+Marie looked puzzled, but of course she couldn't say anything as Patty
+stood waiting to begin.
+
+For some reason Patty was always at her prettiest when she sang. She
+thoroughly enjoyed singing, and she enjoyed the evident pleasure it
+gave to others. She stood gracefully, her hands lightly clasped before
+her, and the added excitement of this particular occasion gave a flush
+to her cheek and a sparkle to her blue eyes that made her positively
+bewitching.
+
+And then she sang the foolish little song, "Beware," just as she had
+sung it over the telephone, coquettishly, but without artificiality or
+forced effect.
+
+She scarcely dared look at Kit Cameron. A fleeting glance showed her
+that he was probably at that moment the most nonplussed young man in
+existence.
+
+She looked away quickly, lest her voice should falter from amusement.
+
+Luckily, all the audience were regarding Patty attentively, and had no
+eyes for the astonished face of Kit Cameron. He had taken no special
+interest in the blonde singer, but when her first notes, rang out he
+started in surprise. As the voice continued he knew at once it was the
+same voice he had heard over the telephone, but he couldn't reconcile
+the facts. He caught the fleeting glance she gave him, he saw the
+roguish smile in her eyes, and he was forced to believe that this girl
+was his dark-eyed unknown.
+
+"The little rascal!" he said, to himself. "The scamp! the rogue! How
+she has tricked me! To think she was Patty Fairfield all the time! No
+wonder Marie didn't know whom I was talking about! Well!"
+
+As the song finished no one applauded more enthusiastically than Kit
+Cameron.
+
+But Patty would not look toward him, and proceeded to sing as an encore
+the aria she had intended to sing first.
+
+She was in her best voice, and she sang this beautifully, and, if the
+audience was surprised at the unusual order of the selections, they
+were unstinted in their applause.
+
+Leaving the stage, instead of returning to her seat, Patty stepped back
+into the next room, which was the library.
+
+Cameron was there to receive her. He had felt sure she would not return
+to the audience immediately, and he took the chance.
+
+He held out both hands and Patty laid her hands in his.
+
+"Captive Princess," he murmured.
+
+"My Knight!" Patty whispered, and flashed a smile at him.
+
+"Can you EVER forgive the things I said?" he asked, earnestly, as he
+led her across the room and they sat down on a divan.
+
+"There's nothing to forgive," she said, smiling; "you detest blondes, I
+know, but I'm thinking seriously of dyeing my hair black."
+
+"Don't! that would be a sacrilege! And you MUST remember that I told
+you I always adored blondes, until you told me you were brunette."
+
+"But I didn't," said Patty, laughing. "Somehow you got the notion that
+I was dark, and I didn't correct it. Are you TERRIBLY disappointed in
+me?"
+
+Naughty Patty raised her heavenly blue eyes and looked so like a fair,
+sweet flower that Kit exclaimed:
+
+"Disappointed! You are an angel, straight from heaven!"
+
+"Nonsense! If you talk like that, I shall run away."
+
+"Don't run away! I'll talk any way you like, but now that I have found
+you I shall keep you. But I am still in depths of self-abasement.
+Didn't I say most unkind things about Miss Fairfield?"
+
+"No unkinder than I did. We both jumped on her, and said she was vain
+and horrid."
+
+"_I_ never said such dreadful things! I'm sure I didn't. But, if I did,
+I shall spend the rest of my life making up for it. And I called you
+Poppycheek!"
+
+Cameron looked at Patty's cheeks in such utter dismay that she laughed
+outright.
+
+"But you know," she said, "there are pink poppies as well as scarlet.
+Incidentally there are white and there are saffron yellow."
+
+"So there are," said Cameron, delightedly. "How you DO help a fellow
+out! Well, yours are just the colour of a soft, dainty pink poppy that
+is touched by the sunlight and kissed by a summer breeze."
+
+"I knew you were a poet," said Patty, smiling, "but I don't allow even
+a summer breeze to kiss my cheeks."
+
+"I should hope not! A summer breeze is altogether too promiscuous with
+its kisses. I hope you don't allow any kisses, except those of your own
+particular swansdown powder puff."
+
+"Of course I don't!" laughed Patty, and then she blushed furiously as
+she suddenly remembered how Farnsworth had kissed both her cheeks the
+night of Christine's wedding.
+
+"I see you're blushing at a memory," said Cameron, coolly; "I suppose
+the powder puff was too audacious."
+
+"Yes, that's it," said Patty, her liking for this young man increased
+by the pleasantry of his light banter. "And now we must return to the
+music-room. I came here a moment to catch my breath after singing; but
+how did you happen to be here?"
+
+"I knew you'd come here; ostensibly, of course, to catch your breath,
+but really because you knew I'd be here."
+
+"You wretch!" cried Patty. "How dare you say such things! I never
+dreamed you'd be here; if I had, I shouldn't have come."
+
+"Of course you wouldn't, you little coquette! It's your nature to be
+perverse and capricious. But your sweet good-humour won't let you carry
+those other traits too far. Oh, I know you, My Girl!"
+
+"I object to that phrase from you," Patty said, coldly, "and I must ask
+you not to use it again."
+
+"But you ARE my girl, by right of discovery. By the way, you're not
+anybody else's girl, are you?"
+
+"Just what do you mean by that?"
+
+"Well, in other words, then, are you engaged, betrothed, plighted,
+promised, bespoke----"
+
+Patty burst out laughing. "I'm not any of those things," she said,
+"but, if ever I am, I shall be bespoke. I think that's the loveliest
+word! Fancy being anybody's Bespoke!"
+
+"Of course, it's up to me to give you an immediate opportunity," said
+Cameron, sighing. "But somehow I don't quite dare bespeak you on such
+short acquaintance."
+
+"Faint heart----"
+
+"Oh, it isn't that! I'm brave enough. But I'm an awfully punctilious
+man. If I were going to bespeak you, now, I should think it my duty to
+go first to your father and correctly ask his permission to pay my
+addresses to his daughter."
+
+"Good gracious! How do you pay addresses? I never had an address paid
+to me in my life."
+
+"Shall I show you how?" And Cameron jumped up and fell on one knee
+before Patty, with a comical expression of a make-believe love-sick
+swain.
+
+Patty dearly loved fooling, and she smiled back at him roguishly, and
+just at that moment Philip Van Reypen came into the room.
+
+In the dim half-light he descried Patty on the divan and Cameron
+kneeling before her, and, as Mr. Van Reypen was blessed with a quick
+temper, he felt a sudden desire to choke the talented Mr. Cameron.
+
+"Patty!" Philip exclaimed, angrily.
+
+"Yes, Philip," said Patty, in a voice of sweet humility.
+
+"Come with me," was the stern command.
+
+"Yes, Philip," and Patty arose and walked away with Van Reypen, leaving
+Kit Cameron still on his knee.
+
+"Well, I'll be hammered!" that gentleman remarked, as he rose slowly
+and deliberately dusted off his knee with his handkerchief; "that girl
+is a wonder! She's full of the dickens, but she's as sweet as a peach.
+I always did like blondes best, whether she believes it or not. But if
+I hadn't, I should now. There's only one girl in the world for me. I
+wonder if she is mixed up with that Van Reypen chap. He had a most
+proprietary manner, but all the same, that little witch is quite
+capable of scooting off like that, just to tease me. Oh, I'll play her
+own game and meet her on her own ground. Little Poppycheek!" With a
+nonchalant air, Mr. Cameron sauntered back to the music-room, and
+seated himself beside Miss Curtiss, with whom he struck up an animated
+conversation, not so much as glancing at Patty.
+
+Patty observed this from the corner of her eye, and she nodded her head
+in approval.
+
+"He's worth knowing," she thought; "I'll have a lot of fun with him."
+
+The programme was almost over, but Kit was to play once again. With
+Marie, he played a fine selection, and then, as he was tumultuously
+encored, he went back to the platform alone. Without accompaniment he
+played the little song, "Beware," that Patty had sung, and,
+improvising, he made a fantasia of the air. He was clever as well as
+skilled, and he turned the simple little melody into thrilling,
+rollicking music with trills and roulades until the original theme was
+almost lost sight of, only to crop up again with new intensity.
+
+Patty listened, enthralled. She loved this sort of thing, and she knew
+he was playing to her and for her. The strains would be now softly
+romantic, now grandly triumphant, but ever recurring to the main
+motive, until one seemed fairly to see the fickle maiden of the song.
+
+When it was ended, the room rang with applause. Cameron bowed simply,
+and laying aside his violin, went straight to Patty and sat down by
+her, coolly appropriating the chair which his cousin Marie had just
+left.
+
+"I made that for you," he said, simply. "Did you like it?"
+
+"Like it!" exclaimed Patty, her blue eyes dancing; "I revelled in it!
+It was wonderful! Was it really impromptu?"
+
+"Of course. It was nothing. Any one can play variations on an old song."
+
+"Variations nothing!" remarked Patty. "It was a work,--a chef
+d'oeuvre,--an opus!"
+
+"Yes; Opus One of my new cycle." "What are you two talking about?" said
+Marie, returning. "Have you found your girl, Kit? What do you think,
+Patty?--Kit's crazy over a black-eyed girl whom he doesn't know!"
+
+"Is he?" said Patty, dropping her eyes demurely.
+
+"I found My Girl, Marie," Cameron announced, calmly; "I find I made a
+trifling mistake about her colouring, but that's a mere detail. As it
+turns out, the lady of my quest is Miss Fairfield."
+
+"Good gracious, are you, Patty?" said Marie, impetuously; "are you
+Kit's girl?"
+
+"Yes; I am," and Patty folded her hands with a ridiculous air of
+complacency.
+
+"Patty!" growled Van Reypen, who was sitting behind her.
+
+"Yes, Philip," said Patty, sweetly, turning partly round.
+
+"Behave yourself!"
+
+"I am behaving, Philip," and Patty looked very meek.
+
+"Of course you are," said Marie; "you're behaving beautifully. And you
+look like an angel, and you sang like a lark, and if you're Kit's Girl,
+I'm glad of it. Now come on, everybody's going to supper."
+
+"You come along with me," said Philip Van Reypen, as he took Patty by
+the arm.
+
+"Why?" And Patty looked a little defiant at this command.
+
+"Because I want you to. And I want you to stop making up to that
+Cameron man."
+
+"I'm not, Philip; he's making up to me."
+
+"Well, he'd better stop it! What was he doing on his knees before you
+in the library?"
+
+"I don't remember," said Patty, innocently. "Oh, yes, he was telling me
+my cheeks were red, or some foolishness like that."
+
+"And your eyes were blue, I suppose, and your hair was yellow! Didn't
+you know all those things before?"
+
+"Why, Philip, how cross you are! Yes, I've known those things for
+nineteen years. It's no surprise to me."
+
+"Patty, I'd like to shake you! Do you know what you are? You're just a
+little, vain, silly, babbling coquette!"
+
+"I think that's a lovely thing to be! Do you want me to babble to you,
+Philip, or shall I go and babble to somebody else?"
+
+"Don't babble at all. Here's a chair. You sit right down here, and eat
+your supper. Here's another chair. You lay your shawl and bonnet on
+that, to keep it for me, and I'll go and forage for some food."
+
+Patty laid her scarf and fan on the chair to reserve it for Philip, but
+she was not unduly surprised when Mr. Cameron came along, picked up her
+belongings, and seated himself in the chair.
+
+"That's Mr. Van Reypen's chair," said Patty; "if he finds you there,
+he'll gently but firmly kill you."
+
+"I know it," said Kit, placidly; "but a Knight is always willing to
+brave death for his Lady."
+
+"But I don't want you killed," said Patty, looking sad, "I wouldn't
+have anybody to telephone to."
+
+"If I run away then, to save my life, will you telephone me to-night?"
+
+"Indeed I won't! that's all over. But please, Mr. Cameron, run away,
+for here comes Philip, with both hands full of soup, and I know he
+wouldn't hesitate to scald you with it."
+
+Mr. Cameron arose, as Mr. Van Reypen came in, and with an air of
+willingly relinquishing his seat to Philip, he said, "My Girl's Orders."
+
+Philip didn't hear it, but Patty did, and she blushed, for Cameron's
+departure that way showed greater deference to her wishes than if he
+had stayed with her.
+
+"What did he say?" Philip asked, as he offered Patty a cup of bouillon,
+and then sat down beside her.
+
+"He said you were such a sweet-tempered man, he didn't wonder I liked
+you," and Patty beamed pleasantly.
+
+"I would be sweet-tempered, Patty, if you didn't tease the very life
+out of me!"
+
+"Now, Philip, you wouldn't be much good if you couldn't stand a little
+teasing."
+
+"Go ahead, then; tease me all you like," and Van Reypen looked the
+personification of dogged endurance.
+
+"I will!" said Patty, emphatically, and then some others joined them,
+and the group began to laugh and talk together.
+
+"Your cousin is stunning, Marie," said Mona Galbraith; "why have we
+never met him before?"
+
+"He's a freak," Marie said, laughingly. "I couldn't persuade him to
+come to my valentine party, and to-night I couldn't keep him away! All
+musicians are freaks, you know."
+
+"He's a musician, all right," said Kenneth Harper. "The things he did
+to that simple little song must have made some of the eminent composers
+turn in their graves!"
+
+"He's awfully clever at that sort of thing," said Marie; "sometimes
+when we're here alone, he'll take a simple little air and improvise the
+most beautiful melodies from it."
+
+"Is he amiable?" asked Mona, casually.
+
+"Not very; or rather, not always. But he's a dear fellow, and we're all
+fond of him. How did you like him, Patty?"
+
+"I thought he was lovely," said Patty, and Van Reypen glared at her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+SUITORS
+
+
+After supper the whole party went to the large drawing-room to dance.
+
+Kit Cameron made a bee-line for Patty. "You'll give me the first dance,
+won't you?" he said, simply, "because I've stayed away from you all
+supper time."
+
+Patty hesitated. "I'm willing, Mr. Cameron," she said, "but for one
+thing. I'm awfully exacting in the matter of dancing, and if you're not
+a good dancer it would go far to spoil our pleasant acquaintance.
+Suppose we don't risk it."
+
+Cameron considered. "I am a good dancer," he said, "but Marie has told
+me that you're something phenomenal in that line. So I daresay you will
+be disappointed in me. All right, suppose we don't risk it."
+
+Cameron half turned away, as if he had relinquished the idea of dancing
+with Patty, and that young woman was somewhat taken aback. She had
+assumed her new friend would insist on dancing with her, and she had no
+mind to let him escape thus. She was just about to say, impulsively,
+"Oh well, let's try it, anyway," when she caught a gleam from the
+corner of his eye, and she realised in a flash that he felt sure she
+would call him back!
+
+This was enough for capricious Patty, and she turned away from him, but
+not so quickly but that she saw his face suddenly fall, proving that
+she had been quite right in her diagnosis of the case.
+
+She smiled on Van Reypen, who was hovering near, and he came to her at
+once.
+
+"Our dance, Patty?" he said, eagerly, holding out his hand.
+
+"Yes, Philip," she answered simply, laying her hand in his, and in a
+moment they were circling the room.
+
+"Don't be cross to me, will you, Philip?" said Patty with an appealing
+note in her soft voice.
+
+"No; you little torment, you. I'll never be cross to you, if you won't
+flirt with other men."
+
+"Philip," and Patty spoke quite seriously, "I'll be cross with you, if
+you don't stop taking that attitude with me. It isn't for YOU to say
+whether I shall flirt with other men or not!"
+
+"No, I know it;" and Philip was unexpectedly humble. "I wish it was for
+me to say, Patty."
+
+"Stop talking nonsense, or I'll stop dancing with you! By the way,
+Phil, you're an awfully good dancer."
+
+"I'm glad there's something about me that pleases your ladyship."
+
+"Yes; so am I. It certainly isn't your temper!"
+
+And then Philip smiled into Patty's eyes, and peace was restored, as it
+always was after their little squabbles.
+
+The dance over, they sat for a few moments, and then Kenneth Harper
+asked to be Patty's next partner.
+
+"All right, Ken," said Patty; "but sit down here just a minute; I want
+to watch the others."
+
+What Patty really wanted was to see Mr. Cameron dance; and in a few
+moments he went past them with Elise.
+
+"That man's all round clever," commented Kenneth. "He dances just as he
+plays the violin, exquisitely. Why, Patty, he's a poem in patent
+leathers!"
+
+Sure enough, Kit Cameron was an unusually fine dancer, and Patty felt a
+slow blush rising to her cheeks, as she remembered what she had said to
+him, and realised he must have thought her vain of her dancing.
+
+For once, Patty felt honestly ashamed of herself. She had implied that
+she was such a fine dancer she didn't care to dance with any one
+unskilled in the art.
+
+But after all, this was not quite Patty's attitude. When a stranger was
+introduced to her, she was quite willing to dance with him, whether he
+danced well or not. But as to Mr. Cameron, Patty liked him so much and
+so enjoyed his beautiful music, that she really felt it would be a
+shock to their friendship if he danced awkwardly.
+
+And, too, she never for a moment supposed he would take her at her
+word. She had supposed he would insist upon the dance, even after her
+hesitation.
+
+"What's the matter Patty?" said Kenneth; "you look as though you'd lost
+your last friend!"
+
+"I'm not sure but I have," said Patty, smiling a little. For certainly
+Mr. Cameron was the last friend she had made, and it was very likely
+that she had lost him.
+
+"Well, never mind, you still have me left. I'm gentle and I'm kind, and
+you'll never, never find a better friend than your old Ken."
+
+"I believe you're right," and Patty smiled at him. "We've been friends
+a long time, haven't we, Ken?"
+
+"We sure have. When I look at your gray hair and wrinkled cheeks, I
+realise that we are growing old together."
+
+Patty laughed and dimpled at this nonsense, and then declared she was
+ready to dance.
+
+All through the evening, Patty was gaily whisked from one partner to
+another, but Kit Cameron never came near her.
+
+She was decidedly chagrined at this, even though she knew she had only
+herself to blame for it. She had been really rude, and she was reaping
+the well-deserved consequences.
+
+Often she passed Cameron in the dance, as he whirled by with another
+girl. He always smiled pleasantly as they passed, and the fact that he
+was a magnificent dancer only made Patty feel more angry with herself
+at having been so silly.
+
+Just before the last dance, Patty stood, gaily chatting with several of
+her friends, when the music struck up, and both Kenneth and Philip
+claimed the dance.
+
+"You promised it to me, Patty," said Kenneth, reproachfully.
+
+"Why, Ken Harper, I didn't do any such thing!" and Patty's big blue
+eyes gazed at him in honest surprise.
+
+"Of course you didn't, you promised it to me," said Van Reypen, equally
+mendacious.
+
+"Why, I didn't promise it to anybody!" declared Patty; "I haven't
+promised a dance ahead this whole evening."
+
+As she stood, with the two insistent applicants on either side of her,
+Cameron walked straight toward her. He said not a word, but held out
+his arm, and calmly walking away from her two disappointed suitors,
+Patty was at once whirled away.
+
+"Well, Princess Poppycheek,--Princess Pink Poppycheek,--I had to
+surrender," Cameron said, as they floated around the room. "After your
+cruel aspersion on my dancing, I was so enraged I vowed to myself I'd
+never speak to you again. But I'm awful magnanimous, and I forgive you
+freely, from the bottom of my heart."
+
+"I haven't asked to be forgiven," and Patty shot him a saucy glance;
+"but," she added, shyly, "I'm truly glad you do forgive me. I was a
+pig!"
+
+"So you were. A Poppycheeked piggy-wig! But with me, what is forgiven
+is forgotten. And, by the way, you dance fairly well."
+
+"So I've been told," returned Patty, demurely. "And I find I can get
+along with you."
+
+This sounded like faint praise, but each knew that the other
+appreciated how well their steps suited each other and how skilful they
+both were.
+
+Van Reypen and Ken Harper stood where Patty had left them, for a
+moment, as they watched their hoped-for partner dance away.
+
+"There's no use getting mad at that child," said Ken, patiently; "she
+WILL do as she likes."
+
+"Well, after all, why shouldn't she? She's a reigning belle, and she's
+a law unto herself. But she has a lot of sense inside that golden curly
+head."
+
+"Yes," returned Kenneth, "and not only sense, but a sound, sweet
+nature. Patty is growing up a coquette, but it is only because she is
+beset by flattery; and, too, she IS full of mischief. She can't help
+teasing her suitors, as she calls them."
+
+"She can tease me all she likes," said Van Reypen, somewhat seriously,
+and Kenneth answered simply, "Me, too."
+
+Next morning, Patty told Nan all about Mr. Cameron, and that gay little
+lady was greatly interested in the story.
+
+"I knew he would be nice," said Nan, "from what you had already told me
+about him. Is he good-looking, Patty?"
+
+"Yes,--no,--I don't know," returned Patty; "I don't believe I thought
+about it. He has an awfully nice face, and he's tall and big, and yet
+he's young-looking. At least, his eyes are. He has dark eyes, and
+they're just brimming over with mischief and fun, except when he's
+playing his violin."
+
+"Then I suppose he has the regulation 'far away' look," commented Nan.
+
+"Well, he doesn't look like a dying goat, if that's what you mean! but
+he looks like a real musician, and he is one."
+
+"And a woman-hater, I believe?"
+
+"Oh, it's rubbish to call him that! He's not crazy over girls, but it's
+because he thinks most of them are silly. He likes his two
+cousins,--and, Nan, don't breathe it, but I have a faint inkling of a
+suspicion of a premonition that he's going to like me!"
+
+"Patty, you're a conceited little goose!"
+
+"Nay, nay, my ducky stepmother, but I'd be a poor stick if I couldn't
+fascinate that youth after our romantic introduction."
+
+"That's so; and I think you'll not have much trouble bringing him to
+your feet."
+
+"Oh, I don't want him at my feet. And I don't want him to fall in love
+with me. I hate that sort of thing! I want him for a nice, chummy,
+comrade friend, and if I can't have him that way, I don't want him at
+all. There's Philip and Kenneth now; they've always been so nice. But
+lately they've taken to making sheep's eyes at me and flinging out bits
+of foolishness here and there that make me tired! A debutante's life is
+not a happy one!"
+
+Patty drew such a long, deep sigh, that Nan burst into laughter.
+
+"I would feel sorry for you, Patty," she said, "but I can't help
+thinking that you're quite able to look out for yourself."
+
+"'Deed I am! When they talk mush, I just giggle at 'em. It brings 'em
+down pretty quick from their highfalutin nonsense!"
+
+The two were sitting in Patty's boudoir, which was such a bright, sunny
+room that many a morning hour was pleasantly passed together there by
+these two friends. Patty was fortunate in having a stepmother so in
+sympathy with her pursuits and pleasures, and Nan was equally fortunate
+in having warm-hearted, sunny-natured Patty with her.
+
+Jane came in, bringing an enormous box from a florist.
+
+"My prophetic soul!" cried Patty. "My efforts were not in vain! I feel
+it in my funnybone that my latest Prince Charming has sent me a posy."
+
+Nor was she wrong. The box contained a bewildering array of spring
+flowers. Delicate blossoms of jonquils, hyacinths, lilacs, daffodils,
+and other dainty, fragile flowers that breathed of spring.
+
+"Aren't they lovely!" And Patty buried her face in the fragrant mass of
+bloom.
+
+"Here's a card," said Nan, picking up a white envelope.
+
+Patty drew out Mr. Cameron's card, and on it was written: "To Princess
+Poppycheek; that they may tell all that I may not speak."
+
+"Now that's a real nice sentiment," Patty declared; "you see, it
+doesn't commit him to anything, and yet it sounds pretty. Oh, I shall
+end by adoring that young man! Bring me some bowls and things, please,
+Jane; I want to arrange this flower garden myself."
+
+Jane departed with the box and papers, and returned with a tray, on
+which were several bowls and vases filled with water.
+
+Patty always enjoyed arranging flowers, and she massed them in the
+bowls, with taste and skill as to color and arrangement.
+
+"There!" she said, as she finished her task; "they do look beautiful,
+though I say it as shouldn't. Now, I think I shall sit me down and
+write a sweet gushing note of thanks, while I'm in the notion. For I've
+a lot on to-day, and I can't devote much time to this particular
+suitor."
+
+"Suitor is a slang word, Patty; you oughtn't to use it."
+
+"Fiddle-dee-dee! if I didn't use any slang, I couldn't talk at all! And
+suitor isn't exactly slang; it's the word in current fashion for any
+pleasant young gentleman who sends flowers, or otherwise favors any
+pleasant young lady. Everybody in society knows what it means, so don't
+act old fogy,--Nancy Dancy."
+
+Patty dropped a butterfly kiss on Nan's brow, and then pirouetted
+across the room to her writing desk.
+
+"Shall I begin, 'My Dear Suitor'?" she said, and then giggled to see
+the shocked look on Nan's face.
+
+"It wouldn't matter; he would understand," she said, carelessly, "but I
+think I can do better than that."
+
+"Well, I'll leave you to yourself," said Nan; "not out of special
+consideration for your comfort, but because it doesn't interest me to
+watch anybody write letters."
+
+"By-by," and Patty waved her hand, absentmindedly, as Nan left the room.
+
+Then she applied herself to her task.
+
+"Most Courteous Knight," she began; "The flowers are beautiful,--and
+they are saying lovely things to me. They say they are fresh and young
+and green. Oh, my goodness! I forgot that you said they were speaking
+for you! Well, then, they are saying that they are just the sort I
+like, and they are sure of a welcome. With many, many thanks, I am very
+sincerely yours, Patricia Poppycheek Fairfield."
+
+And then Patty dismissed her Knight from her mind, and turned her
+attention to other matters. That afternoon about five o'clock, Mr.
+Cameron called.
+
+"I scarcely hoped to find you at home," he said, as Patty greeted him
+in the drawing-room.
+
+"It isn't our day," she returned, "but I chanced to be in, and I'm glad
+of it. Nan, may I present Mr. Cameron?" And Nan accorded a pleasant
+welcome to the visitor.
+
+"You see, Mrs. Fairfield," Cameron said, "I rarely go into society and
+I fear my manners are a bit rusty. So if I have come to call too soon,
+please forgive me."
+
+His smile was so frank and his manner so easily correct, that Nan
+approved of him at once. She was punctilious in such matters, and she
+saw, through Kit's pretence at rustiness, that he was not lacking in
+etiquette or courtesy.
+
+"Let's have tea in the library," said Patty; "you see, Mr. Cameron, we
+always invite people we like to have tea in there, rather than in this
+formal place."
+
+"That suits me; I want to be considered one of the family, and what's
+the use of wasting a whole lot of time getting up to that point? Let's
+make believe we've always known each other."
+
+So tea was served in the library, and a very pleasant informal feast it
+was.
+
+Mr. Fairfield came in, and soon the whole quartette were chatting gaily
+as if they had always known each other.
+
+Mr. Cameron was especially interested in Patty's club called "Happy
+Saturdays."
+
+"It's the kindest thing I ever heard of," he said, enthusiastically.
+"It does good to people who can't be reached by any organised charity.
+I don't want to intrude, Miss Fairfield, and I don't want to exploit
+myself, but if you ever give your Saturday friends a little musicale or
+anything like that, I'd jolly well like to play for you. I'll play
+popular stuff, or I'll play my best Sunday-go-to-meeting pieces,
+whichever you prefer."
+
+"That's awfully nice of you," said Patty, smiling at him. "I've often
+thought I'd get up something of that sort."
+
+"We might have it here," said Nan, "unless you mean to invite more
+people than we could take care of."
+
+"I'd like to have it here," said Patty; "the drawing-room would easily
+seat sixty or seventy in an audience,--perhaps more. And I don't
+believe we could find more than that to invite. Although I know of a
+girls' club that I'd like to invite as a whole."
+
+"It's a pretty big thing you're getting up, Pattikins," said Mr.
+Fairfield, smiling kindly at his enthusiastic daughter, "but if you
+think you can swing it, go ahead. I'll help all I can."
+
+"It would upset the house terribly," said Nan; "but I don't mind that.
+I'm with you, Patty. Let's do it."
+
+"If you're shy on the programme, I can get one or two fellows to help
+us out," said Cameron. "A chum of mine warbles a good baritone and I'm
+dead sure he'd like to help."
+
+"I'm really a perfectly good singer," said Mr. Fairfield, "but my voice
+is not appreciated nowadays. So I'm going to decline all requests to
+sing, however insistent. But I'll help you out this way, Patsy-Poppet.
+I'll set up the supper for the whole crowd."
+
+"Oh, daddy, how good you are!" and Patty leaned over to give her
+father's hand an affectionate squeeze. "It will be just lovely! We'll
+give those people a real musical treat, and a lovely supper to wind up
+with. Really, Mr. Cameron, you are to be thanked for all this, for you
+first suggested it. Our club has never done such a big thing before. I
+know the girls will be delighted!"
+
+Unable to wait, Patty flew to the telephone and called up Mona, who was
+one of the most earnest workers of the club. As she had fore-seen, Mona
+was greatly pleased, and they immediately planned a meeting for the
+next morning to perfect the arrangements.
+
+"And incidentally, and aside from giving a musical entertainment to
+your poor but worthy young friends, won't you go with me next week to
+enjoy some music yourself?" said Cameron to Patty, as he was about to
+take leave.
+
+"Where?" she asked.
+
+"I want to have a little opera party. Only half a dozen of us. The
+Hepworths will be our chaperons, and if you will go, I'll ask my cousin
+Marie and Mr. Harper."
+
+"Why not Mr. Van Reypen?" said Patty, mischievously.
+
+"Me deadly rival! never! nevaire! how could you cruelly suggest it?"
+
+"I didn't mean it. Forget it," and Patty smiled at him.
+
+"All right, it's forgotten, but don't EVER let such a thing occur
+again!"
+
+And then Mr. Cameron reluctantly took himself off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A HOUSE PARTY
+
+
+Somehow or other Mr. Cameron immediately became a prominent factor in
+the Fairfield household. He appeared frequently, and even more
+frequently he telephoned or he wrote notes or he sent flowers or
+messages, until Patty declared he was everlastingly under foot!
+
+But he was so gay and good-natured, so full of pranks and foolery, that
+it was impossible to snub him or to be annoyed with him.
+
+He was a civil engineer, having already built up a good-sized business.
+But he seemed to be both able and willing to leave his office at any
+hour of the day or night for any occasion where Patty was concerned.
+
+But he apparently fulfilled her wishes as to being her friend and chum
+and comrade, without falling in love with her.
+
+"He's a thoroughly nice chap," Mr. Fairfield often said; "good-natured
+and right-minded, as well as clever and talented."
+
+So, as he was also a favourite with Nan, he dropped in at the Fairfield
+house very often, and Patty grew to like him very much.
+
+The opera party had duly taken place and had been a pleasant success.
+The musical entertainment was being planned for some weeks hence, as it
+was not easy to find a near-by date which suited all concerned.
+
+One morning, as Patty was fluttering around her boudoir and looking
+over her mail, the telephone rang and the familiar "Hello, Princess,"
+sounded in her ear.
+
+"Hello, most noble Knight," she responded, "what would'st thou of me?"
+
+"A boon so great that I fear to ask it! Won't you promise it in
+advance?"
+
+"What I promise in advance, I never fulfil."
+
+"Don't do it, then! I'll ask you first. You see, it's this way. My
+angelic and altogether delightful sister Lora lives in Eastchester with
+her stalwart husband and a blossom-bud of a kiddy. Now it seems that
+there's a wonderful country-club ball up there, and she thinks it will
+be nice if you and I should attend that same."
+
+"And what do YOU think about it?"
+
+"Oh, I don't have any thoughts concerning it, until I know what YOU
+think. And then, of course, that's precisely what _I_ think."
+
+"When is it?"
+
+"To-morrow night."
+
+"Mercy me! So soon! Well, I haven't anything on for to-morrow night;
+but the next night Mr. Van Reypen is making a theatre party for me that
+I wouldn't miss for anything."
+
+"H'm! how LOVELY! Well, Princess, what say you to my humble plea?"
+
+"What are your plans? How do I get there?"
+
+"Why, thusly; my sister will invite you to her home, and incidentally
+to the ball. She will also ask my cousin Marie and Mr. Harper, who is
+not at all averse, it seems to me, to playing Marie's little lamb!"
+
+"Have you noticed that? So have I. Well, go on."
+
+"Well, then, I thought it would be nice if we four should motor out to
+Eastchester to-morrow afternoon, go straight to sister's, do up the
+ball business and motor back the next day. There's the whole case in a
+nutshell. Now pronounce my doom!"
+
+"It seems to me just the nicest sort of a racket, and if your sister
+invites me, I shall most certainly accept."
+
+"Oh, bless you for ever! Princess Poppycheek. I shall telephone Lora at
+once, and she will write you an invitation on her best stationery, and
+she will also telephone you, and if you wish it she will come and call
+on you."
+
+"No, don't bother her to do that. I've met her, you know, and if she
+either writes or telephones, it will be all right. What time do we
+start?"
+
+"About three, so as to make it easily by tea-time."
+
+"I'll be ready. Count on me. Good-bye."
+
+Patty hung up the telephone suddenly, as she always did. She often said
+it was her opinion that more time was wasted in this world by people
+who didn't know how to say good-bye, than from any other cause. And her
+minutes were too precious to be spent on a telephone, after the main
+subject of conversation had been finished.
+
+She danced downstairs to tell Nan all about it.
+
+"Very nice party," Nan approved; "I've met Mrs. Perry, you know, and
+she's charming. You'll be home Thursday, of course. You know you've a
+theatre party that night."
+
+"Yes, I know; I'll be home," said Patty, abstractedly. "What would you
+take for the ball, Nan? My pink chiffon or my yellow satin?"
+
+"They're both so pretty, it's hard to choose. The yellow satin, I
+think; it's a dream of a frock."
+
+Mrs. Perry wrote a most cordial invitation and also telephoned, saying
+how glad she would be to welcome Patty to her home.
+
+And so, the next afternoon, the young people started on their motor
+trip.
+
+It was easily accomplished in two hours, and then Patty found herself a
+very much honoured guest in Mrs. Perry's pleasant home.
+
+"It's dear of you to come," said the vivacious little hostess, as she
+took Patty and Marie to their rooms upon their arrival.
+
+"It's dear of you to ask me." returned Patty; "I love to go to parties,
+and I love to go into new people's houses,--I mean people's new
+houses,--oh, well, you know what I mean; I mean HERE!"
+
+"The house IS new," said Mrs. Perry, laughing, "but we're getting to be
+old people, and we want you young folks to liven us up."
+
+"Old people!" and Patty smiled at the pretty young matron.
+
+"Yes, wait till you see my baby. She's almost three years old! Fancy my
+going to balls, with a big girl like that."
+
+"You're just fishing," said Patty, laughingly, "and I shan't humour
+you. I know you young mothers! You go to a party, and you're the
+belles, and leave all us wall-flowers green with envy!"
+
+Mrs. Perry's eyes twinkled, and she looked so roguish that Patty
+exclaimed, "You're exactly like Mr. Cameron! I can well believe you're
+his sister."
+
+"Who's he? Oh, you mean Kit! I don't think I ever heard him called Mr.
+Cameron before, and it does sound so funny! Can't we persuade you to
+say Kit?"
+
+"I don't mind, if he doesn't," said Patty, carelessly. "What a darling
+room this is!"
+
+"Yes; this is one of my pet rooms. I always give it to my favourite
+guests."
+
+"I don't wonder," and Patty looked round admiringly at the dainty
+draperies and pretty appointments of the chamber.
+
+"Marie always has it when she's here; but, of course, she was glad to
+give it up to you, and I put her in the blue room just across the hall.
+Come now, powder your nose, we must run down to tea. Don't change your
+frock."
+
+Patty had worn a little silk house gown under her motor coat, so after
+a brief adjustment of her tumbled curls she was ready to go down.
+
+The Perrys' was a modern house of an elaborate type. There were many
+rooms, on varying levels, so that one was continually going up or down
+a few broad steps. Often the rooms were separated only by columns or by
+railings, which made the whole interior diversified and picturesque.
+
+"Such a gem of a house!" exclaimed Patty, as she entered the tea-room.
+"So many cosy, snuggly places,--and so warm and balmy."
+
+She dropped into a lot of silken cushions that were piled in the corner
+of an inglenook, and placed her feet daintily on a footstool in front
+of the blazing fire.
+
+"Awful dinky!" said Kit, as he pushed aside some cushions and sat down
+beside Patty, "but a jolly good house to visit in."
+
+"Yes, it is," said Marie, who was nestled in an easy-chair the other
+side of the great fireplace. "And it's so light and pleasant. We never
+get any sunlight, home."
+
+"Nonsense, Marie," said Kit, "our apartments are unusually light ones."
+
+"Well, it's a different kind of light," protested Marie. "It only comes
+from across the street, and here the light comes clear from the
+horizon."
+
+"It does," agreed Mrs. Perry, "but we're getting the very last rays
+now. Ring for lights, Kit."
+
+"No, sister, let's just have the firelight. It's more becoming, anyway."
+
+So Mrs. Perry merely turned on one pink-shaded light near the tea table
+and let her guests enjoy the twilight and firelight.
+
+"Country life is 'way ahead of city existence," remarked Kenneth, as he
+made himself useful in passing the teacups. "The whole atmosphere is
+different. When I marry and settle down, I shall be a country
+gentleman."
+
+"How interesting!" cried Patty. "I should love to see you, Ken,
+superintending your gardener and showing him how to plant cabbages!"
+
+"Dead easy," retorted Kenneth; "I'd have a gardener show me first, and
+when the next gardener came I could show him."
+
+"Well, I don't want to live in the country," said Kit; "it's great to
+visit here, that's what sisters' houses are for; but I couldn't live so
+far away from the busy mart. Back to the stones for mine."
+
+When their host, Dick Perry, arrived he came in with a genial, breezy
+manner and warmly welcomed the guests.
+
+"Well, well!" he exclaimed, "this IS a treat! To come home at night and
+find a lot of gay and festive young people gathered around! Lora, why
+don't we do this oftener? Nothing like a lot of young people to make a
+home merry. How are you, Marie? Glad to see you again, Miss Fairfield."
+
+Mr. Perry bustled around, flung off his coat, accepted a cup of tea
+from his wife, and then, coming over toward Patty, he ordered Kit
+Cameron to vacate, and he took his place.
+
+"You're not to be monopolised by that brother-in-law of mine, Miss
+Fairfield," he said, as he sat down beside her. "He's a clever young
+chap, I admit, but he can't always get ahead of me."
+
+Patty responded laughingly to this gay banter, and the tea hour passed
+all too quickly, and it was time to dress for dinner.
+
+"We'll put on our party frocks before dinner," said Mrs. Perry, as she
+went upstairs with the girls; "and then we won't have to dress twice.
+I'll send you a maid, Miss Fairfield."
+
+"Thank you," said Patty, "but I can look after myself fairly
+well,--until it comes to hooking up. I always do my own hair."
+
+"It can't be much trouble," said Mrs. Perry, looking admiringly at the
+golden curls, "for it looks lovely whatever way you do it."
+
+Patty slipped on a kimono and brushed out her shining mass of curls. As
+Mrs. Perry had rightly said, Patty's coiffure was not troublesome, for
+however she bunched up the gleaming mass it looked exactly right. She
+twisted it up with care, however, and added a marvellous ornament of a
+bandeau, which circled halfway round her head, and above which a gilt
+butterfly was tremblingly poised. It was too early to get into her
+frock, so Patty flung herself into a big chair before the crackling
+fire, and gave herself up to daydreams. She dearly loved to idle this
+way and she fell to thinking, naturally, of the home she was visiting
+and the people who lived there.
+
+Patty still sat dreaming these idle fancies, when there was a tap at
+the door and, in response to her permission, a maid entered.
+
+"I'm Babette," she said, "and I have come to help you with your gown."
+
+"Thank you," said Patty, jumping up; "it's later than I thought. We
+must make haste."
+
+With experienced deftness, the French maid arrayed Patty in the
+beautiful evening gown of yellow satin, veiled with a shimmering yellow
+gauze.
+
+Although unusual for a blonde, yellow was exceedingly becoming to
+Patty, and she looked like an exquisite spring blossom in the soft,
+sheath-like jonquil-coloured gown.
+
+Her dainty satin slippers and silk stockings were of the same pale
+yellow, as was also the filmy scarf, which she knew how to wear so
+gracefully.
+
+Her only ornament was a string of pearls, which had been her mother's.
+
+When she was all ready she went slowly down the winding staircase,
+looking about her at the interesting house. A broad landing halfway
+down showed an attractive window-seat, and Patty sat down there for a
+moment.
+
+There seemed to be no one in the hall below, and Patty concluded that
+she was early after all, though she had feared she would be late.
+
+In a moment Kit came down and spied her.
+
+"Hello, Princess!" he cried. "You're a yellow poppy to-night,--and a
+gay little blossom, too."
+
+"Not yellow poppyCHEEK!" cried Patty, rubbing her pink cheeks in mock
+dismay.
+
+"Well, no; only one who is colour-blind could call those pink cheeks
+yellow. May I pose beside you, here, and make a beautiful tableau?"
+
+He sat beside Patty on the window-seat, and they wondered why the rest
+were so late.
+
+"Prinking, I suppose," said Kit. "How did you manage to get ready so
+soon?"
+
+"Why, just because I thought I was late, and so I hurried."
+
+"Didn't know a girl COULD hurry,--accept my compliments." And Kit rose
+and made an exaggerated bow.
+
+"What's going on?" said Dick Perry, gaily, as he came downstairs and
+paused on the landing.
+
+"Only homage at the shrine of Beauty," returned Kit.
+
+"Let me homage, too," said Mr. Perry, and they both bowed and scraped,
+until Patty went off in a gale of laughter and said: "You ridiculous
+boys, you look like popinjays! But here comes Marie; now more homage is
+due."
+
+Marie came down the steps slowly and gracefully, looking very pretty in
+pale green, with tiny pink rosebuds for trimming.
+
+"Good for you, Marie!" exclaimed her cousin. "Your dress gees with Miss
+Fairfield's first-rate. You'll do!"
+
+And then the others came, and the merry group went out to dinner.
+
+After dinner they started at once for the country-club ball. It was to
+be a very large affair, and, as Patty knew no one except their own
+house party, she declared that she knew she'd be a wall-flower.
+
+"Wall-flower, indeed!" said Kit. "Poppies don't grow on walls. They
+grow right in the middle of the field, and sway and dance in the
+breeze."
+
+"I always said you were a poet," returned Patty, "and you do have the
+prettiest fancies."
+
+"I fancy YOU, if that's what you mean," Kit replied, and Patty gave him
+a haughty glance for his impertinence.
+
+Then Babette put on Patty's coat, which was a really gorgeous affair.
+It was what is known as a Mandarin coat, of white silk, heavily
+embroidered with gold, and very quaint she looked in it.
+
+"That thing must weigh a ton," commented Kit. "Why do you girls want to
+wear Chinese togs?"
+
+"It's a beautiful coat," said Mrs. Perry, admiringly. "Have you been to
+China, Miss Fairfield?"
+
+"No; I never have. This was a Christmas present, and I'm awfully fond
+of it. I'm afraid I'm barbaric in my love of bright, glittering things."
+
+"A very civilised little barbarian," said Mr. Perry, and then they all
+went off to the ball.
+
+"How many may I have?" said Kit, as he took Patty's programme from her
+hand after they were in the ballroom.
+
+"As I don't know any one else, I shall have to dance them all with you
+and Ken," returned Patty, demurely.
+
+"Never mind Harper; give them all to me."
+
+Patty looked at him calmly. "I'll tell you what," she said: "you put
+down your initials for every dance; then, if I do find any partners I
+like better, I'll give them dances; and, if not, you see I'll have you
+to depend on."
+
+Cameron stared at her, but Patty looked at him with an innocent smile,
+as if she were not asking anything extraordinary.
+
+"Well, you've got a nerve!" the young man exclaimed.
+
+"Why, it was your own proposition that you have all the dances;" and
+Patty looked almost offended.
+
+"Poppycheek, you shall have it your own way! You shall have anything
+you want, that _I_ can give you." And Cameron scribbled his initials
+against every one of the twenty dances on the programme.
+
+"You might have put K. C. to the first and then ditto after that," said
+Patty, as she watched him.
+
+"Nay, nay, Pauline!" and Kit gave her a shrewd glance. "Think what
+would happen then. You'd give a dance to some other man, maybe, and
+he'd set down his initials, and all the rest of the dittos would refer
+to him!"
+
+"Poor man! I never thought of that! But it isn't likely there'll be any
+others except Ken."
+
+"Oh, don't you worry! Everybody will want an introduction to you, after
+they see you dance."
+
+"I don't think much of that for a compliment! I'd rather be loved for
+my sweet self alone."
+
+"Have you never been?"
+
+"Many, many times!" and Patty sighed in mock despair. "But my love
+affairs always end tragically."
+
+"Your suitors drown themselves, I suppose?"
+
+"Do you mean if I encourage them?"
+
+"Do you know what a silly you are?"
+
+"Do you know what a goose YOU are?"
+
+"Children, stop quarrelling," and Mrs. Perry smiled at the chattering
+pair. "Miss Fairfield, several amiable young men of my acquaintance
+desire to be presented to you. May I?"
+
+Patty smilingly acquiesced, and in a moment half a dozen would-be
+partners were asking for dances.
+
+They looked rather taken aback at sight of Patty's card, but she calmly
+explained to them the true condition of things, and they accepted the
+situation with smiles of admiration for a girl who could command such
+an arrangement. Patty would not give more than one dance to each, as
+she wanted to find out which ones she liked best.
+
+Mr. Perry brought up some of his acquaintances, too, and shortly
+Patty's programme showed an astonishing lot of hieroglyphics scribbled
+over Kit's initials.
+
+"Here are twelve dances you may have for your other friends," said
+Patty, to Mr. Cameron. "Take the numbers as I call them off: one, two,
+three----"
+
+"Oh, wait a minute! Have you given them all away?"
+
+"No; only the first twelve, so far. But cheer up! I may be able to
+dispose of the others."
+
+"You're a naughty, bad, mean little princess; and I don't love you any
+more."
+
+Kit looked reproachfully at Patty, with his eyes so full of
+disappointment that she relented.
+
+"I didn't give away the first one, really," she said, softly. "I saved
+that for you."
+
+"You blessed, dear, sweet little Princess you! Now, don't give away any
+more, will you? I know you'll have thousands of requests."
+
+"I'll see about it," was all Patty would promise, and then the music
+began and they stepped out on to the dancing floor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+EDDIE BELL
+
+
+"Which do you like best of all the boys you've met?" asked Kit, as they
+danced.
+
+"What a question! How can I possibly tell, when a dozen well-behaved
+and serious-looking young men stand up like a class in school and say,
+one after another, 'May I have the honour of a dance, Miss Fairfield?'
+They all looked exactly alike to me. Except one. There was one boy, who
+looks so much like me he might be my brother. I never had a brother,
+and I've a good notion to adopt him as one."
+
+"Don't! There's nothing so dangerous as adopting a young man for a
+brother! But I know who you mean,--Eddie Bell. He doesn't look a bit
+like you, but he HAS yellow curls and blue eyes."
+
+"And pink cheeks," supplemented Patty.
+
+"Yes, but not poppy cheeks; they're more the pink of a--of
+a--horsechestnut!"
+
+"I think pink horsechestnut blooms are beautiful."
+
+"Oh, you do, do you? And I suppose you think Eddie Bell is beautiful!"
+
+"Well, there's no occasion for you to get mad about it if I do. Do you
+know, Mr. Cameron, you flare up very easily."
+
+"If you'll call me Kit, I'll promise never to flare up again."
+
+"Certainly, I'll call you Kit. I'd just as lieve as not; anything to
+oblige."
+
+"And may I call you Patty?"
+
+"Why, yes, if you like."
+
+"Look here, you're altogether too indifferent about it."
+
+"Oh, what a boy!" And Patty rolled her eyes up in despair. "If I don't
+want him to call me Patty, he doesn't like it; and if I do let him call
+me Patty, he isn't satisfied! What to do,--what to do!"
+
+"You're a little tease,--THAT'S what you are!"
+
+"And you're a big tease, that's what YOU are! I've heard you're even
+fond of practical jokes! Now, I detest practical jokes."
+
+"That's an awful pity, for I mean to play one on you the very first
+chance I get."
+
+"You can't do it?"
+
+"Why can't I?"
+
+"Because I'd discover it, and foil you."
+
+"There's no such word as foil in my bright lexicon. I'll lay you a
+wager, if you like, that I play a practical joke on you, that you,
+yourself, will admit is clever and not unkind. That's the test of a
+right kind of a joke,--to be clever and not unkind."
+
+Patty's eyes danced. "You have the right idea about it," she said,
+nodding her head approvingly. "I don't so much mind a practical joke,
+if it is really a good one, and doesn't make the victim feel hurt or
+chagrined. But all the same, Mr. Kit, you can't get one off on me! I'm
+a little too wide-awake, as you'll find out."
+
+"Would you take a wager?"
+
+"I'm not in the habit of betting, but I'm willing for once. It's hardly
+fair, though, for I'm betting on a dead certainty."
+
+"You mean you THINK you are! And I think _I_ am, so the chances are
+even. What are the stakes?"
+
+"I don't care: candy or books or flowers or anything."
+
+"Nonsense, they're too prosaic. If I win, you're to give me a
+photograph of yourself."
+
+"Oh, I almost never give my picture to my suitors. It isn't good form."
+
+"But, if you're so sure that you will win, you needn't be afraid to
+promise it."
+
+"All right, I promise; and, if I win, you may give me a perfectly
+beautiful picture frame, in which I shall put some other man's picture."
+
+"How cruel you can be! But, as I'm sure of winning, I'm not afraid to
+take that up. A frame against a picture, then. But there must be a time
+limit."
+
+"I'll give you a month; if you can't do it in that time, you can't do
+it at all. And, also, I must be the judge,--if you do fool me,--whether
+your practical joke is clever and not unkind."
+
+"I'm quite contented that you should be the judge, for I know your
+sincere and honest nature will not let you swerve a hair's breadth from
+a true and fair judgment."
+
+"That's clever," returned Patty; "for now I shall have to be honest."
+
+The first dance over, Patty went on with a long succession of dances
+with her various partners. They were all polite and courteous young
+men, some attractive and agreeable, others shy, and some dull and
+uninteresting. Patty complacently accorded another dance to any one she
+liked, and calmly refused it to less desirable partners,--pleading an
+engagement with Cameron as her excuse.
+
+The one she liked best was Eddie Bell. As she had said, this young man
+did look a little like Patty herself, though this was mostly due to
+their similarity of colouring.
+
+"If I may say anything so impossible, it seems to me that I look like a
+comic valentine of you," said Mr. Bell, as they began to dance.
+
+Patty laughed outright at this apt expression of their resemblance, and
+said: "I have already told some one that you looked exactly like me.
+So, in that case, I'm a comic valentine, too. But, truly, you're enough
+like me to be my brother."
+
+"May I be? Not that I want to, in the least, but of course that is the
+obvious thing to say. I'd rather be most any relation to you than a
+brother."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Oh, it's such a prosaic relationship. I have three sisters,--and
+they're the dearest girls in the world,--but I don't really feel the
+need of any more."
+
+"What would you like to be?" And Patty flashed him a dangerous glance
+of her pansy-blue eyes.
+
+But Mr. Bell kept his equanimity. "How about second cousin, once
+removed?"
+
+"I suppose you'll be removed at the end of this dance."
+
+"Then, may this dance last for ever!"
+
+"Oh, what a pretty speech! Of course, you wouldn't make that to a
+sister! I think a second cousinship is very pleasant."
+
+"Then, that's settled. And I may call you Cousin Patty, I suppose?"
+
+"It would seem absurd to say Cousin Miss Fairfield, wouldn't it? And
+yet our acquaintance is entirely too short for first names."
+
+"But it's growing longer every minute; and, if you would grant me
+another dance after I'm removed from this one, I'm sure we could reach
+the stage of first names."
+
+"I will give you one more," said Patty, for she liked Mr. Bell very
+much.
+
+So at the end of their dance they agreed upon a number later on the
+programme, and Mr. Bell wrote down "Cousin Ed" on Patty's card.
+
+It was just after this that Kit came back for his second dance.
+
+"Naughty girl," he said; "you've kept me waiting three-quarters of the
+evening."
+
+"I thought I saw you dancing with several visions of beauty."
+
+"Only killing time till I could get back to you. Come on, don't waste a
+minute."
+
+It was a joy to Patty to dance with Cameron, for he was by all odds the
+best dancer she had ever met. And many admiring glances followed them
+as they circled the great room.
+
+"How did you like your little brother?" Kit enquired.
+
+"He's a ducky-daddles!" declared Patty, enthusiastically. "Just a nice
+all-round boy, frank and jolly and good-natured."
+
+"That's what I am."
+
+"Not a bit of it! You're a musician; freakish, temperamental, touchy,
+and--a woman-hater."
+
+"Gracious! what a character to live up to,--or down to. But I hate YOU
+awfully, don't I?"
+
+"I don't know. I never can feel sure of these temperamental natures."
+
+"Well, don't you worry about feeling sure of me. The longer you live,
+the surer you'll feel."
+
+"That sounds like 'the longer she lives the shorter she grows,'" said
+Patty, flippantly.
+
+"Yes, the old nursery rhyme. Well, you are my candle,--a beacon,
+lighting my pathway with your golden beams----"
+
+"Oh, do stop! That's beautiful talk, but it's such rubbish."
+
+"Haven't you ever noticed that much beautiful talk IS rubbish?"
+
+"Yes, I have. And I'm glad that you think that way, too. Beautiful
+thoughts are best expressed by plain, sincere words, and have little
+connection with 'beautiful talk.'"
+
+"Patty Fairfield, you're a brick! And, when I've said that, I can't say
+anything more."
+
+"A gold brick?"
+
+"Not in the usual acceptance of that term; but you're pure gold, and
+I'm jolly well glad I've found a girl like you."
+
+There was such a ring of sincerity in Cameron's tone that Patty looked
+up at him suddenly. And the honest look in his eyes made it impossible
+for her to return any flippant response.
+
+"And I'm glad, too, that we are friends, Kit," she said, simply.
+
+The next dance was Mr. Bell's, and that rosy-cheeked youth came up
+blithely to claim it.
+
+"Come along, Cousin Patty," he said, and Cameron stared at him in
+amazement.
+
+"Are you two cousins?" he said.
+
+"Once removed," returned Eddie Bell, gaily; "and this is the removal."
+He took Patty's hand and laid it lightly within his own arm as he led
+her away.
+
+"Don't let's dance right off," he begged. "Let's rest a minute in this
+bosky dell."
+
+The dell was an alcove off the ballroom, which contained several palms
+and floral baskets and a deep, cushioned window-seat.
+
+"Let's sit here and watch the moon rise;" and he led Patty toward the
+window-seat, where he deftly arranged some cushions for her.
+
+"I believe the moon rises to-morrow afternoon," said Patty.
+
+"Well, I don't mind waiting. Sit here, won't you? These stupid cushions
+ought to be of a golden yellow or a pale green. However, this old rose
+does fairly well for our blond beauty. Isn't it nice we're of the same
+type and harmonise with the same furnishings? When we're married we
+won't have to differ about our house decorations." "When we are WHAT?"
+
+"Married, I said. You know, you're not really my second cousin and
+there's absolutely no bar to our union."
+
+This was quite the most audacious young man Patty had ever met. But she
+was quite equal to the situation.
+
+"Of course there isn't," she said, lightly. "And, when I think of the
+economy of our being able to use the same colour scheme, it IS an
+inducement."
+
+"And meantime we must get better acquainted, as you said when we were
+dancing. May I come to see you in the city? Where do you live?"
+
+"In Seventy-second Street," said Patty, "but I feel it my duty to tell
+you that there's already a long line awaiting admission."
+
+"Oh, yes, I've seen that line when I've been passing. It goes clear
+round the corner of the block. Do I have to take my place at the end,
+or can I have a special favour shown me?"
+
+"I'm sure your sense of justice wouldn't permit that. You take your
+place at the end of the line, and when your turn comes I'll be glad to
+welcome you."
+
+"Then that's all right," said Mr. Bell, cheerfully, "and you'll be
+surprised to see how soon I appear! Now, lady fair, would you rather go
+and dance or sit here and listen to me converse?"
+
+"It's pleasant to rest a little," and Patty nestled into her cushions,
+"and you really ARE amusing, you know. Let's stay here a little while."
+
+"Now, isn't that nice of you! Do you want to talk, too, or shall I do
+it all and give you a complete rest?"
+
+"You do it all," said Patty, indolently. "It will be like going to a
+monologue entertainment."
+
+"At your orders. What subject would you like?"
+
+"Yourself."
+
+"Oh, wise beyond your years! You know the subject that most interests a
+man."
+
+"That isn't pretty!" And Patty frowned at him. "There ought to be
+another subject more interesting to you than that!"
+
+"There is; but I don't dare trust myself with HER!"
+
+Mr. Bell's manner and voice were so exactly the right mixture of
+deferential homage and burlesque that Patty laughed in delight.
+
+"You are the DEAREST man!" she cried.
+
+He looked at her reproachfully. "You said I might do all the talking,
+and now you're doing it yourself."
+
+"I'll be still now. Avoid that subject you consider dangerous and tell
+me all about yourself."
+
+"Well, once upon a time, there was a beautiful young man who rejoiced
+in the poetic and musical name of Eddie Bell. I know he was a beautiful
+young man, because he was said to resemble the most beautiful girl in
+the whole world. Well, one evening he had the supreme good fortune to
+meet this girl, and he realised at once that he had met his Fate,--his
+Fate with a VERY large F. Incidentally, the F stood for Fairfield,
+which made his Fate all the more certain. And so----"
+
+"Patty, are you here?" and Ken Harper came through the palms toward
+them. "This is our dance."
+
+"Good gracious, Ken, is this dance the next dance? I mean is this dance
+over, or is this dance our dance."
+
+"You seem a little mixed, Patty, but this is our dance and I claim it.
+Are you RESTED enough?"
+
+Patty rose and, with a simple word of excuse to Mr. Bell, went away
+with Kenneth.
+
+"That's the first time, Ken, in all our friendship that I ever knew you
+to say anything horrid," and Patty looked at him with a really hurt
+expression.
+
+"I didn't say anything horrid," and Kenneth's fine face wore a sulky
+expression.
+
+"You did, too. You asked me if I were RESTED in a horrid, sarcastic
+tone; and you meant it for a reproof, because I sat out that dance with
+Mr. Bell."
+
+"You had no business to go and hide behind those palms with him."
+
+"We didn't hide! That's only a bay-window alcove,--a part of the
+ballroom. I have a perfect right to sit out a dance if I choose."
+
+"That young chap was too familiar, anyway. I heard him calling you
+'Cousin Patty.'"
+
+"Oh, fiddlestrings, Ken! Don't be an idiot! We were only joking. And
+I'm not so old, yet, but what I can let a boy call me by my first name
+if I choose. When I'm twenty I'm going to be Miss Fairfield; but while
+I'm nineteen anybody can call me Patty,--if I give him permission."
+
+"You're a flirt, Patty."
+
+"All right, Ken. Flirt with me, won't you?" Patty's roguish blue eyes
+looked at Kenneth with such a frank and friendly glance that he
+couldn't scold her any more.
+
+"I can't flirt with you, Patty. I'm not that sort. You know very well
+I've only a plain, plodding sort of a mind, and I can't keep up with
+this repartee and persiflage that you carry on with these other chaps."
+
+"I don't carry on," said Patty, laughing.
+
+"I didn't say you carried on," returned Kenneth, who took everything
+seriously. "I meant you carried on conversations that are full of wit
+and repartee, of a sort that I can't get off."
+
+"Nobody wants you to, you dear old Ken! You wouldn't be half as nice if
+you were as foolish and frivolous as these society chatterboxes! You've
+got more sterling worth and real intellect in your make-up than they
+ever dreamed of. Now, stop your nonsense and come on and dance.
+But--don't undertake to lecture Patty Fairfield,--she won't stand for
+it!"
+
+"I didn't mean to lecture you, Patty," and Kenneth spoke very humbly.
+"But when I saw you tucked away behind those palms, flirting with that
+yellow-headed rattle-pate, I felt that I ought to speak to you."
+
+"You SPOKE, all right!" and Patty looked at him severely. "But you know
+perfectly well, Kenneth Harper, that I wasn't doing anything I oughtn't
+to. You know perfectly well that, though I like what you call
+'flirting,' I'm never the least bit unconventional and I never forget
+the strictest law of etiquette and propriety. I'd scorn to do such a
+thing!"
+
+Patty's blue eyes were blazing now with righteous indignation, for
+Kenneth had been unjust, and Patty would not stand injustice. She was
+punctilious in matters of etiquette, and she had not overstepped any
+bounds by sitting out a dance in that alcove, which was a part of the
+ballroom and a refuge for any one weary of dancing.
+
+"And you know perfectly well, Kenneth," she went on, "that you DIDN'T
+think I was unconventional, or anything of the sort. You were only----"
+
+Patty paused, for she didn't quite want to say what was in her mind.
+
+"You're right, Little Patty," and Kenneth looked her straight in the
+eyes; "you're right. I WAS jealous. Yes, and envious. It always hurts
+me to see you laughing and talking in that darling little way of yours,
+and to know that _I_ can't make you talk like that. I wish I weren't
+such a stupid-head! I wish _I_ could say things that would make you
+play your pretty fooleries with ME."
+
+Patty looked at him in amazement. She had never suspected that
+serious-minded, hard-working Kenneth had anything but scorn for men of
+less mental calibre and quicker wit.
+
+"Why, Kenneth," she said, gently, "don't talk like that. My friendship
+for you is worth a dozen of these silly foolery flirtations with men
+that I don't care two cents for."
+
+"I don't want your friendship, Patty," and Kenneth's deep voice
+trembled a little; "I mean I don't want ONLY your friendship. And yet I
+know I can't hope for anything more. I'm too dull and commonplace to
+attract a beautiful butterfly like you."
+
+"Kenneth," and Patty gave him a glance, gentle, but a little
+bewildered, "you're out of your head. You have a splendid head,
+Kenneth, full of wonderful brains, but you're out of it. You get
+yourself back into it as quick as you can! And don't let's dance this
+dance, please; I am tired. I wish you'd take me to Mrs. Perry."
+
+In silence, Kenneth complied with Patty's wish, and took her to where
+Lora Perry was sitting.
+
+Then he went away, leaving Patty much more disturbed by what he had
+said than by all the gay fooleries of Eddie Bell or Kit Cameron.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+QUARANTINED
+
+
+"Tired?" asked Mrs. Perry, as she welcomed Patty to her side.
+
+"A little; I love to dance, but a long program does weary me. Are we
+going home soon?"
+
+"Whenever you like, dear."
+
+"Oh, not until the others are ready. There goes Marie. She's having a
+lovely time to-night. Isn't she a pretty thing?--and so popular."
+
+Patty's admiration was sincere and honest, and Marie's dark, glowing
+beauty was well worthy of commendation.
+
+But seeing Patty sitting by Mrs. Perry, Marie came to them, when the
+dance ended, and declared that she was quite ready to go home, although
+the program wasn't finished.
+
+"What's all this about?" inquired Kit Cameron, coming up to them. "Go
+home? Not a bit of it! There are a lot of dances yet."
+
+"Well, you stay for them if you like, Kit," said his sister, rising.
+"I'm going to take these girls away. They've danced quite enough, and
+it's time they went home."
+
+"Whither thou all goest, I will go also," said Cameron. "Where's
+Harper?"
+
+Kenneth and Dick Perry came along then, and both men expressed their
+willingness to go home.
+
+Patty was rather silent during the homeward way, and indeed, as all
+were more or less weary, there was little gay conversation.
+
+As they entered the house, Nora, the parlour-maid, appeared to take
+their wraps.
+
+"Where is Babette?" asked Mrs. Perry, surprised to see Nora in place of
+her French maid.
+
+"Sure she's sick, Mrs. Perry; she do be feelin' that bad, she had to go
+to bed. So she bid me do the best I can for the young ladies."
+
+"I'm sorry to hear Babette is ill; I must go and see her at once." And
+Mrs. Perry went away toward the servants' quarters.
+
+She returned shortly, saying Babette had a bad cold and a slight fever,
+but that her symptoms were not alarming.
+
+"But I'm sorry you girls can't have her services to-night," Mrs. Perry
+went on.
+
+"It doesn't matter a bit," said Patty; "I'd be sorry for myself, if I
+couldn't get in and out of my own clothes! Don't think of it, Mrs.
+Perry."
+
+They all went up to their rooms, and though Nora did her best to assist
+Patty, her unskilful help bothered more than it aided. So she kindly
+dismissed the girl, and catching up a kimono went across to Marie's
+room.
+
+"You get me out of this frock, won't you, Marie?" she said. "It fidgets
+me to have Nora fumbling with the hooks. It's a complicated arrangement
+and I know she'd tear the lace."
+
+Marie willingly acquiesced, and then Patty slipped off the pretty
+yellow gown, and got into her blue silk kimono.
+
+"Stay here and brush out your hair, Patty," said Marie, "and we can
+have a 'kimono chat,' all by ourselves."
+
+So Patty sat down at Marie's toilet table, and began to brush out her
+golden curls.
+
+"Did you like the ball, Patty?" asked Marie, as she braided her own
+dark hair.
+
+"Lovely! Everybody was so nice to me. And you had a good time yourself,
+I know. I saw you breaking hearts, one after another, you little siren."
+
+"Siren, yourself! How did you like that Bell boy?"
+
+"Gracious! That sounds like a hotel attendant! In fact I think
+'bellhop,' as I believe they call them, wouldn't be a bad name for
+Eddie Bell. I liked him ever so much, but he was a
+little,--well,--fresh is the only word that expresses it."
+
+"He is cheeky; but he doesn't mean anything. He's a nice boy; I've
+known him for years. He's an awful flirt,--but he admired you like
+everything. Though as to that, who doesn't?"
+
+"Oh, I don't think so much of this general admiration. I think if a
+young girl isn't admired, it's her own fault. She only has to be gay
+and pleasant and good-natured, and people are bound to like her."
+
+"Yes," agreed Marie; "but there are degrees. I'll tell you who likes
+you an awful lot,--and that's Mr. Harper."
+
+"Oh, Kenneth;" Patty spoke carelessly, but she couldn't prevent a
+rising blush. "Why, Marie, we've been chums for years. I used to know
+Ken Harper when I was a little girl and lived in Vernondale. He's a
+dear boy, but we're just good friends."
+
+"I like him," and Marie said this so ingenuously, that Patty gave her a
+quick look. "Don't you like anybody ESPECIALLY, Patty?"
+
+"No, I don't. All boys look alike to me. I like to have them to dance
+with, and to send me flowers and candy; and I don't mind make-believe
+flirting with them; but the minute they get serious, I want to run
+away."
+
+"Aren't you ever going to be engaged, Patty?"
+
+"Nonsense! Marie, we're too young to think about such things. After a
+few years I shall begin to consider the matter; and if I find anybody
+that I simply can't live without, I shall proceed to marry him. Now,
+curiosity-box, is there anything else you want to know?"
+
+"I didn't mean to be curious," and Marie's pretty face looked troubled;
+"but, Patty, I will ask you one more question: Couldn't you,--couldn't
+you like,--specially, I mean,--my cousin Kit?"
+
+"Marie, I've a notion to shake you! You little match-maker,--or
+mischief-maker,--stop getting notions into your head! In the first
+place, I've known your paragon of a cousin only a few weeks; and in the
+second place, there's no use going any further than the first place!
+Now, you go to sleep, and dream about birds and flowers and sunshine,
+and don't fill your pretty head with grown-up notions."
+
+"You're a funny girl, Patty," and Marie looked at her with big, serious
+eyes.
+
+"If it's funny to be a common-sense, rational human being, then I AM
+funny! Now, good-night, chickabiddy. Mrs. Perry says she'll send up our
+breakfast about nine to-morrow morning. Hop into my room and have it
+with me, won't you?"
+
+Marie agreed to this arrangement, and gathering up her belongings,
+Patty slipped across the hall to her own room.
+
+The wood fire had burnt down to red embers, and lowering the lights,
+Patty sat down for a few moments in a big fireside chair to think.
+
+She had told the truth, that she did not want to think seriously of
+what Marie called "an especial liking" for anybody; but what Kenneth
+had said that evening troubled her.
+
+Her friendship for Kenneth was so firm and strong, her real regard for
+him so deep and sincere, that she hated to have it intruded upon by a
+question of a more serious feeling. And she had never suspected that
+any such question would arise. But she could not mistake the meaning of
+Kenneth's spoken wish that he might be capable of the gay conversation
+in which Patty delighted.
+
+"Dear old Ken," she said to herself, "he's so nice just as he is, but
+when he tries to be funny, he--well, he CAN'T, that's all. It isn't his
+fault. All the boys can't be alike. And I s'pose Ken IS the nicest of
+them, after all. He's so true and reliable. But I hope to gracious he
+isn't going to fall in love with me. That would spoil everything I Oh,
+well, I won't cross that bridge until I come to it. And if I have come
+to it,--well, I won't cross it, even then. I'll just stand stock-still,
+and wait. I believe there's a poem somewhere, that says:
+
+     "'Standing with reluctant feet
+     Where the brook and river meet,--
+     Womanhood and childhood sweet.'
+
+"I s'pose I HAVE left childhood behind, but I feel a long way off from
+womanhood. And yet, in a couple of months I'll be twenty. That does
+begin to sound aged! But I know one thing, sure and certain: I'll wait
+till I AM twenty, before I think about a serious love affair. Suitors
+are all very well, but I wouldn't be engaged to a man for anything!
+Why, I don't suppose he'd let me dance with anybody else, or have any
+fun at all! No, sir-ee, Patricia Fairfield, you're going to have two or
+three years of your present satisfactory existence, before you wear
+anybody's diamond ring. And now, my Lady Gay, you'd better skip to bed,
+for to-morrow night you have a theatre party in prospect, and you want
+to look fairly decent for that."
+
+The fire was burnt out now, and Patty was so sleepy that her head had
+scarcely touched the pillow before she fell asleep.
+
+A light tap at her door awakened her the next morning, and Marie
+appeared, followed by Nora, with a breakfast tray.
+
+"Wake up, curly-head-sleepy-head," and Marie playfully tweaked Patty's
+curls. "Here, I'll be your maid. Here's your nightingale, and here's
+your breakfast cap."
+
+Marie deftly arrayed Patty in the pretty trifles, and poked pillows
+behind her back until she was comfortable.
+
+"Goodness gracious sakes! Marie," said Patty, rubbing her eyes, "you
+waked me out of the soundest sleep I have ever known! WHY bother me
+with breakfast?"
+
+"Had to do it," returned Marie, calmly, drawing up a big chair for
+herself. "Now keep your eyes open and behave like a lady. Your
+chocolate is getting cool and your toast is spoiling."
+
+The two girls were still discussing their breakfast, when Mrs. Perry
+came in.
+
+"How are you getting on?" she asked, cheerily; "Babette is still ill,
+so I had to send Nora to you."
+
+"Everything is lovely," said Patty, smiling at her hostess. "We're
+delightfully looked after. Nora is a jewel. But I hope your maid isn't
+seriously ill."
+
+"I'm afraid she is," and Mrs. Perry looked troubled. "She has a bad
+sore throat and she's quite feverish. Now you girlies dawdle around as
+much as you like. Although I'm commissioned to tell you that there are
+two young men downstairs just pining for you, and they asked me to coax
+you to come down at once."
+
+"Let them wait," said Patty; "we'll be down after a while. Mayn't we
+see the baby?"
+
+"Yes, indeed, if you like. I'll send her in."
+
+Soon a dainty little morsel of fragrant humanity appeared, accompanied
+by her nurse.
+
+The tot was a trifle shy, but Patty's merry smile soon put her at her
+ease.
+
+"Tell the lady your name, dear," said Marie.
+
+"Pitty Yady!" said the baby, caressing Patty's cheek.
+
+"Yes," said Marie, "now tell the pretty lady your name."
+
+"Baby Boo," said the child.
+
+"Baby Boo! What a dear name!" said Patty.
+
+"Her name is Beulah," Marie explained, "but she always calls herself
+Baby Boo, so every one else does."
+
+"It's just the name for her," said Patty, catching up the midget in her
+arms and cuddling her.
+
+"Pitty Yady," repeated the baby, gazing at Patty.
+
+"She's struck with your beauty, Patty, like everybody else," said
+Marie, laughing.
+
+"It's mutual, then," returned Patty, "for I think she's the prettiest
+baby I ever saw. And she does smell so good! I love a violet baby." And
+Patty kissed the back of the soft little neck and squeezed the baby up
+in her arms.
+
+"Now Baby Boo must go away," said Marie, at last, "for the Pitty Yady
+must get dressed and go downstairs."
+
+Patty had brought a morning frock, of pink linen with a black velvet
+sash, and she looked very trim and sweet as she at last declared
+herself ready.
+
+The two girls went downstairs, and found two very impatient young men
+awaiting them.
+
+"Whatever HAVE you girls been doing all the morning?" exclaimed
+Cameron; "you CAN'T have been sleeping until this time!"
+
+"Playing with the baby, and exchanging confidences," said Patty,
+smiling.
+
+"Both of which you might as well have done down here," Cameron
+declared. "I adore my baby niece, and Mr. Harper and I would have been
+more than glad to listen to your exchange of confidences."
+
+"Oh, they weren't intended for your ears!" exclaimed Marie, with mock
+horror. "Kimono confidences are very, VERY sacred. But it may well be
+that your ears burn."
+
+"Which ear?" asked Kenneth, feeling of both of his.
+
+"Fair exchange," said Marie, gaily. "Tell us what you said about us,
+and we'll tell you what we said about you."
+
+"We said you were the two prettiest and sweetest girls in the world,"
+said Cameron.
+
+"And we said," declared Patty, "that you were the two handsomest and
+most delightful men in the world."
+
+"But we said you had some faults," said Kenneth, gravely.
+
+"And we said you had," retorted Marie. "Let's tell each other our
+faults. That's always an interesting performance, for it always winds
+up with a quarrel."
+
+"I love a quarrel," said Cameron, enthusiastically. "I dare anybody to
+tell me my greatest faults!"
+
+"Conceit," said Marie, smiling at her cousin.
+
+"That isn't a fault; it's a virtue," Kit retorted.
+
+"That's so," and Marie nodded her head; "if you didn't have that
+virtue, you wouldn't have any."
+
+"That's a facer!" said Kit. "Well, Marie, my dear, as you haven't THAT
+virtue, am I to conclude you haven't any?"
+
+"That's very pretty," and Patty nodded, approvingly; "but I want to
+stop this game before it's my turn, for I'm too sensitive to have my
+faults held up to the public eye."
+
+"But we haven't quarrelled yet," said Kit, who looked disappointed.
+"Why do you like to quarrel so much?" asked Patty.
+
+"Because it's such fun to kiss and make up."
+
+"Is it?" asked Patty; "I'd like to see it done, then. You and Ken
+quarrel, and then let us see you kiss and make up."
+
+"Harper is too good-natured to quarrel and I'm not good-natured enough
+to kiss him," said Kit. "I guess I won't quarrel to-day, after all. I
+can't seem to get the right partner. Let's try some other game. Want to
+go over to the club and bowl?"
+
+"Yes, indeed," cried Patty; "I'd love to."
+
+So the four young people bundled into fur coats, and motored over to
+the country club.
+
+They were all good players and enjoyed their game till Kit reminded
+them that it was nearly luncheon time, and they went back to the house.
+
+"How is Babette?" Patty inquired, as their hostess appeared at luncheon.
+
+"She's worse;" and Mrs. Perry looked very anxious. "I don't want to
+worry you girls, but I think you would better go home this afternoon,
+for I don't know what Babette's case may develop into. The doctor was
+here this morning, and he has sent a trained nurse to take care of the
+girl. I confess I am worried."
+
+"Oh, we were going this afternoon, anyway," said Patty. "I have to, as
+I have an engagement this evening. But I'm sorry for you, Mrs. Perry.
+It is awful to have illness in the house. What is it you are afraid of?"
+
+"I hate to mention it, but the doctor fears diphtheria. Now don't be
+alarmed, for there is positively no danger, if you go this afternoon.
+But I can't risk your staying an hour longer than is necessary. Nora
+will help you pack your things. And I'm going to send you off right
+after lunch."
+
+After luncheon the doctor came again, and Mrs. Perry went off to confer
+with him.
+
+"Excuse me," said Kit Cameron, as his sister left the room, "I must
+stand by Lora, and I want to find out from the doctor if there is
+really any danger. Perhaps my sister's fears are exaggerated."
+
+It was nearly half an hour before Kit came back, and then he looked
+extremely serious.
+
+"I have bad news for you," he said; "Babette's illness is
+diphtheria,--a severe case."
+
+"Oh, the poor girl!" said Patty, with impulsive sympathy.
+
+"Yes, indeed, little Babette is pretty sick. And, too, it's awfully
+hard on Lora. But that isn't all of it."
+
+"What else?" said Marie, breathless with suspense.
+
+"I hardly know how to tell you," and Cameron's face was very troubled.
+"But I suppose the best way is to tell you straight out. The truth is,
+we are all quarantined. We can't go away from here."
+
+"Quarantined!" cried Patty, who knew that this meant several weeks'
+imprisonment; "oh, NO!"
+
+"Yes," and Kit looked at her with pained eyes; "can you ever forgive
+me, Miss Fairfield, for bringing you here? But of course I could not
+foresee this awful climax to our pleasant party."
+
+"Of course you couldn't!" cried Patty;--"don't think for a moment that
+we blame you, Mr. Cameron. But,--you must excuse me if I feel
+rather--rather--"
+
+"Flabbergasted," put in Kenneth; "it's an awful thing, Cameron, but we
+must take it philosophically. Brace up, Patty girl, don't let this
+thing floor you."
+
+Patty gave one look into Kenneth's eyes, and read there so much
+sympathy, courage, and strong helpfulness, that she was ashamed of
+herself.
+
+"Forgive me for being so selfish," she said, as the tears came into her
+eyes. "Of course we must stay, if the doctor orders; I know how strict
+they have to be about these things. And we will stay cheerfully, as
+long as we must. It's dreadful to impose on Mrs. Perry so, but we can't
+help it, and we must simply make the best of it. We'll help her all we
+can, and I'm sure Marie and I can do a lot."
+
+"You're a brick!" and Cameron gave her a look of appreciation. "Poor
+Lora is heart-broken at the trouble it makes for you girls, and for
+Harper. She quite loses sight of her own anxieties in worrying about
+you all."
+
+"Tell her to stop it," said Marie; "I rather think that we can bear our
+part of it, considering what Cousin Lora has to suffer. Can Cousin Dick
+come home?"
+
+"I hadn't thought of that!" exclaimed Cameron. "Why, no; that is, if he
+can't go back to his office again. We'll have to telephone him to stay
+in New York until the siege is raised. There are many things to think
+of, but as I am responsible for bringing you people up here, naturally
+that worries me the most. I'm not to blame for the maid's illness or
+for Dick's enforced absence from home. But I AM to blame for bringing
+you girls up here at all."
+
+"Don't talk of blame, Mr. Cameron, please," said Patty's soft voice;
+"you kindly brought us here to give us pleasure and you did so. The
+fact that this emergency has arisen is of no blame to anybody. The only
+one to be blamed is the one who cannot meet it bravely!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MEETING IT BRAVELY
+
+
+"You're the most wonderful girl in the world!" exclaimed Cameron, in a
+burst of admiration at Patty's speech.
+
+But Kenneth looked steadily at Patty, with a thoughtful gaze.
+
+"You're keyed up," he said to her, gently; "and if you take it like
+that, you'll collapse."
+
+"Like what?" Patty snapped out the words, for her nerves were strung to
+a high tension.
+
+"Doing the hysterical histrionic act," and Kenneth smiled at the
+excited girl, not reprovingly, but with gentle sympathy. "Now take it
+standing, Patty,--face it squarely,--and you'll be all right. We're
+housed up here,--for how long, Cameron?"
+
+"I--I don't know," said Kit, looking desperate.
+
+"That only means you won't tell," declared his cousin. "Own up, Kit,
+how long did the doctor say?"
+
+"Three or four weeks."
+
+"Oh!" Patty merely breathed the word, but it sounded like a wail of
+despair. Then she caught Kenneth's eye, and his glance of steadfast
+courage nerved her anew.
+
+"It's all right," she said, almost succeeding in keeping a quiver out
+of her voice. "We can have a real good time. People can send us all
+sorts of things, and,--I suppose we can't write letters,--but we can
+telephone. Oh, that reminds me; may I telephone Mr. Van Reypen at once,
+that I can't"--Patty blinked her eyes, and swallowed hard--"that I
+can't be at my--at his party this evening?"
+
+Mr. Cameron looked a picture of abject grief.
+
+"Miss Fairfield," he began, "if I could only tell you how sorry I am--"
+
+"Please don't," said Patty, kindly; "I've accepted the situation now,
+and you won't hear a single wail of woe from me. Pooh! what's a theatre
+party more or less among me! And a few weeks' rest will do us all good.
+We'll pretend we're at a rest cure or sanitarium, and go to bed early,
+and get up late, and all that."
+
+"Oh, of course we must all telephone to our homes," said Marie; "and I
+must say, I think girls are selfish creatures! We've never given a
+thought to Mr. Harper's business!"
+
+"Don't give it a thought," said Kenneth, lightly. "I've given it one or
+two already, and I may give it another. That's enough for any old
+business."
+
+"That sounds well, Ken," said Patty, "but I know it's going to make you
+a terrific lot of trouble. And Mr. Cameron, too! A civil engineer--"
+
+"Can't be uncivil, even in a case like this," put in Kit; "or I'd say
+what I really feel about the whole business! It would be worse, of
+course, if one of our own people were ill; but to be tied up like this
+because of a servant is, to say the least, exasperating."
+
+"Babette's a nice little thing, and I'm awfully sorry for her," said
+Patty.
+
+"So am I," said Marie; "but I'm like Kit. I think it's awful for half a
+dozen of us to be held here, like this, because a maid is ill!"
+
+"But, Marie, what's the use of even thinking about it?" said Patty; "we
+can't help ourselves, we're obliged to stay here, so for goodness'
+sake, let's make the best of it. I shall send home for my pink
+chiffon,--that's always a great comfort to me in time of trouble."
+
+"Send for one for me," said Cameron, "if they're so comforting in
+trouble."
+
+"I've only one," returned Patty, "but you can share the benefit of its
+comforting qualities. Now we'll have to take turns at the telephone.
+Suppose I take it first, and break the news to Mr. Van Reypen, for
+he'll have to invite somebody in my place."
+
+"You're sure it's positive?" said Kenneth to Cameron; "you're sure
+there's no hope of a reprieve or a mistaken diagnosis?"
+
+"No," said Kit, positively; "I made sure, before I told you at all."
+
+"Of course you did," said Patty, trying to be cheerful. "I know you
+wouldn't have told us, until you were sure you had to. Now I'll
+telephone to Phil, and then to my home, and then, Marie, you can tell
+your people, and after that we'll let the men fix up their business
+affairs. What a comfort it is that we can telephone, for I don't
+suppose we'll be allowed to write letters, unless we fumigate them, and
+I won't inflict my friends with those horrid odours."
+
+The telephone was in the library, and as Patty crossed the hall, she
+met Mrs. Perry coming toward her.
+
+Mrs. Perry had her handkerchief to her eyes, and Patty went straight to
+her and put her arms around her.
+
+"Dear Mrs. Perry," she said, "I am SO sorry for you! To have Babette's
+illness, and then to have the burden of four guests at the same time!
+But, truly, we'll make just as little trouble as we can, and I hope
+you'll let us help in any way possible."
+
+"Oh, Patty," Lora Perry said, in a choked voice, "I feel dreadful about
+making you stay here in these circumstances! Just think of all your
+engagements,--and all the fun you'll miss. It's perfectly awful!"
+
+"Now don't think of those things at all. Just remember that your four
+guests are not complaining a bit. We know you're sorry for us and you
+know we're sorry for you, and we're all sorry for poor Babette. Now
+that part's settled, and we're all going to make the best of it. You
+don't go into Babette's room, do you?"
+
+"Oh, no; I couldn't go near the baby, if I did. And the patient has a
+trained nurse, you know. Honestly, Patty,--you don't mind my calling
+you Patty, do you?"
+
+"No, indeed, I like to have you."
+
+"Well, I was going to say, I don't really think there's a bit of danger
+of infection for any of us. But, of course, you know what a doctor's
+orders are, and how they must be obeyed."
+
+"Of course I know; now don't you think for a moment of any petty little
+disappointments we girls may have. Why, they're nothing compared to
+your trouble and Mr. Perry's, and the boys'."
+
+Patty telephoned Philip Van Reypen, and that young man was simply
+aghast.
+
+"I can't believe it!" he exclaimed. "Do you mean to say that you people
+are to be held up there for weeks? It's preposterous! It's criminal!"
+
+"Don't talk like that, Philip. We can't help it. The Perrys can't help
+it. And it isn't a national catastrophe. Honestly, a few weeks' rest
+will do me good."
+
+"Yes! With that Cameron man dangling at your heels!"
+
+"Well, Philip, if I have to stay here, you ought to be glad I have some
+one here to amuse me."
+
+"I'm not! I'd rather you were there alone! Patty, I won't stand it! I'm
+coming up myself, to dig you out!"
+
+"Don't talk foolishness! If you come up here, you'll have to stay! They
+don't let any one leave the house."
+
+"All right, then, I'll stay! That wouldn't be half bad."
+
+"Philip, behave yourself! Mrs. Perry has all the company she can take
+care of."
+
+"I'll help her take care of her company. One of 'em, anyway!"
+
+"I won't talk to you, if you're so silly. Now listen. You go ahead with
+your party to-night, and ask some other pretty girl to take my place."
+
+"Take your place!" Philip's growl of disgust nearly broke the telephone.
+
+"Yes," went on Patty, severely, "to take my place. And then, when we
+get let out, you could have another party for me. Don't you see, it
+will be a sort of celebration of my release from captivity."
+
+"I tell you I won't stand it! I'll have the confounded party
+to-night,--because I'll HAVE to, but to-morrow I'm coming straight,
+bang, up to Eastchester!"
+
+"Come if you like, but you won't be admitted to this house. And I think
+you're acting horrid, Philip. Instead of being sorry for me, you just
+scold."
+
+"I'm not scolding YOU, Patty, but I won't have you shut up there with
+that Cameron!"
+
+"And Kenneth."
+
+"Harper's all right, but that Cameron boy is too fresh,--and I don't
+want you to encourage him."
+
+"All right, Philip, I won't encourage him. Good-bye." Patty spoke in
+her sweetest tones, and hung up the receiver suddenly, leaving Mr. Van
+Reypen in a state of mind bordering on frenzy.
+
+Then Patty called up Nan, and explained the whole situation to her.
+
+"How awful!" said Nan, in deepest sympathy, "both for Mrs. Perry and
+for you."
+
+"Yes, it is; but of course there's nothing to do but make the best of
+it. Ken is splendid. If it weren't for his strength and courage I don't
+know how I'd bear it. But he won't let me give way. So I'm going to be
+a heroine and all that sort of thing, a real little Casablanca.
+Honestly, Nan, I feel ashamed of myself to think of my little
+bothers,--when the boys have their business matters to consider, and
+Mrs. Perry is in such deep trouble. So I'm going to do my best to be
+cheerful and pleasant. They say we may be here two or three weeks or
+more."
+
+"Good gracious, Patty!"
+
+"Yes, I know,--it's all of that! Now, Nan, I mustn't keep this
+telephone, for they all want to use it. But I'll call you up to-night
+or to-morrow, for a longer talk. I wish you'd send me up some clothes.
+Pack a suitcase or a steamer trunk with some little house-dresses and
+tea-gowns and lingerie, and send it along to-morrow. Then I'll tell you
+later what else I want. Tell father all about it, and ask him to call
+me up this evening. Good-bye for now."
+
+Patty hung up the receiver, and Marie took her turn next.
+
+"How did your people take it?" asked Cameron, as Patty came slowly back
+to the hall fireside, where they had all been sitting when the dreadful
+news was told.
+
+"I told my mother," said Patty, "but I didn't give her a chance to say
+much. She was appalled, of course, at the whole business, but she's
+going to send me some clothes, and get along without me for a few
+weeks,--although I can't help feeling 'they will miss me at home, they
+will miss me.'"
+
+Patty sang the line in a high falsetto that made them all laugh.
+
+"Mother's about crazy!" announced Marie, as she came back from
+telephoning. "Not that she minds my staying here, but she's sure I'll
+have the diphtheria!"
+
+"No, you won't, Marie," said Kit, earnestly. "I asked the doctor
+particularly, and he said there wasn't the least danger that any of us
+would develop the disease."
+
+"Then why do we have to stay here?" asked Marie.
+
+"Because the house is quarantined. By order of the Board of Health. You
+may as well make up your mind to it, cousin, and take it
+philosophically, as Miss Fairfield does."
+
+Kenneth telephoned to his office, and then Kit shut himself up in the
+library and telephoned for a long time.
+
+When he returned, he said, with an evident effort at cheerfulness, "Now
+let's pretend that we're not kept here against our will, but that this
+is a jolly house party. If we were here for a month, on invitation,
+we'd expect to have a bang-up time."
+
+"But this is so different," said Patty, dolefully. "A house party would
+mean all kinds of gaiety and fun. But it doesn't seem right to be gay,
+when Babette is dangerously ill."
+
+"But she isn't dangerously ill," said Kit, earnestly. "It may prove a
+very light case. But you see the quarantine laws are just as strict for
+a very light case as for a desperate one. Now, I propose that we try to
+forget Babette for the present, and go in for a good time."
+
+"But we can't do anything," said Marie; "we can't go to places or have
+any company, or see anybody or write any letters--"
+
+"There, there, little girl," said her cousin, "don't make matters worse
+by complaining. Here are four most attractive young people, in a
+perfectly lovely house, with all the comforts of home; and if we don't
+have a good time, it's our own fault. What shall we do this afternoon?"
+
+"Let's play bridge," said Patty; "that's quiet, and I don't feel like
+anything rackety-packety."
+
+"Bridge is good enough for me," said Kenneth, manfully striving to
+shake off the gloom he felt. He was really very much concerned about
+some important business matters, but he said nothing of this to any one.
+
+They sat down at the bridge table, but the game dragged. No one seemed
+interested, and they dealt the cards in silence.
+
+Cameron tried to keep up a lively flow of conversation, and the others
+tried to respond to his efforts. But though they succeeded fairly well,
+after the third rubber, Patty declared she could not play any longer,
+and she was going to her room for a nap.
+
+"Come on," said Marie, jumping up, "I'll go with you."
+
+"Yes, do, girlies," said Cameron, kindly. "A little nap will do you
+good. Come down for tea, won't you?"
+
+"I don't know," said Patty, doubtfully; "I think we'll have tea in our
+rooms, and not come down till dinner time."
+
+"As you like," returned Kit; "if we four have to live together for
+weeks, it won't do to see TOO much of each other!"
+
+"Then perhaps we won't come down to dinner, either," said Patty, with a
+momentary flash of her roguish nature.
+
+"Oh, you MUST!" exclaimed Kenneth, who couldn't help taking things
+seriously. "You two girls are the only bright spots in this whole
+business!"
+
+"Thank you," and Patty smiled at him, as she and Marie went away.
+
+"Come into my room," said Patty, "and let's talk this thing over."
+
+Soon the two girls, in kimonos, were sitting either side of the
+cheerful wood fire, discussing the outlook.
+
+"It's worse for you than for me, Patty," said Marie, "for you have more
+social engagements, and all that sort of thing, than I do. And besides,
+these are my relatives. But for you, almost a stranger, to be held up
+here like this, it's just awful! I can't tell you how bad I feel about
+it."
+
+"Now, Marie, let up on that sort of talk! It's no more your fault than
+it is mine, and the fact of the Perrys being your relatives doesn't
+make a scrap of difference. To be honest, the thing nearly floored me
+at first, for I never had anything like this happen to me before. But
+that's all the more reason why I should brace up to this first
+occasion,--and from now on, you won't hear another peep of discontent
+out of ME. If we have to stay here four weeks or eight weeks or twelve
+weeks, I'm going to behave myself like a desirable citizen. And I'm
+only sorry that I've acted horrid so far."
+
+"You haven't acted horrid, Patty."
+
+"Yes, I have; when we played bridge I sat around like an old wet
+blanket. Now I'll tell you what, Marie, let's plan something nice for
+this evening. Something that will cheer up Mrs. Perry, and incidentally
+ourselves. But isn't it strange how we can't make it seem like a house
+party? Really, you know, it IS one, and Babette isn't sick enough,--at
+least, not yet,--for us to be gloomy and mournful. And yet, for the
+life of me, I can't feel gay and festive. But I'm going to MAKE myself
+feel so, if it takes all summer! We've two awfully nice boys to
+entertain us, and you and I are good congenial chums. Mrs. Perry is a
+dear and the baby is an awful comfort. Now why, Marie, WHY can't we act
+just as if there wasn't any Babette? I mean, of course, unless she gets
+very much worse."
+
+"It isn't our concern for Babette that makes the trouble," said Marie,
+slowly; "it's our disappointment at our own inconvenience, and being
+kept here against our will."
+
+"You clever little thing! You've put your finger right on the truth.
+You're right! Our anxiety for Babette is real enough as far as it goes,
+but it's secondary. The primary cause of our gloom IS pure selfishness!
+and the amazing part is, that I never realised it until you showed me!
+Now I have always thought that the sin I abhorred most was selfishness,
+and here I am giving way to it at the first opportunity. Well, it's got
+to stop! Now, then, let's plan something real nice and pleasant for
+this evening, and have a good time."
+
+"I don't think anything would be nicer than music," said Marie. "Lora
+has a violin, and Kit and I will play, and you can sing--"
+
+"And we'll all sing choruses and things,--real jolly ones, and enter
+into it with some spirit."
+
+"Yes; Lora loves to have people sing, and she'll enjoy that."
+
+"And then other nights," Patty went on, bravely, "we'll get up some
+entertainment. Tableaux, you know, or theatricals."
+
+"Yes, and we can play games and things. Now shall we go down to tea?"
+
+"No," and Patty wagged her head, sagely; "it's perfectly true that we
+mustn't give those boys too much of our delightful society or they
+won't appreciate it! Let them wait for us till dinner time. We'll have
+our tea up here, and perhaps Mrs. Perry will be with us. Let the boys
+shift for themselves till dinner time, and then they'll be all the more
+glad to see us."
+
+Nora brought the tea tray up to the girls, and with it a note.
+
+"I thought they'd holler for us," said Patty, laughing as she read the
+note; "listen to this: 'Twin stars of light and joy, DO come down and
+illumine our dark and lonesome tea-table! We pine and languish without
+you! Oh, come QUICK, ere we fade away! Kit and Ken.' I thought they'd
+be lonesome," and Patty nodded her head, with a satisfied air. "Now you
+know, Marie, if we've got to take care of these boys for weeks, we must
+make them walk a chalk line."
+
+"Yes, of course, Patty; shall we go down, or send a note?"
+
+"Neither," returned Patty, with a toss of her head. "Nora, please say
+to the young gentlemen that the young ladies will be down at dinner
+time."
+
+"Yes, Miss Fairfield," said Nora, departing.
+
+A few moments later they heard the wailing strains of a violin, and
+listening at their door, heard Kit playing, with exaggerated effect.
+"Come into the Garden, Maud."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A SURPRISE
+
+
+"Good gracious, Marie!" exclaimed Patty, popping her head in at Marie's
+door, just before dinner time, "we haven't any clothes! Are you going
+to wear your party frock or the dress you wore up here?"
+
+"'Deed I'm not going to put on my best gown for a little home dinner!
+The dresses we wore up here are all right. They're nice and pretty."
+
+"But they're day frocks. I DO like to dress up for dinner."
+
+"I'll help you out," said Lora Perry, who was present. "I've two or
+three trunkfuls of old-fashioned clothes, that ought to fit you girls
+fairly well. They're not antiques, you know; they're some I had before
+I was married,--but they're pretty. Go in the trunk room and rummage."
+
+So the two girls went to inspect the frocks.
+
+"Why, they're beautiful," said Patty; "I really think they're a lot
+prettier than the things we wear to-day. Oh, look at these big sleeves."
+
+"Yes, leg o' mutton they used to call them."
+
+"I know, but they're more the size of a side of beef! But these are
+street dresses. Where are the evening things?"
+
+"Here are some," said Marie, opening another trunk.
+
+"Oh, how lovely!" And Patty pounced on a white organdy, made with a
+full skirt and three narrow, lace-edged frills. There were wide, full
+petticoats to go with it, and Patty declared that was her costume.
+Marie found a dimity, of a Dresden-flowered pattern, with black velvet
+bows, which she appropriated, and they flew back to their rooms in
+triumph.
+
+The white dress proved very becoming to Patty, and the square-cut neck
+of the bodice suited the lines of her pretty throat and shoulders. She
+wore a broad sash of blue ribbon and a knot of blue ribbon in her hair.
+Marie's dress was equally pretty, and they laughed heartily at the
+full, flaring skirts, so different from the narrow ones of their own
+wardrobe.
+
+They went downstairs together, and found waiting for them two
+bored-looking young men, in immaculate evening clothes.
+
+"Good-evening," said Patty, dropping a little curtsy; "SO glad to meet
+you."
+
+"Thought you'd never come," returned Kit. "What are you, anyway?
+Masquerading as old-fashioned girls?"
+
+"Are they old-fashioned togs?" said Kenneth. "I thought they looked
+different, but I didn't know what ailed them."
+
+"They're perfectly beautiful evening frocks," Patty declared, "and
+you're not to make fun of them."
+
+"Far be it from me to make fun of anything so charming," returned
+Cameron. "Come along, Captive Princess, dinner is waiting." He tucked
+Patty's hand in his arm, and as they walked to the dining-room, he
+murmured: "You really are a Captive Princess now, aren't you?"
+
+"Yes, I am; and if you're my Knight, aren't you going to deliver me
+from durance vile?"
+
+"Of course I am. I will be under your window at midnight with a rope
+ladder and a white palfrey."
+
+"Well, if I'm awake I'll come down the ladder; but if not, don't expect
+me."
+
+"But if you want to be rescued, you must take the opportunity when it
+offers."
+
+"Oh, I'm not so sure I want to be rescued. I'm ready now to make the
+best of things and I'm planning to have a real good time while we stay
+here."
+
+"Nice little Captive Princess! Nice little Princess Poppycheek! And am
+I included in these good times?"
+
+"Yes, indeed. It will take the four of us; and Mrs. Perry, whenever we
+can get her, to have the good times I'm planning."
+
+All through dinner time Patty was her own gay, merry self. Babette was
+not mentioned, nor the fact that they were staying in Eastchester,
+under compulsion, and it might have been just a happy party invited
+there for pleasure.
+
+Mr. Perry's absence was, of course, painfully noticeable. But Patty
+knew that Mrs. Peny had telephoned him all about the case, and she made
+no comment. She was determined that she would not be responsible for
+any allusion to their trouble.
+
+After dinner Patty informed them all that a musicale would take place.
+Everybody agreed to this, and all joined in singing gay choruses and
+glees. Patty sang solos, and Kit and Marie played duets. Then Patty
+sang to a violin obligato, and altogether the concert was a real
+success.
+
+"We ought to go on the road," said Kit, as he laid down his violin at
+last. "I think as a musical troupe we'd be a screaming success. Now,
+who's for a little dance to wind up with?"
+
+"Do dance," said Mrs. Perry; "I'll play for you."
+
+"Just one, then," said Patty, "for this is a rest-cure, you know; and
+I'm going to bed very early. Six weeks in the country is going to do
+wonders for me."
+
+Though four weeks had been the extreme possibility of their stay, Patty
+whimsically kept calling it six weeks or eight weeks, because, as she
+said, that made four weeks seem less.
+
+Cameron turned to Patty, as his sister began to play, and in a moment
+they were dancing.
+
+"If we dance every night for twelve weeks," said Patty, "we ought to do
+fairly well together."
+
+"When I think of that, I'm entirely reconciled to staying here,"
+returned Kit. "Poppycheek, you are a wonderful dancer! You're like a
+butterfly skimming over a cobweb!"
+
+"I don't dance a bit better than you do. You're almost like a
+professional, except that you're more graceful than they are."
+
+"DON'T, Princess! don't talk to me like that, or I shall faint away
+from sheer delight! But as we both are such miraculous steppers, we
+might give exhibitions or something."
+
+"Yes, or teach, and make our everlasting fortune."
+
+"Well, I think we won't do either. We'll just reserve our glorious
+genius for our own enjoyment. Just think of dancing with you every
+night, for goodness knows how long!" said Kit.
+
+"But you won't."
+
+"Won't? Why not?"
+
+"Because before we've been here many days we shall quarrel. I know we
+will. Four people can't be shut up inside four walls without
+quarrelling sooner or later."
+
+"Well, let's make it later. And, anyway, I'm so good-natured, you
+couldn't quarrel with me if you tried."
+
+"I couldn't quarrel with you while I'm dancing with you, anyway. But
+now this dance is over and there's not to be another one to-night.
+Good-night, everybody. Come, Marie," and taking Marie by the hand,
+Patty led her upstairs at once.
+
+"Oh, DON'T go!" cried the two young men, but Patty and Marie only
+leaned over the banisters, and called down laughing good-nights, and
+ran away to their rooms.
+
+Next morning, Patty declared they must adhere to the policy of keeping
+more or less to themselves.
+
+"I can put in a lovely morning," she said; "I shall visit the baby in
+the nursery and I shall read for awhile, and I'll have a long telephone
+conversation with Nan and perhaps some other people, and I'm not going
+downstairs till luncheon time. You do as you like, Marie."
+
+Marie declared her intention of doing whatever Patty did, so the two
+girls spent a pleasant morning upstairs.
+
+Mrs. Perry reported that Babette was no worse, and that the doctor had
+said nothing further than that.
+
+At luncheon time, the girls went downstairs and were greeted with
+reproofs for being so late.
+
+"We'll play with you this afternoon," said Patty, kindly, "but you
+can't expect to have our company all day. I've had a lovely time this
+morning; Baby Boo is an entertainment in herself."
+
+"Why didn't you let me come up to the nursery?" said Kit. "That
+Kiddy-baby loves me."
+
+"She does, indeed," said Patty, serenely; "she's been asking for Uncle
+Kit all the morning."
+
+"Cruel Princess!" said Cameron; "you're not a bit nice to your Knight!"
+
+"I'll make up for it this afternoon," and Patty flashed him a glance
+that seemed greatly to cheer him.
+
+After lunch they all went into the library. Patty threw herself into a
+big arm-chair.
+
+"Now, I want to be entertained," she said; "I'm perfectly amiable and
+affable and good-natured, but I wish to be amused. Will you do it, my
+Knight?"
+
+"Ay, Princess, that will I!" and Cameron made a flourishing and
+obsequious bow before her. "Would it amuse your Royal Highness to learn
+that you're going home this afternoon?"
+
+"That is but a cruel jest," said Patty, "and so, not amusing. If it
+were the truth, it would be good hearing, indeed."
+
+"But it IS the truth, fair lady." Cameron looked at his watch. "In
+about an hour, the speedy motor will convey us all back to the busy
+mart and to our homes."
+
+"What do you mean?" cried Patty, starting up; for she saw that it was
+not a mere jest.
+
+"May I make a speech?" and Cameron took the middle of the floor, while
+his hearers sat in breathless silence.
+
+Mrs. Perry had a twinkle in her eye, Kenneth looked hopeful, but the
+girls' faces expressed only blank wonder.
+
+"To begin with," said Mr. Cameron, in a cool, even voice, "we're not
+quarantined, and never have been. To proceed, Babette has not the
+diphtheria, and never has had. In a word, and I trust I shall not be
+flayed alive,--this whole affair is a practical joke, which I have had
+the honour to perpetrate on Miss Patricia Fairfield, and for which I
+claim the payment of a wager made by the fair lady herself!"
+
+Patty's blue eyes stared at him. At first, a furious wave of anger
+swept over her, and then her sense of justice made her realise that she
+had no right to be angry. It took her a few moments to realise the
+whole situation, and then she began to laugh.
+
+She jumped up and went to Cameron, and with her little fist she pounded
+his broad shoulder.
+
+"_I_--THINK--YOU'RE--PERFECTLY--HORRID!!" she exclaimed, emphasising
+each word by a pound on his shoulders.
+
+Then she stood back with dignity. "How DARE you do such a thing?" she
+cried, stamping her foot at him.
+
+"There, there, little Princess,--little Captive Princess,--don't take
+it so hard! Don't let your joy at your escape be marred by your chagrin
+at having been caught!"
+
+"Do you mean to say, Cameron," said Kenneth, rather sternly, "that you
+trumped up this quarantine business, and it's all a fake?"
+
+"Just exactly that," said Cameron, calmly, and looking Ken steadily in
+the eye.
+
+"You've made me a lot of trouble, old man," and Kenneth's voice was
+regretful rather than reproachful.
+
+"Oh, not so much," said Cameron, airily. "I took the liberty of
+telephoning your office after you did yesterday, and told them that it
+was probable you'd be back there this afternoon."
+
+Kenneth stared at him speechlessly, stupefied by this exhibition of
+nerve.
+
+"Did you know all about it, Lora?" demanded Marie, turning to Mrs.
+Perry.
+
+"Yes," said that lady, between spasms of laughter. "I didn't want to do
+it, but Kit just made me! You see, Babette did have an awful sore
+throat, and we did call a nurse, but the doctor said, that while it
+might turn toward diphtheria, there was small danger of it. And, this
+morning, he said even that danger had passed. Truly, girls, I didn't
+consent willingly, but Kit coaxed me into it. Of course, I telephoned
+Dick the whole story, and he stayed in town last night, but he's coming
+home this afternoon. You're not angry, are you, Patty?"
+
+"I don't know whether I am or not. I'm a little bewildered as yet. But
+I think, in fairness, I shall have to admit it was a most successful
+practical joke,--as such jokes go."
+
+"And it fulfilled all your conditions?" asked Cameron, eagerly.
+
+"I'm not sure of that. We agreed that it must be clever and not unkind.
+It was certainly clever, but wasn't it a little unkind to cause trouble
+to so many people? Mrs. Homer, for instance?"
+
+"No!" exclaimed Kit, hastily. "I telephoned last evening to auntie, and
+told her that there was probability that the quarantine would be lifted
+to-day. I telephoned the same thing to Mrs. Fairfield, but I told both
+ladies not to mention that to you girls, as I didn't want to raise
+false hopes. Oh, I looked out for every point, and you're not angry
+with me, are you, Princess?"
+
+He was so wheedlesome and so boyish in his enjoyment of the joke, that
+Patty hadn't the heart to scold him, nor was she sure she had any
+reason to do so.
+
+"I admit it," she said, "you certainly did play a practical joke on me
+successfully, though I didn't think you could. You have won the wager,
+and I shall of course pay my debt. But just now, I'm interested in the
+fact that we're going home. And yet," she added, turning to her
+hostess, "isn't it funny? Now that we CAN go, I don't want to go! Now
+it seems like a house party again."
+
+Patty beamed around on them all, and seemed a different girl from the
+Patty of the last twenty-four hours.
+
+"You were a brick!" said Kenneth, "through it all. I know how you
+suffered, but you bravely forgot yourself in trying to make it pleasant
+for the others."
+
+"Nonsense! I acted like a pig! A horrid, round, fat pig! But, truly, it
+was the most different sensation to be quarantined here or to be
+visiting here. I wouldn't believe, if I hadn't tried it, what a
+difference there is! Oh, it's just lovely here, now!" and Patty
+executed a little fancy dance, singing a merry little song to it.
+
+"Well, I'll tell you how to get even," said Mrs. Perry; "all of you
+come up here again soon, for a little visit, and leave Kit at home!
+Then I guess he'll be sorry."
+
+At this, Kit emitted a wail of grief and anguish, and then the girls
+ran away to pack their things for the homeward trip.
+
+Within the hour, they had started for New York. Patty had entirely
+forgiven Cameron, and was ready to enjoy the memory of the affair as a
+good joke upon herself.
+
+"I don't approve of practical jokes," she said, by way of summing up.
+"I never did, and I don't now. But I know that I brought it on myself
+by making that foolish bet, and it has taught me a lesson never to do
+such a thing again. And I forgive you, Mr. Kit Cameron, only on
+condition that you give me your promise never to play a joke on me
+again. I admit that you CAN do it, but I ask that you WON'T do it."
+
+"I promise, Princess," said Cameron. "Henceforward, there shall be no
+jokes between us,--of course, I mean practical jokes. But you will make
+good your wager?"
+
+"Certainly; I always pay my just debts."
+
+"May I come and collect the debt this evening?"
+
+"No, that's too soon; come to-morrow night, if you like. This evening I
+devote to a reunion with my family."
+
+"Nobody else?"
+
+"Possibly somebody else,--somebody who was defrauded by your precious
+joke." And then a sudden light dawned upon Patty. "WAS your quarantine
+idea worked up in order to keep me away from New York last night?"
+
+"Partly," said Cameron, honestly; "I didn't see any other way to cut
+out Van Reypen, and it fitted in with my whole plan, so why not?"
+
+"It wasn't very nice of you."
+
+"All's fair in love and war," and Cameron laughed so gaily, that Patty
+concluded it was wiser to drop the subject.
+
+"_I_ think it was awfully hard for poor Mr. Van Reypen to lose Patty
+from the party, because of your old joke!" exclaimed Marie.
+
+"I don't mind that part of it," said Kenneth; "he might as well have a
+little corner of the joke, as the rest of us. But if I've lost a five
+thousand dollar deal on this, I'll sue you for damages, Cameron."
+
+"Sue ahead," said the irrepressible Kit; "I've danced, and I'm willing
+to pay the piper."
+
+Kenneth and Marie were left at their homes, and the car went on to
+Patty's house.
+
+"May I come in?" said Cameron, as they reached it.
+
+"No, indeed!" said Patty, and then she added, "I don't
+know--yes--perhaps you'd better. If father storms about this thing, I
+think you ought to be there and face the music."
+
+"I think so, too," said Cameron, with alacrity; "I'd rather be there,
+and help my little Princess weather the storm."
+
+They found Mr. and Mrs. Fairfield both at home, and they created an
+immense surprise by suddenly appearing before them.
+
+"Why, Patty Fairfield!" cried Nan, "you DEAR child!" She wrapped Patty
+in her embrace as if welcoming one long lost. Nor was Mr. Fairfield
+less fervent in his demonstrations of welcome.
+
+They shook Cameron warmly by the hand, and Nan rang for tea and said:
+"Tell us all about it! How did you get out? Was it a false alarm?
+Wasn't it diphtheria? Oh, Mr. Cameron, you relieved us so greatly last
+night, when you told us it might be a mistaken diagnosis! What is the
+matter with you two? What are you giggling about?"
+
+And then the whole story came out. Cameron and Patty both talked at
+once, Cameron making a clean breast of the matter, and assuming all the
+blame, while Patty made excuses for him, and offered conciliatory
+explanations.
+
+Nan went off in peals of laughter and declared it was the best joke she
+had ever heard.
+
+But Mr. Fairfield hesitated as to his verdict. He asked many questions,
+to which he received straightforward answers.
+
+At last, he said: "It was a prank, and I cannot say I think it was an
+admirable performance. But young folks will be young folks, and I trust
+I'm not so old and grouty as to frown on innocent fun. To my mind, this
+came perilously near NOT being entirely innocent, but I'm not going to
+split hairs about it. I don't care for such jokes myself, but I must
+admit, Cameron, you played it pretty cleverly. And you certainly did
+your share toward lessening any anxieties that might have been caused
+to other people. So there's my hand on it, boy, but if you'll take an
+older man's advice, put away these childish pranks as you take on the
+dignity of years."
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Fairfield," said Cameron, "you make me feel almost
+ashamed of myself; but, truly, sir, I am addicted to jokes. I can't
+seem to help it!"
+
+The handsome face was so waggish and full of sheer, joyous fun, that
+they all laughed and the matter was amicably settled.
+
+"But I want my picture," Cameron said, as he rose to go.
+
+"And you shall have it," said Patty, running out of the room.
+
+She returned with a cabinet photograph, wrapped in a bit of tissue
+paper.
+
+"Please appreciate it," she said, demurely, "for never before have I
+given my photograph to a young man. They say it is an excellent
+likeness of me."
+
+Cameron removed the paper, and saw a picture of Patty taken at the age
+of two years.
+
+It was a lovely baby picture, with merry eyes and smiling lips.
+
+The quick-witted young man betrayed none of the disappointment he felt,
+and only said, "It is indeed a striking likeness! I never saw a better
+photograph! Thank you, a thousand times."
+
+Then, amid the general laughter that ensued, Cameron went away.
+
+The Fairfields discussed the whole matter, and Patty finally summed up
+the consensus of opinion, by saying: "Well, I don't care! It was an
+awfully good joke, and he's an awfully nice boy!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+SISTER BEE
+
+
+One afternoon Patty and Marie Homer were coming home from a concert.
+
+Patty had grown very fond of Marie. They were congenial in many ways,
+and especially so in their love of music, and often went together to
+concerts or recitals.
+
+It was late in March, but as spring had come early the afternoon was
+warm and Marie proposed, as the two girls got into the Homer limousine,
+that they go for a ride through the park.
+
+"A short one, then," said Patty, "for I must be home fairly early!"
+
+"Then don't let's go in the park," said Marie, "let's go to my house,
+instead. For I want you to meet Bee. She's just home for her Easter
+vacation."
+
+"I can only stay a minute; but I will go. I do want to see Bee. How
+long will she be at home?"
+
+"More than a fortnight. She has quite a holiday. Oh, there'll be gay
+doings while Bee's at home. She keeps the house lively with her pranks,
+and if she and Kit get started they're sure to raise mischief."
+
+"How old is Beatrice?"
+
+"She's just seventeen, but sometimes she acts like a kiddy of twelve.
+Mother says she doesn't know what to do with her, the child is so full
+of capers."
+
+As the two girls entered the Homer apartment, Beatrice Homer ran to
+meet them.
+
+"Oh, you're Patty Fairfield! I KNOW you are! Aren't you the loveliest
+thing ever! You look like a bisque ornament to set on a mantel-piece.
+Are you real?"
+
+She poked her finger in Patty's dimpled cheek, but she was so roguish
+and playful, that Patty could not feel annoyed with her.
+
+"Let me look at you," Patty said, holding her off, "and see what YOU'RE
+like. Why, you're a gipsy, an elfin sprite, a witch of the woods! You
+have no business to be named Beatrice."
+
+"I know it," said Bee, dancing around on her toes. "But my nickname
+isn't so bad for me, is it?" And she waved her arms and hovered around
+Patty, making a buzzing noise like a real bee.
+
+"Don't sting me!" cried Patty.
+
+"Oh, I don't sting my friends! I'm a honey-bee. A dear, little, busy,
+buzzy honey-bee!" And she kept on dancing around and buzzing till Patty
+put out her hand as if to brush her away.
+
+"Buzz away, Bee, but get a little farther off,--you drive me
+distracted."
+
+"That's the way she always acts," said Marie, with a sigh; "we can't do
+anything with her! It's a pity she was ever nicknamed Bee, for, when
+she begins buzzing, she's a regular nuisance."
+
+"Sometimes I'm a drone," Bee announced, and with that she began a
+droning sound that was worse than the buzzing, and kept it up till it
+set their nerves on edge.
+
+"Oh, Bee, dear!" Marie begged of her, "WON'T you stop that and be nice?"
+
+Bee's only answer was a long humming drone.
+
+Patty looked at the girl kindly. "I want to like you," she said, "and I
+think it's unkind of you not to let me do it."
+
+Bee stopped her droning and considered a moment. Then she smiled, and
+when her elfin face broke into laughter, she was a pretty picture,
+indeed.
+
+"I DO want you to like me," she said, impulsively, grasping Patty's
+hands; "and I will be good. You know I'm like the little girl,--the
+curly girlie, you know,--when she was good she was awful drefful good,
+and when she was bad she was horrid."
+
+"I'm sure you couldn't be horrid," and Patty smiled at her, "but all
+the same I don't believe you can be very, VERY good."
+
+"Oh, yes, I can; the goodest thing you ever saw! Now watch me," and
+sure enough during the rest of Patty's stay, Beatrice was as charming
+and delightful a companion as any one you'd wish to see. She was
+bubbling over with fun and merriment, but she refrained from teasing,
+and Patty took a decided liking to her.
+
+"I'll make a party for you, Bee," she said. "What kind would you like?"
+
+"Not a stiff, stuck-up party. I hate 'em. Can't it be a woodsy kind of
+a thing?"
+
+"A ramble through the park?"
+
+"More woodsy than that. The park is almost like the city."
+
+"Well, a picnic to Bronx Park, then, or Van Cortlandt."
+
+"That sounds better. But I'll come to any party you make,--I know it
+will be lovely. Oh, I'll tell you, Patty, what I'd like best. To go on
+one of your Saturday afternoon jinks; with the queer, poor people, you
+know."
+
+"They're not queer and they're not always very poor," returned Patty,
+seriously; "I'm afraid you'd tease them or make fun of them."
+
+"Honest Injun, I wouldn't! Please let me go, and I'll be heavenly nice
+to them. They'll simply adore me! Please, pretty Patty!"
+
+"Of course I will, since you've promised to be nice to them."
+
+"Oh, you lovely Patty! Don't you sometimes get tired of being so pink
+and white?"
+
+"Of course I do. I wish I could be brown and dark-eyed like you."
+
+"You'd soon wish yourself back again. Can't you combine the woodsy
+party and the Happy Chaps, or whatever you call them?"
+
+"I think we can," smiled Patty, who had already planned a Saturday
+afternoon picnic, and would be glad to include Bee.
+
+"But Bee has to learn to behave properly at formal parties," said
+Marie. "I'm going to give a luncheon for her, while she's at home, and
+it's going to be entirely grown-up and conventional."
+
+"Don't want it!" and Bee scowled darkly.
+
+"That doesn't matter. Mother says we must have it, and that you must
+behave properly. You have to learn these things, you know."
+
+"Oh, Bee will do just exactly right, I know," said Patty, as she rose
+to go. "If she doesn't, we can't let her come to the picnic. When is
+the luncheon, Marie?"
+
+"We haven't quite decided yet, but I must send out the invitations in a
+day or two."
+
+Patty went home, thinking about this sister of Marie's.
+
+"She's an awfully attractive little piece," she said to Nan, later,
+"but you never can tell what she's going to do next. I think if she had
+the right training, she'd be a lovely girl, but Mrs. Homer and Marie
+spoil her with indulgence and then suddenly scold her for her
+unconventionality. Perhaps the school she's attending will bring her
+out all right, but she's a funny combination of naughty child and
+charming girl. She would stop at nothing, and I don't wonder that they
+say when she and Kit Cameron get together, look out for breakers."
+
+A few days later, Patty received an invitation to Marie's luncheon for
+her sister.
+
+It was formally written, and the date set was Tuesday, April the
+eighth, at half-past one. Patty noted the day on her engagement
+calendar, and thought no more about it at the time. But a day or two
+later it suddenly occurred to her that she had heard that Beatrice was
+to return to school on the seventh of April.
+
+"I must be mistaken about her going back," Patty thought, remembering
+the luncheon on the eighth, and then, lest she herself might be
+mistaken in the date, she looked at the invitation again. It read "the
+eighth," and though Marie's handwriting was scrawly and not very
+legible, the figure eight was large and plain.
+
+"She ought to have spelled it out," said Patty, who was punctilious in
+such matters.
+
+"Yes," agreed Nan, "it's those little details that count so much among
+society people."
+
+"Well, the Homers are dears, but they lack just that little something
+that makes people know when to spell their figures and when not to. I
+think it's horrid when people spell a date in ordinary correspondence.
+But an invitation is another thing. But I say, Nan,--Jiminetty
+crickets!"
+
+"I'm not sure that date-spelling people ought to refer to those
+crickets," said Nan, lifting her eyebrows.
+
+"Well, Jerusalem crickets, then! and every kind of crickets in the
+ornithology or whatever they belong in. But, Nan, I've discovered
+something!"
+
+"What, Miss Columbus?"
+
+"Oh, I'm a Sherlock Holmes! I'm Mr. D. Tective! What DO you think?"
+
+"If you really want to know, I think you're crazy! jumping around like
+a wild Indian, and you a this season's debutante!"
+
+"Rubbish! most debutantes are wild Indians at times. But, Nan, I've
+discovered their secret! Hah! the vilyuns! but they shall be foiled!
+foiled!! FOILED!!!"
+
+Patty raged up and down the room, melodramatically clutching at her
+hair and staring at Nan with her blue eyes. "It is a deep-laid plot,
+but it shall be foiled by Patricia Sherlock,--the only lady detective
+in captivity!"
+
+"Patty, do behave yourself! What is the matter with you? You act like a
+lunatic!"
+
+"I'll tell you, Nan, honey," and Patty suddenly sat down on the couch,
+among a pile of pillows. "But first read that invitation and see if you
+see anything unusual or suspicious about it."
+
+"I can hardly read it; for this writing looks like that on the
+obelisk,--or at least it's nearly as unintelligible. But it seems to
+say that Mrs. Robert Homer requests the pleasure of your company at
+luncheon on Tuesday, April the eighth, at half-past one o'clock.
+Nothing criminal about that, is there?"
+
+"Is there! There is, indeed! Nan, you're the dearest, sweetest,
+loveliest lady in the whole world, but you can't see a hole through a
+ladder. So I'll tell you. The date of that party is really April the
+FIRST. I mean, Marie wrote April the first! And if you'll observe,
+somebody else has put a twisty line around that ONE and made it into an
+EIGHT! Why, it's as plain as day!"
+
+"It certainly is, Patty," and Nan looked at the girl in astonishment
+and admiration. "How did you ever happen to notice it?"
+
+"Why, it just jumped out at me. See, a different pen was used. The line
+is thicker. And nobody would make an EIGHT that way. They'd make it all
+with one pen mark. And this is a straight up-and-down ONE, and that
+rest of it was put on later. And, anyway, Nan, if there were any doubt,
+don't you see it isn't TH after it as it ought to be for the eight,
+it's ST?"
+
+"You can't tell which it is in this crazy handwriting," and Nan
+scrutinised the page.
+
+"Yes, you can," and Patty stared at it. "You wouldn't notice the
+difference, if you weren't looking for it, but it IS ST. I see it all,
+Nan! You know Bee didn't want this luncheon, and to get out of it, she
+changed that date before the invitations were sent! And you see, by the
+eighth, she'll be back in school!"
+
+"Are both dates Tuesday?" said Nan, thinking.
+
+"Yes, of course, they are. Isn't it clever? Oh, Bee never got this up
+all by herself,--that Kit helped her."
+
+"But, Patty, then nobody will go on the first, and the Homers will be
+all prepared--"
+
+"That's just what Bee wants! One of her practical jokes! Oh, Nan, I do
+detest practical jokes."
+
+"So do I! I think they're ill-bred."
+
+"But the Homers don't think that, and Kit Cameron doesn't, either.
+We've discussed that matter lots of times, and we never agree. And,
+besides, Nan," and Patty had a new inspiration, "don't you see, this
+party was planned for the first of April, and Bee and Kit will call
+this thing an April Fool joke, and therefore entirely permissible.
+April Fool's Day is their Happy Hunting Ground. But I'm going to foil
+this thing, and don't you forget it! Seems to me it would be a pretty
+good joke if I'd turn the tables on those two smarties."
+
+"How can you, Patty?"
+
+"I haven't quite thought it out yet, but I have an idea."
+
+"But, Patty, wait a minute. Perhaps they only changed the date on
+yours,--just to fool you, you know."
+
+"Good gracious, Nan! perhaps that's so! How did you come to think of
+it? But I'll soon find out."
+
+Patty flew to the telephone, and in a short time learned that both Mona
+and Elise were invited for the eighth, and she concluded that the
+plotters had changed the date on all the invitations.
+
+Next she called up Marie, and without letting her know why, asked for a
+list of the luncheon guests.
+
+Marie told her at once, without asking why she wanted to know.
+
+There were nine beside the Homers, and Patty was acquainted with them
+all.
+
+She called them up each in turn on the telephone, and explained
+carefully that a mistake had been made in the invitations, and she
+hoped they would come on the first instead of the eighth.
+
+Fortunately, all of them were able to do this, and Patty enjoined each
+one to say nothing about this change of date, until they should arrive
+at the party.
+
+To a few of her more intimate friends,--Mona, Elise, and
+Christine,--she told the whole story, and they fell in with her plans.
+
+And so it came about, that on the first of April preparations were
+going blithely forward in the Homer apartment, for Bee's elaborate
+luncheon.
+
+It was all true, exactly as Patty had figured it out; and Kit and
+Beatrice had planned what they considered a first-class and entirely
+permissible practical joke.
+
+They knew that Mrs. Homer would make elaborate preparations for the
+luncheon, but they agreed that there would be no other harm done. And
+to them, the fun of seeing the perplexity of Marie and her mother at
+the non-appearance of their guests, was sufficient reason for their
+scheme. Moreover, they fell back on the time-honoured tradition that
+any joke was justifiable on April Fools' Day.
+
+In addition to all this, Beatrice did not want to attend the luncheon
+party, and as by chance it had been left to her to seal up and address
+the invitations that Marie had written, and as Kit came in while she
+was doing it, their fertile brains had discovered that, as the dates
+fell on the same day of the week, the first could easily be changed to
+the eighth! And the two sinners chuckled with glee over the fact that
+another luncheon would have to be prepared the week following.
+
+As it neared one o'clock on the first of April, Kit strolled into the
+Homers' apartment.
+
+"Run away, little boy," said his aunt, gaily; "we're having a young
+ladies' party here to-day, and you're not invited."
+
+"Please let me stay a little while, auntie; I'll run away before your
+guests arrive. Mayn't I help you fix flowers or something?"
+
+"No, you're more bother than help; now be good, Kit boy, and run away."
+
+"Auntie," and Kit put on his most wheedlesome smile, which was always
+compelling, "if you'll just let me stay till the first guest comes,
+I'll scoot out at once."
+
+Bee nearly choked at this, for did she not know that the guests
+wouldn't arrive for a week yet!
+
+Mrs. Homer was called away to the dining-room then, and the two
+conspirators indulged in a silent dance of triumph over the success of
+their scheme. Not for a moment did it strike them as unkind or mean,
+because they had been used to practical jokes all their life, and this
+seemed to them the biggest and best they had ever carried off.
+
+At half-past one Patty appeared.
+
+She had laid her plans most carefully, and everything was going
+smoothly.
+
+Mrs. Homer and Marie greeted her warmly, and Beatrice and Kit were not
+much surprised to see her, because she was liable to come any day.
+Beatrice looked a little surprised at Patty's dressed-up appearance,
+but as no one else appeared, she had no suspicion of what Patty had
+done.
+
+They all sat in the drawing-room, and the clock ticked away until
+twenty-five minutes of two, but nobody else arrived.
+
+Mrs. Homer grew restless. She looked at the clock, and turning to Kit,
+asked him if the time was right by his watch.
+
+"Yes, auntie," replied that scapegrace. "It's almost twenty minutes of
+two. I thought you invited your friends for one-thirty."
+
+"I did," and Mrs. Homer looked anxious. "How strange that no one is
+here, except Patty!"
+
+Patty said nothing, but the enigmatic smile which she cast on Kit made
+him feel that perhaps she knew more than she was telling.
+
+"Do run away, Kit," urged his aunt. "I should think you'd be ashamed to
+come to a party where you're not invited."
+
+"Perhaps I shall be invited if I wait long enough," and Kit threw a
+meaning glance at Beatrice. "If your guests don't come, auntie, you'll
+be glad to have me to help eat up your goodies."
+
+"Not come! Of course they'll come!" cried Mrs. Homer, and Marie turned
+pale with dismay.
+
+"Well, it seems to me," went on Kit, "that it would be a jolly good
+April Fool joke on you all, if they didn't come. And"--he rolled his
+eyes toward the ceiling,--"something tells me that they won't."
+
+"What!" And Marie jumped up, her eyes blazing. Kit's roguish chuckle
+and Bee's elfin grin made Marie suddenly realise there was something in
+the air.
+
+But before Kit could reply, Patty rose, and said directly to him, "How
+strange! I wonder what it is that tells you the luncheon guests won't
+come. How do you know?"--and she smiled straight at him. "Something
+tells ME that they WILL come!"
+
+Then Patty herself stepped into the hall, threw open the door, and in
+came eight merry, laughing girls!
+
+Patty had arranged that Elise should stay downstairs and receive each
+guest, and keep them there until all had arrived. Then they were to
+come upstairs, and wait outside the Homers' door, until the dramatic
+moment.
+
+Although not in favour of practical jokes, Patty couldn't help enjoying
+Kit's absolutely paralysed face. He looked crestfallen,--but more than
+that, he looked so bewildered and utterly taken back, that Patty burst
+into laughter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+KENNETH
+
+
+Mrs. Homer and Marie were greeting the newcomers, and as yet had hardly
+realised the whole situation, but quick-witted Beatrice took it all in.
+
+"You Patty!" she cried, "oh, you Patty Fairfield!"
+
+Patty's beaming face left no doubts as to who it was that had
+circumvented their plan and carried off the honours of the day.
+
+"I'm so sorry you can't stay to luncheon," she said, turning to Kit;
+"must you really go now?"
+
+"You little rascal!" he cried, "but I'll get even with you for this!"
+
+"Please don't," and Patty spoke seriously. "Truly, Kit, I don't like
+these things. I'm awfully glad I could save Mrs. Homer and Marie the
+mortification and annoyance you and Bee had planned for them. But I
+haven't any right to talk to you like a Dutch aunt. If this is your
+notion of fun, I've no right even to criticise it; but I will tell you
+that if you 'get even with me,' as you call it, by playing one of your
+jokes on me, we'll not be friends any more."
+
+"Patty!" and Kit took both her hands with a mock tragic gesture,
+"ANYTHING but that! To lose your friendship, Poppycheek, would be to
+lose all that makes life worth living! Now, if I promise to get even
+with you, by never trying to get even with you,--how's that?"
+
+"That's just right!" and Patty, as the victorious party, could afford
+to be generous. "Now run away, Kit. You promised your aunt you'd scoot
+when her guests arrived."
+
+"Yes, I did, Princess, so off I go! I haven't told you yet what I think
+of your cleverness in this matter,--by the way, how did you get on to
+it?"
+
+"I'll tell you some other time; run away, now."
+
+So Kit went away, and Patty turned back to the laughing group who were
+merrily discussing the joke.
+
+Mrs. Homer and Marie were so horrified when they learned of their
+narrow escape from trouble, and so gratified that through Patty it had
+been an escape, that their feelings were decidedly mixed.
+
+Beatrice was by nature what is called a good loser, and she took her
+defeat gaily.
+
+"I had thought," she said, "that Kit and I were the best practical
+jokers in the world; but we've been beaten by Patty Fairfield! Now,
+that you're all here, I'm really glad of it, but I did think it would
+be fun to see mother and Marie hopping around, waiting for you!"
+
+Then they all went out to luncheon, and among the pretty table
+decorations and merry first of April jests, Patty managed to smuggle in
+at Bee's place a funny little figure. It was a bauble doll dressed like
+a Jester or Court Fool. And he bore a tiny flag in his hand, bearing
+the legend, April first.
+
+"I AM an April Fool!" Beatrice admitted, as she took her seat, "but I
+forgive Patty for making me one, if all of the rest of you will forgive
+me."
+
+Bee made this apology so prettily, and her roguish dark eyes flashed so
+brightly, that forgiveness was freely bestowed, and indeed, as one of
+the guests remarked, there was nothing to forgive.
+
+But the story was told over and over again, and Patty was beset with
+questions as to how she chanced to discover the fraud.
+
+"Why, I just happened to," she said, smiling; "I think I'm a detective
+by instinct; but there's not much credit due to me, for I knew Beatrice
+and Mr. Cameron were always planning jokes, and I couldn't believe
+they'd let the first of April pass by without some special
+demonstration. So I kept my eyes open,--and I couldn't help seeing what
+I did see."
+
+"You're a Seer from Seeville," declared Bee, "and I promise I shall
+never try to trick you again."
+
+"Which means," said Patty, calmly, "that you'll never cease trying
+until you accomplish it, and you say that to put me off my guard."
+
+The baffled look on Bee's face proved that this was true, and everybody
+laughed.
+
+It was that very same evening that Kenneth came to call, and Patty
+merrily told him the whole story.
+
+She was not much surprised that he disapproved heartily of the joke.
+
+"It isn't nice, Patty," he declared; "I may be dull and serious-minded,
+but I can't stand for jokes of that sort."
+
+"I either, Ken," Patty returned; "but we must remember that people in
+this world have different ideas and tastes. And especially, they have
+differing notions of what constitutes humour. So, just because WE don't
+like practical jokes, we oughtn't to condemn those who do. We may like
+some things that THEY don't approve."
+
+"What a just little person you are, Patty," and Harper looked at her
+approvingly. "For all your gaiety and frivolity you have a sound, sweet
+nature. And more than that, you have real brains in that curly-pate of
+yours."
+
+"Goodness, Ken, you overwhelm me with these sudden compliments! You'll
+quite turn my head; I never COULD stand flattery!"
+
+"It isn't flattery," and Kenneth spoke very earnestly; "it's the solemn
+truth. You are as wise and sensible as you are beautiful."
+
+"Heavens and earth! Ken, WHY these kind words? What do you want?"
+
+Harper looked at her a moment, and then said, steadily: "I want YOU,
+Patty; I want you more than I can tell you. I didn't mean to blurt this
+out so soon, but I can't keep it back. Patty, PATTY, can't you care for
+me a little?"
+
+Patty was about to reply flippantly, but the look in Harper's eyes
+forbade it, and she said, gently, "Kenneth, dear, PLEASE don't!"
+
+"I know what that means; it means you DON'T care."
+
+"But I DO, Ken----"
+
+"Oh, Patty, DO you? Do you MEAN it?"
+
+Kenneth took her hands in his and his big grey eyes expressed so much
+love and hope, that Patty was frightened.
+
+"No, I DON'T mean it! I don't mean anything! Oh, Ken, please DON'T!"
+
+"Don't say that, Patty, because I MUST. Listen, dear; I went to see
+your father to-day. And I asked him if I might tell you all this."
+
+Patty looked at him, not quite comprehending.
+
+"You went to see daddy?" she said, wonderingly; "he never told me."
+
+"Why should he? Don't you understand, dear? I went to him to ask his
+permission to tell you that I love you, and I want you for my wife. And
+your father said that I might tell you. And now,--darling----"
+
+"And now it's up to me?" Patty tried to speak lightly.
+
+"Exactly that, Patty," and Kenneth's face was grave and tender. "It's
+up to you, dear. The happiness of my whole life is up to you,--here and
+now. What's the answer?"
+
+Patty sat still a moment, and fairly blinked her eyes in her endeavour
+to realise the situation.
+
+"Ken," she said at last, in a small, far-away voice, "are you--are
+you--are you proposing to me?"
+
+"I sure am!" and Kenneth's head nodded a firm assent; "the sooner you
+get that fact into your head, the better. Patty, DEAR little Patty,
+tell me,--don't keep me waiting----"
+
+"But, Ken, I don't WANT to be proposed to,--and least of all, by YOU!"
+
+"Patty, do you mean that?" and Harper's strained, anxious face took on
+a look of despair.
+
+"Oh, no, NO, I don't mean THAT! At least, not in the way you think! I
+only mean we've been such good friends for so long, you're the last one
+I should think of marrying!"
+
+"And who is the first one you think of marrying?"
+
+Patty burst into laughter. "Oh, Ken, you're so funny when you're
+sarcastic! Don't be THAT, whatever you are!"
+
+"I won't; Patty, darling, tell me you love me a little bit,--or just
+that you'll let me love you,--and I'll NEVER be sarcastic! I'll only be
+tender, and gentle, and loving,--and anything and everything you want
+me to be!"
+
+"Can you?"
+
+The eager light faded from Kenneth's eyes, as he answered: "No, I'm
+afraid I can't, dear. I know as well as you do, that I haven't the kind
+of gaiety you like in a man. I've told you this before. But,
+Patty,--you've so much of that,--don't you think you've enough for two?"
+
+Patty smiled. "It isn't only that, Ken. Don't think that I care more
+for foolish, witty speeches than I do for a true, noble heart, like
+yours."
+
+"DON'T say 'true, noble heart'! It sounds as if you didn't care two
+cents for me! But my heart, Patty, such as it is, is all yours, and has
+been ever since Vernondale days. Have you forgotten those?"
+
+"No, indeed, and that's just what I say, Ken, we've been friends from
+the first,--and we're friends now."
+
+"But the time has come, Patty, to be more than friends. I have known it
+a long time. And I want you to know it too, dear. Patty,--can't you?"
+
+And then, all of a sudden, Patty KNEW she couldn't. Like a flash, she
+saw Kenneth just as he was, a strong, brave, true man, for whom she
+felt a warm friendship, but whom she knew she never could love. She
+might some time perhaps, in days to come, love somebody, but it would
+never, never be Kenneth Harper.
+
+The thought made her sad, not for herself, but she hated to give pain
+to this kind, honest man. She realised the depth of his love for her,
+and it broke her heart that she could not return it.
+
+"Kenneth," she began, "I can't love you the way you want me to,--I just
+can't. And, anyway, I'm too young to think about these things."
+
+"No, you're not, Patty. You're almost twenty and I'm twenty-four. That
+isn't too young,--it's just exactly the right age for lovers. It isn't
+too young, Patty,--if you love me."
+
+"But I don't, Ken. I'm sorry,--but I don't."
+
+"But you will. Oh, Patty, say you will try to!"
+
+"Kenneth, does love come by trying?" and Patty looked into Kenneth's
+face, with a wide-eyed, serious gaze.
+
+"I don't know why it shouldn't. Take time, dearest, to think about it,
+if you want to, but don't say no, irrevocably."
+
+"Is a woman's no ever irrevocable?" And a smile dimpled Patty's face.
+
+"Oh, Patty, you are so sweet when you smile like that! Please say
+you'll think about it."
+
+"It won't do any good to think about it, Ken. If ever I marry anybody,
+it'll be somebody that I know I'm in love with, without thinking about
+it."
+
+"There isn't anybody, is there, Patty, that you know you're in love
+with?"
+
+"No, there isn't," and Patty's honest eyes showed that she spoke the
+truth. "But I'll tell you what, Ken, YOU try to like somebody else.
+Marie Homer is perfectly lovely! or,--there is Elise----"
+
+"Hush, Patty, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm in love
+with you,--and you needn't suggest other girls to me."
+
+"They're a great deal nicer than I am," said Patty, thoughtfully.
+
+"Rubbish! You're the only girl in the world for me, and I want YOU. Are
+you sure there's nobody you like better than me, Patty?"
+
+Patty rested her dimpled chin on the backs of her clasped hands and
+seemed to ponder this question. At last she said: "There's nobody I
+like better than you, Ken; but I've counted up nine, that I like just
+exactly as well. Now, what would you do in a case like that?"
+
+[Illustration: "Now, what would you do in a case like that?"]
+
+"Patty, you're a torment! But if I have an even chance with the others,
+I shall get ahead, somehow. Are you sure you don't like that Cameron
+chap any better than me?"
+
+"Not a bit better. He's good fun, but I can't imagine anybody falling
+in love with him."
+
+"And--Van Reypen?"
+
+The pink in Patty's cheeks deepened, and the lids fell over her blue
+eyes at this question. Af-ter an instant's pause, she said: "I don't
+think it's fair, Ken, for you to quiz me like that. And, anyway, I
+can't tell. In some ways, I like you a heap better than Phil Van
+Reypen,--and then in other ways----"
+
+"You like him a heap better than me!" Kenneth's tone was accusing, and
+Patty resented it.
+
+"Yes, I do!" she said, honestly. "He's always ready for a good time and
+willing to give up things for other people. Why, Ken, when you've an
+important case on, you won't go skating or anything! I have to coax you
+to come to my parties. Now, Phil is always ready to go anywhere or do
+anything."
+
+"But he's a millionaire, Patty. He doesn't have to grub for a living,
+as I do."
+
+"It isn't that, Ken." Patty's quick perceptions had caught the flaw in
+Kenneth's argument. "It isn't that. It's because you're so absorbed in
+your work that you'd RATHER dig and delve in it, than to go to parties.
+That's all right, of course, and much to your credit. But you can't
+blame me for liking a man who is willing to throw over his business
+engagements for me."
+
+"That's just like you, Patty, to see through me so quickly. You're
+right. I don't care an awful lot for society doings. I only go to
+parties and things to see you. And it's mighty little satisfaction, for
+you're always so surrounded by rattle-pated men, that there's no
+getting near you."
+
+"Wait a minute, Ken; is it fair to call them rattle-pated, when you
+only mean that they enjoy the kind of gay chatter that you look down
+upon?"
+
+"Oh, Patty, I do love you so! And when you say things like that, that
+proves what a big, clear mind you have underneath your frivolity, I
+love you more than ever. Of course, as you saw at once, I call them
+rattle-pates out of sheer envy and jealousy, because they possess that
+quality we're speaking of, and I don't. Teach it to me, Patty; teach me
+to be a gay society man, dancing attendance on gay society girls----"
+
+Patty burst into a peal of laughter at this notion of Kenneth's.
+
+"I could do that, Ken, about as easily as you could teach me to be a
+quiet, demure, little person like Christine Hepworth. This is
+Christine:"
+
+Patty sat upright with her hands clasped in her lap, and drew down the
+corners of her mouth, and rolled her eyes upward with a saint-like
+expression.
+
+Then, "This is me!" she said. And jumping up, she pirouetted, whirling,
+around the room, waving her arms like a graceful butterfly skimming
+over flowers. Faster and faster she went, seeming scarcely to touch the
+tips of her toes to the floor, and smiling at Kenneth like a
+tantalising fairy.
+
+Harper gazed at her, fascinated, and then as she hovered near him,
+jumped up, and caught her in his arms.
+
+"You beauty!" he cried, but Patty slipped away from him.
+
+"You haven't caught me yet, Ken," she said, laughing, "not for keeps,
+you know." The rollicking dance had restored her gaiety, and relieved
+the seriousness of the situation.
+
+"You know perfectly well," she went on, standing across the room from
+him, and shaking a little pink forefinger at him, "you know perfectly
+well, Kenneth-boy, that we're not a bit suited to each other. I go
+through life the way I just flew around the room; and you go this way:"
+Patty dropped her arms at her side and marched stiffly around the room
+with a military air, gazing straight ahead of her.
+
+"Now, how COULD we ever keep step?" she said, pausing in front of him
+and looking up into his face.
+
+"I'm afraid you're right, Patty," and Kenneth looked at her with
+serious eyes. "But I WANT you so!" and he held out his arms.
+
+"Nay, nay, Pauline," and Patty danced away again. "Who gets me, I
+think, will have to swoop down in an aeroplane, and grabble me all up
+and fly away with me!"
+
+"Where do they keep aeroplanes for sale?" inquired Kenneth, looking at
+her meditatively.
+
+"You dear old Ken!" and Patty danced up to him again and laid her hand
+on his arm. "Isn't that just exactly like you! You'd go right off and
+buy an airship, I believe, and try to come swooping after me!"
+
+"Indeed I would, if it were practicable and possible."
+
+"Yes, that's your motto: practical and possible. But you see, Mr. Ken,
+I like the impractical and the impossible."
+
+"Supposing, then, that I take up those things as a serious study?"
+
+"Oh, yes, a SERIOUS study! Is everything serious with you?"
+
+"My love for you is very serious, Patty."
+
+But Patty was not willing to treat it so. "That's the trouble," she
+said; "now if your love for me were frivolous----"
+
+"Then it wouldn't be worth having, Patty."
+
+"Oh, I--don't--know! At any rate, Ken, can't you mix it? Say three
+parts seriousness to one part frivolousness? Though I'd rather have the
+proportions reversed."
+
+"Patty, you're incorrigible!"
+
+"Good gracious! what's that? It must be something awfully nice, if I'm
+it."
+
+"Well, you are it,--and I don't know what to do with you."
+
+"You mean, you don't know what to do without me!"
+
+"Same thing. But you'll promise me this, won't you? To think it over
+seriously and not decide at once."
+
+"Yes, I'll promise that. How long do you want me to think it over, Ken?"
+
+"The rest of your life, Patty."
+
+"Ken, if you say such clever things as that, I'm afraid I'll fall in
+love with you!"
+
+"Patty, darling,--don't tease me like that! If I thought you meant
+it---"
+
+"But, anyway, Ken, if I take the rest of my life to think this thing
+over, I can't give you an answer till my dying day! And that seems
+late----"
+
+"Patty, stop talking like that! You'll drive me crazy! Now listen,
+little girl, I'm going now. And you're going to think over what I've
+said to you. And--try to think kindly,--won't you?"
+
+"I've never thought of you any way but kindly, Ken."
+
+"Well, think more than kindly, then,--think lovingly. Good-night,
+Patty."
+
+Kenneth held out his hand and Patty put her little hand slowly into it.
+
+As she felt his strong, warm clasp, a mischievous impulse moved her to
+say, demurely: "I think it would be polite, Ken, if you kissed my hand,
+instead of squeezing it to pieces!"
+
+Kenneth gave her one look, dropped a light kiss on the back of her
+little hand, and with a courteous bow left the room.
+
+For a moment Patty stood where he had left her, then, as she heard the
+front door close, she looked curiously at the back of her hand, almost
+as if expecting to see a mark there.
+
+"Dear old Ken," she said, softly, to herself, and then she went
+upstairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+AN INVITATION
+
+
+Notwithstanding the experience of the evening, Patty slept dreamlessly
+all night, and was only awakened, when Jane came in the morning with
+her breakfast tray.
+
+"Hello, Jane," she said, sleepily, opening her eyes, "will you ask Mrs.
+Fairfield to come up here right away?"
+
+"What is it, Patty?" said Nan, appearing a moment later; "are you ill?
+Jane said you wanted me right away."
+
+"No, I'm not ill," and Patty gave her stepmother a quizzical glance.
+"Sit down, Nan, and brace yourself for a shock. In me you behold a
+charming young debutante who has received her first proposal from a
+most worthy young man."
+
+"Good gracious, Patty! Kenneth?"
+
+"None other!" And Patty waved her hand dramatically.
+
+"Naturally, I'm not overcome with amazement, as he spoke to Fred about
+it first. Kenneth always has good manners. Well, and what did you say,
+Patty?"
+
+Patty eyed Nan, provokingly. "What do you think, Nancy?"
+
+"Honestly, Patty, I haven't the slightest idea. Ken is splendid, I
+think,--but----"
+
+"But what, Nan?" And Patty looked deeply interested.
+
+"First, what did you say?"
+
+"I won't tell you, until you tell me what you meant by 'but.'"
+
+"Why, I only meant that Kenneth is,--well he's a dear and all that, but
+he's so----"
+
+"Oh, fiddlesticks, Nan, say it out! Dull, prosaic, old-fogy, poky,
+slow."
+
+"Patty, Patty! those words are too strong! Ken isn't all those things!
+He's only,--just a little bit----"
+
+"Just a day and a half behind the times. Or else I'm a day and a half
+ahead of them. Well, Nan, that's what I told him."
+
+"What! that he was dull and old-fogy?"
+
+"Not exactly those terms; but in a few well-chosen words I gave him
+that impression, or tried to. By the way, Nan, I danced all round the
+room while he was proposing. Was that correct?"
+
+"Patty, stop your nonsense! Will you never be grown-up? You shall not
+make fun of Kenneth."
+
+"Oh, Nan, I only wish I could! You might as well try to make fun of the
+Public Library. Kenneth is an institution. I always feel like saying to
+him, 'Sail on, sail on, oh, Ship of State!' or something like that.
+Now, wait a minute, Nan; don't you think I don't appreciate his
+sterling qualities. Like a Ship of State, he's made of pure
+granite,--oh, NO, they don't make ships of granite, do they?--I mean
+like the Public Library, you know. And he has solid
+foundations,--mental, moral, and physical. But he hasn't any fancy work
+about him. Even the Public Library has flags flying,--but Ken never
+thinks of anything as gay as a flag."
+
+"Patty, you're talking a lot, but I do believe you know what you're
+saying;--it's true, dear. And are you going to marry him?"
+
+"Marry him!" And Patty looked distinctly aggrieved. "Why, Nan, do you
+think for a moment I'd accept my first proposal? No, sir-ee! After I've
+had half a dozen, I may take one seriously, but not before. How can I
+tell until I've seen various sorts? Why, Nan, Kenneth didn't go down on
+his knees at all! I thought they always did. Didn't father, when he
+asked you?"
+
+"Oh, Patty, I thought you were up-to-date! Kneeling proposals went out
+with the Colonials! It's only a tradition, now."
+
+"Gracious, Nan, how experienced you are! But I don't think I shall
+accept anybody until he kneels to me. But don't tell anybody that, for
+I don't want them all doing it on purpose."
+
+"Patty," and Nan spoke seriously, "it's all very well for you to rattle
+on like this, but you mustn't treat Ken's proposal lightly. He's a
+splendid man and he's terribly in love with you----"
+
+"Wait a minute, Nan," and Patty was quite as earnest as the other. "Ken
+isn't TERRIBLY in love with me. I'd like it better if he were. He's
+deeply in love, even earnestly,--almost solemnly, but----"
+
+"That's the best sort, Patty. Remember, dear, flirtation is all very
+well; but in the man you marry you want those qualities you've just
+mentioned."
+
+"Oh, Nan, don't you be serious, too! Ken's seriousness almost finished
+me. And I suppose father will take the same tack! Oh, I don't want to
+be grown-up,--I think it's HORRID!"
+
+Nan looked sympathetically at Patty.
+
+"I suppose, right here," Patty went on, "I ought to burst into tears.
+Don't girls always cry over their first proposal? But, Nan, I feel more
+like giggling. I can't help it. It seems so ridiculous for Kenneth and
+me to go through that scene we had last evening. We've been friends so
+long, and then for him, all of a sudden----"
+
+"It wasn't sudden with him, Patty. He's been in love with you for
+years."
+
+"Yes, so he says. Well, Nan, I don't HAVE to marry him, do I?"
+
+"No, of course not."
+
+"Well, then, I'm not going to! And I don't want to be treated as if I
+were an ingrate because I don't! Ken is a splendid man, noble souled
+and all that, but I don't love him and never shall. Now please, Nan, be
+nice to me."
+
+"Why, Patty, dear, I never dreamed of NOT being nice to you! I do want
+you to realise what you're throwing away, but if you couldn't be happy
+with Ken, of course, you mustn't marry him. He's a very different
+temperament from you, and I think myself he would be a sort of a weight
+on your buoyant nature. And if you're sure of your own heart, that's
+all there is about it. But you must tell Ken so, just as kindly as
+possible, for I know it will be an awful blow to the poor fellow. Did
+you tell him?"
+
+"Yes, I did, but he insisted that I should think it over."
+
+"Well, think it over. It won't hurt you to do that. And if you keep
+getting more and more certain that you don't love Kenneth and never
+will, then you'll know you're right in your decision. You're a dear
+girl, Patty, and I want you to marry some time, and just the right man."
+
+"As you did."
+
+"Yes, as I did," and Nan gave a happy smile. "You will probably marry
+some one nearer your own age, Patty, but you can never be any happier
+than Fred and I are."
+
+"I believe you, you dear old thing! Oh, here's the mail, and I have not
+touched my breakfast yet."
+
+Jane came in with a lot of letters, and Patty pounced upon one in
+particular.
+
+"Here's a letter from Adele," she cried. "I hope she's coming to the
+city, she's been talking of it."
+
+But instead of that news, the letter contained an invitation for Patty
+to come up to Fern Falls for a visit.
+
+"Come to spend May-day," Adele wrote. "I'm having a small house party;
+in part, a reunion of our Christmas crowd. Daisy is here and Hal, of
+course, and we all want you. Invite one or two of your beaux, if you
+like, but don't bring any more girls; for we have two or three new
+neighbours with a superfluity of daughters. Come as soon as you can,
+and stay as long as you will, and bring your prettiest frocks. Oceans
+of love from me and Jim. Adele."
+
+"That's good," said Nan, as she read the letter. "Why don't you start
+right off, Patty? Adele says to invite some young men if you like. You
+might ask Kenneth!"
+
+"No, thank you. I don't want any of the boys. I'll be glad to get away
+from them for awhile. I must have some new frocks, Nan. Something
+Springy, you know."
+
+"Yes, we'll go and order them to-day. I'd love to." Nan spoke
+absentmindedly, for she was reading her own letters, and Patty
+proceeded to open the rest of her mail.
+
+That evening Kenneth came for his answer.
+
+Patty had talked it over with her father, and had concluded the kindest
+thing was to tell Kenneth frankly, no.
+
+The scene was not as difficult as Patty had feared, for Kenneth took
+the cheerful attitude of believing that she would yet relent.
+
+"So long as there is no one else, Patty, girl," he said, very gently,
+"I'm going to hope that you will yet learn to love me. I shall never
+despair, until you tell me yourself that you have given your heart to
+some one else."
+
+"And we'll be good friends, Ken?"
+
+"You bet we will! You needn't think I'm down and out because you've
+said no, once! I'm not awfully swift, Patty, but I'm terribly
+persistent,--and I'm just going to keep on loving you, in hope that
+some day you'll come to me because you want to."
+
+"But there's no promise, Ken."
+
+"No, dear, no promise. Only a hope in my heart, too deep to be rooted
+out, that some day--"
+
+"So--me day! So--ome day!" chanted Patty in a trilling voice, and Ken
+smiled in his old, friendly fashion.
+
+"He is awfully nice," Patty said to Nan, afterward, "when he isn't
+proposing. There's something about Ken you can't help liking."
+
+And Nan smiled and said, "That's so."
+
+The days flew along, the spring frocks materialised and the grass and
+flowers began to be beautiful up at Fern Falls.
+
+Patty went up there a few days before the first of May, and was
+welcomed by the Kenerleys with vigorous and jubilant greetings.
+
+"You dear!" exclaimed Adele, as after a rapturous hug she held Patty
+off to look at her. "I do believe you're prettier than ever!"
+
+"It's the happiness of coming up here," said Patty, smiling. "I'm so
+glad to come, Adele. The country in spring,--and all that, you know."
+
+"Yes," said Adele, laughing. "You know what the Boston girl said: 'Oh,
+I just LOVE nature! It ADDS so!' You're like that, aren't you, Patty?"
+
+"Exactly! but spring is all over the city, too. They're selling flowers
+on every street corner, and all the pedestrians wear big bunches of
+violets or daffodils or magnolias or something. Daisy, you're looking
+fine! How long have you been here?"
+
+"I came last week," said Daisy Dow, "and I'm awfully glad to see you
+again, Patty."
+
+And then Patty was whisked off to her room, and not until tea-time did
+she see the rest of the house party.
+
+Then her host, Jim Kenerley, appeared, and Hal Ferris, Adele's brother,
+and, greatly to Patty's surprise, Philip Van Reypen.
+
+"I didn't expect to see you here, Phil," said Patty, after she had
+greeted the men of the house.
+
+"I'm only here for a short time," returned Philip; "Mrs. Kenerley
+invited me to stay as long as I behaved myself; but you know, Patty, I
+can't do that very long."
+
+"No, indeed! You'll be starting to-morrow morning at that rate!"
+
+"Now, Patty, that's unkind of you. However, under your angelic
+influence, I may behave well enough to stay till the afternoon train."
+
+"You're a beautiful behaver, Mr. Van Reypen," declared his hostess,
+"and I shan't let naughty Patty cast aspersions."
+
+"What are those things, Adele?" asked Patty; "I'm sure I never cast
+anything like that at anybody, and I wouldn't hit him if I did. I can't
+hit the side of a barn."
+
+"I know they say that about women," said Hal Ferris; "but I believe
+it's a base libel. At least, I think they could be taught to accomplish
+such a feat. I believe I'll organise a class of young ladies and teach
+them how to hit the side of a barn."
+
+"But why hit it at all?" asked Daisy; "what has the poor barn done to
+be hit?"
+
+"Lots of people get hit when they don't deserve it," said Kenerley.
+"But don't use our barn, Hal, use the neighbour's. Because under your
+tuition, your pupils might get proficient enough to hit it."
+
+"I'm so glad to be here when it isn't winter," said Patty, looking
+around her. They were having tea on one of the wide verandas, which,
+though still enclosed with glass, had many panes open to the spring air.
+
+"From now on, it's lovely here," said Adele; "almost every day we have
+one more sash open and then pretty soon we take them all out."
+
+"It was lovely last winter, when we had tea by the hall fireplace, but
+this is better still," and Patty leaned back in her Japanese wicker
+easy-chair and nibbled contentedly at her plate of little cakes.
+
+The tea hour at the Kenerleys' was always a pleasant affair, and in
+warm weather neighbours from the nearby country houses were apt to
+stroll over. On this occasion two or three came and Patty became
+acquainted with several young ladies.
+
+"You know what I told you," said Adele to Patty, after they had left.
+"We have plenty of girls around here, but not many men. So for the
+May-party, I want you to ask a few of your friends to come up."
+
+"All right, I will; the boys will all be glad to come. Which ones do
+you want?"
+
+"I've already asked Roger Farrington, and we'll see about the others
+later."
+
+"All right," said Patty, carelessly; "I've one or two new friends whom
+I'm sure you will like."
+
+The next day Patty had a brilliant idea for a joke on Kit Cameron. It
+popped into her head quite suddenly, and she gleefully told her scheme
+to Adele and Daisy, as they sat together in Adele's own pleasant
+sitting-room.
+
+"Doesn't Mr. Cameron know you're up here?" asked Adele.
+
+"No; I haven't seen him for a week or two. He went South with the
+Homers and only came home the day I left."
+
+The plan was carefully thought out, amid giggling and laughter, and the
+final result was achieved by Patty in the form of a much scribbled
+letter.
+
+"Now I'm going down to copy this on Jim's typewriter," she said. And
+she flew downstairs to the library, from which opened a small office
+fitted up for Mr. Kenerley's home use.
+
+Jim Kenerley had gone to business, and Van Reypen and Hal Ferris were
+playing golf, so Patty had the place to herself; and by dint of slow
+but persevering pounding on the typewriter, she picked out the
+following missive:
+
+"Mr. Christopher Cameron: DEAR MR. CAMERON,
+
+A few weeks ago I heard you play the violin at a concert! Oh, if I
+could tell you the raptures that thrilled my soul at the floods of
+melody you drew from the insensate strings! Only a poet's spirit, only
+a high-strung heart could accomplish such strains! I, too, am of a
+musical spirit; I, too, thrill to the notes of the great masters, if
+interpreted as they are by you! May I hope that you will not spurn this
+outburst of a sympathetic nature, and accept this tribute to your
+genius? Could I look for a line,--just a word,--in response to this,
+saying that you are glad of my appreciation? Never before have I
+written to a stranger. That is why I dare not use my own penmanship.
+Please do not seek to find out who I am, but send just a line that I
+may know you do not scorn my praise. Address Miss Belle Harcourt, Maple
+Bank, Conn."
+
+The conspirators had decided upon the Maple Bank Post-office as being
+safer than Fern Falls, if Kit should by any chance hear that Patty had
+gone to the Kenerleys'.
+
+"You know," said Patty, as she sealed the letter, "it might be mean to
+play this trick on anybody else, but Kit plays so many jokes on other
+people, he deserves it. And while he's not over-conceited, yet he's
+just vain enough to be tickled to death with this appreciation of his
+music. 'Miss Harcourt' will get an answer, all right! Come on, girls,
+let's get ready to go to Maple Bank."
+
+And in a short time the three plotters were motoring over to the
+adjoining village to post the precious document.
+
+Of course, they did not tell the men about this, and the three kept it
+an inviolate secret.
+
+"We can hardly expect an answer for two days," said Patty, "but if I
+know Mr. Kit, he'll reply about as quickly as possible."
+
+And sure enough, when the next day but one the three again invaded the
+little Maple Bank post-office, there was a letter from New York City
+for Miss Belle Harcourt.
+
+"Read it, read it!" cried Daisy as they started homeward with their
+prize.
+
+The three sat side by side in the motor, with Patty in the middle, and
+they all giggled, as Patty read the letter aloud.
+
+"DEAR MISS HARCOURT:
+
+I cannot tell you what pleasure your letter gave me. It is so
+delightful to learn that a stranger is interested in my poor attempts
+at making music. And--may I say it?--the personal charm of your letter
+has thrilled my heart! Only a pure, sweet, young nature could write as
+you do. May I not see you? Or at least will you not send me your
+photograph? I know I have no right to ask this, but I would so love to
+meet one so sympathetic and appreciative of the great art which is the
+ideal of my life.
+
+With many, many thanks for your welcome letter, I am,
+
+Very sincerely yours, CHRISTOPHER CAMERON."
+
+"I knew he'd do it!" cried Patty. "I knew he'd fall for that flattery!
+Kit's a perfect dear, but he IS vain of his music, and I don't blame
+him. He's a wonderful violinist."
+
+"What are you going to do next, Patty?" asked Adele. "Answer that
+letter?"
+
+"Sure!" returned Patty; "but I'm not running this thing alone. We must
+all help make up the letter. And, Adele, haven't you some photograph
+that will be just right to send?"
+
+As soon as they reached home they hunted over Adele's collection of
+photographs, and finally found one that Patty declared just right.
+
+It was a picture of one of Adele's cousins, a girl of about sixteen,
+whose sweet young face wore an expression so soulful and languishing
+that it was almost comical.
+
+"Hester hates that picture," said Adele; "she never looks that way
+really,--like a sick calf,--but somehow the photographer managed to
+catch that expression."
+
+"She wouldn't mind if she knew, would she?" said Patty.
+
+"Oh, mercy, no! She'd think it the best joke in the world. She lives in
+California, so there's little chance of Mr. Cameron ever seeing her.
+Now let's write the letter."
+
+After much agony of composition and much gay fooling, the plotters
+produced this:
+
+"DEAR MR. CHRISTOPHER:
+
+I must modify your more formal name a little,--for it seems now as if I
+almost knew you. I tremble with fear lest some one should discover that
+I write to you. But I cannot help writing. I am impelled by a feeling
+in my soul. I send my picture and I wish it were more beautiful. For I
+know you love only what is good and beautiful. We must not meet, that
+would be TOO dangerous. But will you not write me one more precious
+letter that I may keep it forever?
+
+BELLE."
+
+There had been much discussion over the signature. Adele preferred
+"Yours devotedly"; Daisy wanted "Yours adoringly"; but Patty stood out
+for the name alone, saying that it meant more that way.
+
+And so the letter enclosing the picture was despatched to Kit, who
+received it duly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+BELLE HARCOURT
+
+
+As quickly as possible the answer came back.
+
+It was a rainy day, and Adele sent the chauffeur to Maple Bank after it.
+
+The three gathered in Patty's room to hear it read, and were not
+surprised that it ran after this manner:
+
+"BELLE:
+
+How could you know the dearest way to sign yourself? Any other word
+would have spoiled it! But Belle! My beautiful one! I MUST see you! The
+picture is just what I anticipated, only more sweet and soulful. You
+are an angel, and I must see you or die. Do not make me wait. May I fly
+to Maple Bank at once? Meet me somewhere. No one will know it,--but I
+must look once into those dear eyes!
+
+Your own
+
+CHRISTOPHER."
+
+"Oh, Kit, Kit!" exclaimed Patty, wiping tears of laughter from her
+eyes; "I didn't know you COULD be such an idiot! Adele, we must have
+him come up here."
+
+"Oh, of course. How shall we arrange a meeting?"
+
+"I'll tell you," said Daisy, "write him that Belle will meet him in
+front of the Maple Bank post-office. Then let Patty meet him, you know,
+and we'll sit in the car and see the fun."
+
+"All right," Patty agreed. "WON'T he be mad when he sees ME!"
+
+So they wrote:
+
+"MY CHRISTOPHER:
+
+I knew we were made for each other. I, too, feel that I must see you.
+But our meeting must be secret. I cannot risk my people knowing about
+it. So, will you meet me in front of the Maple Bank post-office at four
+o'clock on Thursday afternoon? I would like a more secluded place, but
+I dare not. The post-office is on a beautiful maple-shaded street and
+we can meet casually, as if we were ordinary passersby. You must only
+speak with me a few moments, and let me look once deep in your eyes,
+and then you must pass on,--out of my life forever! But I shall have at
+least one moment of blissful rapture! You will know me, because I shall
+wear white, with pink roses in my hat, and a pink parasol. I can hardly
+wait for Thursday! Come soon to
+
+Your
+
+BELLE."
+
+"I rather guess that'll fetch him," observed Patty, complacently, as
+she sealed the envelope. "I knew Kit was a romantic goose, but I didn't
+suppose he'd be up to these tricks."
+
+"Of course we'll bring him home with us, Patty," said Adele.
+
+"Yes, he'll come fast enough."
+
+"If he isn't too mad at you," put in Daisy.
+
+"Oh, he won't be mad," returned Patty; "he'll be terribly cut up at
+first, to think I tricked him so, but he'll get over it. And I warn
+you, Adele, if he comes here he'll play some fearful joke on us to get
+even."
+
+"I don't mind," said Adele, "I like a joke once in awhile as well as
+anybody else. Now if he comes Thursday, Patty, will he stay over
+Saturday? That's May-day, you know, and I'd like to have him here for
+the celebration."
+
+"He'll be here if you ask him; even if he has to go back to the city
+Friday and come up again for Saturday. Phil and Roger come Saturday,
+you know."
+
+Van Reypen had gone back to town for a few days, and Hal Ferris was
+also away on business, which was one reason why the girls had plunged
+so interestedly into their merry scheme.
+
+Thursday afternoon they started for Maple Bank in time to be at the
+post-office before four o'clock, and witness the arrival of Mr. Cameron.
+
+Patty looked her dainty best, in a white linen, with a broad-brimmed
+hat wreathed with pink roses. Her pink parasol was flounced with
+chiffon and adorned with a bunch of pink roses, and two rose blooms
+were tucked in her belt.
+
+"Rather summery garb, for the last of April," said Patty, gazing at
+herself in Adele's long mirror; "but I said I'd wear white before I
+thought. However, it's a lovely day, and with my motor coat I'll be
+warm enough going over."
+
+They started off in high spirits, and reached the post-office at
+quarter before four. Kit was already there, walking calmly up and down
+the maple-shaded village street, and apparently waiting with properly
+concealed impatience.
+
+In accordance with directions, the chauffeur drove right past the
+post-office and around a corner, where the three conspirators might
+indulge in a burst of laughter.
+
+"I shan't appear until a few minutes after four," said Patty; "it isn't
+feminine to keep an appointment on time."
+
+So they went up and down some other streets until just the right time,
+and then Patty got out of the car, as she intended to walk to the tryst.
+
+The car, with Adele and Daisy, whizzed away and took up a position
+exactly opposite the post-office, stopping there to watch the show.
+
+Of course Cameron paid no attention to this car, and continued to
+patrol the sidewalk with slow, even steps.
+
+At last, as he walked along, he saw a girl in white coming toward him.
+Her pink parasol completely concealed her face, but Cameron knew it was
+his "Belle."
+
+He walked on slowly, and Patty did too, until they met and both
+stopped. Gently he raised the intruding parasol and turned it to one
+side.
+
+But even then, he could not see Patty's face, for she had arranged her
+broad-brimmed hat to droop over it, and she hung her head as if in
+extreme shyness. But she put out her hand and Cameron clasped it in his
+own.
+
+"Belle," he murmured, "MY Belle! Look at me, please!"
+
+Suddenly Patty lifted her head, and smiled into Kit Cameron's face.
+
+He took a step backward, and staggered almost as if he would fall.
+
+"Patty Fairfield!" he exclaimed, "what does this mean? Why are you
+here? I expected--oh, I beg your pardon--I--I'm aw-awfully glad to see
+you."
+
+Adele and Daisy, watching them, were convulsed at Cameron's baffled
+surprise. They could almost hear what he said. They could see how he
+tried to pull himself together, and they could see Patty speechless
+with laughter, as she enjoyed the joke on Kit.
+
+"What are YOU doing in Maple Bank?" she said, as soon as she could
+speak for laughing.
+
+Kit looked at her gravely. "I came expressly to meet a girl in a white
+frock and pink roses. I don't see any other around, so--it might as
+well be you!"
+
+"You needn't try to turn it off so carelessly," said Patty. "Own up
+that you're caught! What was your girl's name?"
+
+"Belle--My Belle--" And Cameron rolled his eyes in such soulful manner,
+that Patty went off in another paroxysm.
+
+"Oh, you Joke King, you! Nobody can trick you, can they? Do you own up?"
+
+"Own up what? that I'd rather see you than any other belle? Certainly,
+I'll own that. But my time is up. You know we were only to gaze once
+into each other's eyes and then part forever!" And Kit gazed into her
+eyes as if it were indeed the last time.
+
+"That'll do," said Patty, laughing again. "The farce is over. Now come
+and be real. Your own beautiful real self. Come and meet my friends."
+
+"Who?" said Kit, as he accompanied Patty across the street.
+
+"Here he is," sang out Patty, as they reached the car. "Mrs.
+Kenerley,--Miss Dow,--may I present Mr. Cameron, the celebrated violin
+virtuoso."
+
+Adele greeted him warmly, and Daisy smiled on him, and Cameron's own
+delightful manner soon made them all friends.
+
+"Jump in and go home with us, Mr. Cameron," said Adele, turning down a
+side seat in the car.
+
+"But my stay in Maple Bank is limited," said Kit. "I'm due to take the
+next train back to New York."
+
+"Come back with us to tea, anyway," said Adele.
+
+"You can stay to dinner, too," said Patty, "and take a late train down
+from Fern Falls."
+
+"But you see, though I dressed with particular care to meet a very
+charming young lady, I didn't expect to dine with her."
+
+"Oh, no matter," said Adele; "we won't be formal to-night. But if you
+will, Mr. Cameron, we'd like to have you come back on Saturday for our
+May-day celebration."
+
+"Will I!" said Kit; "you're awfully good to ask me, Mrs. Kenerley,
+after you've discovered what a wicked young man I am, thus to follow up
+invitations from strange ladies. But you see the photograph that came
+to me was so charming that the temptation was irresistible."
+
+"If you'd known it was only me, you wouldn't have come, would you?"
+asked Patty.
+
+Kit regarded her solemnly. Then he waved his hand, as if dismissing a
+question of no moment. "It doesn't matter," he said, "all young ladies
+in pink and white look alike to me."
+
+"Then I'm glad I'm not in pink and white," said Daisy, who was looking
+very pretty in a blue linen frock, with wide black ribbons.
+
+"So am I," and Kit smiled at her approvingly. "You look so different,
+it's a pleasure to observe you."
+
+Cameron had a charming way of talking nonsense, and before they reached
+home both Daisy and Adele had taken a decided liking to the gay young
+man.
+
+They had tea on the glass-paned veranda, and it was not until they were
+all comfortably seated, with their teacups in hand, that Cameron said,
+casually: "Oh, by the way, Patty, I have a note for you from Mrs.
+Fairfield, and a parcel."
+
+He took from his pocket a letter and a little box.
+
+"Oh, thank you," said Patty, taking them "May I?" she added, as she
+opened the note.
+
+As Patty read, her face grew longer and her eyes grew bigger. As she
+finished, she looked at Cameron, who was gazing at her with his eyes
+full of laughter.
+
+"You Kit!" she exclaimed; "oh, you Kit Cameron! Can nobody EVER get
+ahead of you? Girls, listen to this! It's a note from Nan, and she
+says: 'Dear Patty: Mr. Cameron says he's going to see you to-morrow.
+Has Adele invited him to Fern Falls? How nice for you all. He won't
+tell me how she happened to do so, but I suppose it was through you.
+I'm sending you by him your pearl pin, which you forgot. Oceans of
+love, from Nan.' Now, how in the name of common sense, did you happen
+to tell Nan that you were coming to see me?"
+
+"Why, I was there last night, and I knew I was coming up here to-day;
+so I told her, and she asked me to bring your pin. And I said I would.
+That's all."
+
+"But how did you know you were coming here?" persisted Patty.
+
+"I didn't know I was coming here, and I didn't tell Mrs. Fairfield I
+was. I only told her I should see you. I can't help what she
+assumed,--and I have delivered the pin in safety."
+
+"But how did you know you were going to see me?"
+
+"My dear child, do you suppose for one minute that I fell for that
+Belle Harcourt business? Didn't you know that I would know that that
+very first letter was written by your fairy fingers?"
+
+"Why, Mr. Cameron!" exclaimed Adele, "weren't you really fooled?"
+
+"You WERE!" exclaimed Daisy. "You were at first, anyway."
+
+"Not for a minute, Miss Dow," and Kit smiled lazily at her. "I'm not
+over-modest about my wonderful musical genius, but somehow I couldn't
+believe that a stranger appreciated me so highly. I just COULDN'T
+believe it, and something told me that it wasn't quite all it sounded.
+Then, says I to myself, if it isn't a real Belle Harcourt it's most
+probably Patty Fairfield. I had no idea you were away, but I telephoned
+the house, and some of your menials told me you were at Fern Falls. I
+had never heard of Fern Falls, but it was me for the atlas, and after
+much study, I unearthed Fern Falls and found it to be very decidedly
+adjacent to Maple Bank. So I put away my atlas, got down my arithmetic,
+and by its artful aid I managed to put two and two together. If I had
+found any one else but Patty Fairfield under that pink parasol, I
+should have been the most surprised man under the Stars and Stripes!"
+
+"I think you're perfectly horrid!" cried Patty; "just per-fect-ly
+hor-rid!"
+
+"You don't really, you know," and Kit smiled at her, calmly, "you're
+just as ready to admit yourself tricked, as I was."
+
+Patty went off into a peal of laughter at the thought of how she had
+insisted that Kit should own up to being tricked, when they met; but
+she felt a little chagrined that her joke had fallen through.
+
+"I'm glad of it," declared Adele, "for I may as well confess, Mr.
+Cameron, it had prejudiced me against you to think you would write
+those letters to a stranger."
+
+"Oh, I wouldn't, Mrs. Kenerley," said Kit, with exaggerated
+earnestness. "Honest and truly, I wouldn't! I NEVER write letters to
+strangers, unless I'm SURE the strangers are Patty Fairfield. And I'm
+sure I shouldn't dare to write a letter to the young lady of the
+photograph that came to me. She looked like an angel in the last stages
+of nervous prostration."
+
+"That's exactly what she did look like," said Adele, laughing. "I must
+tell Hester that! She's a school-girl cousin of mine, Mr. Cameron, and
+if she were here, she'd enjoy this two-story joke as well as any of us."
+
+Cameron stayed to dinner, as he said, to make his peace with Mr.
+Kenerley when he came home, but really because he wanted to remain with
+the pleasant house party.
+
+Hal Ferris came home at dinner time, too, and was greatly diverted by
+the whole story of the Belle Harcourt joke.
+
+After dinner, it was warm enough to sit out on the veranda till time
+for Kit to go to the train.
+
+At last the chauffeur brought the little runabout to the door, and Kit
+took leave of the merry group.
+
+"Be sure to come back on Saturday morning," said Adele, as she shook
+hands with him.
+
+"Trust me for that, Mrs. Kenerley. I'm so delighted with the
+invitation, I'm afraid I'll get here too soon."
+
+"Come up on the noon train. The May party's at four o'clock. And now
+you must fly or you'll lose your train."
+
+"Parting is SUCH sweet sorrow," said Kit, as he took Patty's hand, to
+say good-bye to her last.
+
+Patty followed him down the steps of the veranda, and he was about to
+step into the car, when he said, "Come on down to the station with me."
+
+"I will," said Patty, impulsively, and as there was no time to discuss
+the matter, she sprang into the car. Kit jumped in after her, and
+slammed the door and they were off.
+
+"We've eloped," Cameron called back, as they whizzed away.
+
+"All right," Adele called after them; "send Patty back by the
+chauffeur. There are extra wraps under the seat."
+
+"What a duck you are to come!" said Kit, as they swung out through the
+gate.
+
+"I didn't mean to; but I jumped in before I thought."
+
+"Always jump in before you think,--that is, if I'm around. If there's
+any danger of drowning, I'll pull you out."
+
+"Oh, I can swim. Kit, I don't see how you knew I wrote that letter."
+
+"Patty, it was plain as day on the face of it. Why, it sounded just
+like you from start to finish. Of course, if you had been in New York,
+I should have tried to suspect somebody else, but when I found you were
+staying only about six miles from Maple Bank, I knew it was you."
+
+"Never mind, some day I'll play a joke on you."
+
+"Thought you didn't approve of them."
+
+"I don't, for other people. But you're so fond of them I feel as if I
+ought to do all I can for you."
+
+"All right, joke away, little girl. I don't mind. I say, Poppycheek,
+what's this May-day business? An old-fashioned picnic?"
+
+"Not exactly. It's a new-fashioned picnic. But they crown a May-queen,
+and all that sort of foolishness." "And who is to be queen?"
+
+"Belle Harcourt."
+
+"MY Belle! Oh, I'm glad of that. And so Princess Poppycheek is going to
+be made a queen! Well, so long as you're my Belle, you may be anybody's
+queen you like."
+
+"I like an awful lot of people."
+
+"Mostly men."
+
+"No, sir! The men mostly like me. I like mostly girls. Don't you think
+Daisy Dow's charming and pretty?"
+
+"Yes, she is a very pretty girl. You're fond of her?"
+
+"I am now. I didn't like her at first, but I think it was because I
+didn't understand her. But now we're awfully good chums."
+
+"And so you don't like the men?"
+
+"Nonsense! Of course I do. I adore them. But not as much as I do my
+girl friends. And sometimes I think I like my married friends best of
+all. Aren't the Kenerleys just dear?"
+
+"Then you'd like me better if I were married?"
+
+"Yes, indeed. Will you get married, to please me?"
+
+"Oh, anything to oblige. Will you pick out the lady?"
+
+"Why, yes, if you want me to. There's Daisy Dow."
+
+"Yes, there's Daisy Dow. But here's Patty Fairfield. I'd ever so much
+rather marry her! How about it, Poppycheek?"
+
+"Nonsense, Kit, don't be silly."
+
+"It isn't silly. You said you wanted me to be married and I'm awfully
+anxious to please you."
+
+"Oh, do you want to marry me just to please me?"
+
+"Well, I'm interested in the scheme on my own account, too."
+
+"Well, don't bother me about it, now. I hate to answer questions in a
+speeding motor-car."
+
+"Shall I tell him to slow down?" And Kit leaned forward toward the
+chauffeur.
+
+"Mercy, no! you'll hardly catch your train now. A little faster,
+Jacques."
+
+"Yes, Miss," and the chauffeur threw on a little more speed.
+
+"Poppycheek, you rascal, I intended to miss that train."
+
+"Well, you don't do it! see? We've enough to do to-morrow, without you
+bothering around. You can come up Saturday, but to-morrow we're going
+to be awfully busy."
+
+"Van Reypen coming?"
+
+"Of course. A party isn't a party without Phil."
+
+"Huh! I'm not afraid of him. I can cut Van Reypen out any day in the
+week!"
+
+"Not Saturdays. That's his great day." And Patty laughed tantalisingly.
+
+"Just you wait and see! I'm not afraid! Bye-bye, Poppycheek."
+
+They had reached the station just as the train was drawing out. Kit
+sprang from the car, slammed the door after him, and striding across
+the platform, swung on to the moving steps. He waved his hand at Patty
+and was gone.
+
+"Home, Jacques," she said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+MAY-DAY
+
+
+May-Day, contrary to its custom, was a perfectly beautiful, balmy,
+sunshiny day.
+
+Adele drew a long sigh of relief when she opened her eyes to this fact,
+for as the hostess of a large and elaborate garden party she had no
+care so great as the question of weather. And as all outdoors was a
+mass of warm sunshine, she felt sure of the success of her fete.
+
+After luncheon she ordained that Patty should go to her room for a nap,
+as she had worked hard all the morning, and must not look fagged at her
+coronation.
+
+"Make Daisy go too, then," said Patty, pouting, as she started upstairs.
+
+"No, Daisy can do as she likes. She isn't tired and you are."
+
+"But then Daisy will be here when the boys come, and I won't."
+
+"You insatiable little coquette! You go right straight to your room and
+go to bed! You hear me?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, but I can't sleep. I'm too 'cited!"
+
+"Well, you can rest. Get yourself into a kimono,--and I'll come up in a
+minute and tuck you up."
+
+Adele went up in a few moments and found Patty leaning far out of her
+window.
+
+"What ARE you doing, child? Don't lean out so far; you'll fall!"
+
+Patty proceeded to draw herself back into the room. "Of course I won't
+fall, Adele! I was only trying to breathe all this whole May-day into
+my lungs at once. It's so beautiful."
+
+"It is, I know; but, Patty, darling, you MUST behave yourself. Lie down
+and take a little sleepy-by till three o'clock. Then you can get
+dressed for the party."
+
+"'I will be good, dear mother, I heard a sweet child say,'" trilled
+Patty, as she took down her hair and put on a kimono.
+
+Then Adele tucked her up on the couch, in a nest of pillows and under a
+soft down quilt.
+
+"Of course I trust you," she said, as she patted her shoulder, "oh, OF
+COURSE I trust you! but all the same, my lady, I'm going to lock you
+in!"
+
+"What!" cried Patty.
+
+But even as she spoke, Adele had scurried across the room, drawn out
+the key, and was already locking the door from the other side.
+
+"Well!" thought Patty, "that's a high-handed performance! I don't
+really care, though. Now that I'm here, so comfy, I realise that I am
+tired." And in about two minutes Patty was sound asleep.
+
+It was nearly an hour before she opened her eyes, and then with a
+little yawn she lazily wondered if it were time to get up. She glanced
+at the clock on her dressing-table, and as it was only half-past two,
+she felt sure that Adele would not come to her release until three
+o'clock. She lay there, her eyes wandering idly about the room, when
+she saw a startling sight. The floor, near her couch, was fairly strewn
+with sprays of apple blossoms. At first she thought she must be
+dreaming, and rubbed her eyes to be sure she was awake. Putting her
+hand down outside the silken coverlet, she touched a spray of blossoms,
+and picking it up looked at it wonderingly. There could be no doubt.
+They were real apple blossoms, and they were really there! What could
+it mean?
+
+"Of course," she said to herself, "either Adele or Daisy came in while
+I was asleep and brought me these flowers, and sprinkled them on the
+floor for fun. It must have been Daisy, for Adele is too busy. How much
+nicer Daisy is than she used to be. And maybe that's not fair. Probably
+she always was just as nice, only I wasn't nice to her. Or I didn't
+know how to take her. Oh, my gracious!"
+
+The last words were spoken aloud, and in a very surprised voice, the
+reason for which was, that a lot of apple blossoms had come flying
+through the open window and landed on the floor beside her. "It must be
+Daisy," she thought, "Adele won't let her in here, and she's trying to
+get my attention this way!"
+
+Patty scrambled off the couch, her long golden hair a tangled mass
+around her shoulders, and her blue silk negligee edged with swansdown
+draped about her.
+
+She went to the window, which was a long French one, opening like doors
+onto a tiny balcony. She stepped out on the balcony and looked down.
+
+[Illustration: "BILL!" she cried, "Little Billee!"]
+
+And then, in her surprise, she almost fell over the railing, for down
+below on the lawn, with his smiling face looking up into hers,
+stood,--Bill Farnsworth.
+
+Patty gave a squeal of delight. "BILL!" she cried, "Little Billee"
+
+"Look out, Apple Blossom!" he called back, in his big, cheery voice,
+"don't fall out of that balcony, and break your blessed neck! But if
+you want to jump, I'll catch you," and he held out his arms.
+
+"No! I don't want to jump! Oh, Little Billee, I didn't know you were
+coming! Did you throw in the apple blossoms?"
+
+"No, no, oh, NO! A passing highwayman threw those in! Why, what made
+you think _I_'d do such a thing?"
+
+"Only because you still have a few left in your pockets," said Patty,
+laughing, for, sure enough, Bill had ends of blossom sprays sticking
+out of all his pockets.
+
+"You see I didn't know how many it would take to wake you up," he said.
+
+"How did you know I was up here?"
+
+"Daisy told me. Adele wouldn't tell me,--said you must sleep, or some
+such foolishness. Get into your togs and come down, won't you?"
+
+For the first time Patty realised that her hair was hanging about her
+shoulders and her costume was, to say the least, informal, and with
+another little squeal, she sprang back into her room and closed the
+window doors.
+
+Then she went and looked at herself in the mirror.
+
+"Well, you don't look an absolute fright," she said, to the smiling
+reflection she saw there. "But to think of Bill being here! Little
+Billee! Bless his old heart!"
+
+And then Patty flew at her toilet. Everything had been laid in
+readiness, and she began to draw on her white silk stockings and dainty
+slippers.
+
+She was sitting before her mirror, doing her hair, when the key turned
+and Adele came in.
+
+"For goodness' sake, Patty Fairfield! WHERE did all these flowers come
+from?"
+
+"They came in at the window, ma'am, before I closed it," said Patty,
+demurely.
+
+"Came in at the window! Nonsense, how could they do that?"
+
+"Oh, the breeze was awful strong, and it just blew them in."
+
+"Silly child! But I say, Patty, hurry up and get dressed!"
+
+"I AM hurrying!" and Patty provokingly twisted up her curls with slow,
+deliberate motions.
+
+"You're NOT! you're dawdling horribly! But you wouldn't, if you knew
+who was downstairs!"
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Oh, you're very indifferent, aren't you? Well, you wouldn't be so
+indifferent if you knew who's downstairs."
+
+"Not, by any chance, Bill Farnsworth?"
+
+"Yes! that's just exactly who it is! How did you ever guess? Are you
+glad?"
+
+"Yes, of course I am," and Patty's pink cheeks dimpled as she smiled
+frankly at Adele. "I'm just crazy to see Bill again!"
+
+"Look here, Patty," and Adele spoke somewhat seriously, "I want to say
+something to you,--and yet I hate to. But I feel as if I ought to."
+
+"My stars! Adele, what IS the dreadful thing?"
+
+Patty paused in her hairdressing and, with brush in one hand and mirror
+in the other, she stared at Adele.
+
+"Why, you see, Patty, I know you do like Bill, and--I don't want you to
+like him too much."
+
+"What DO you mean?"
+
+"Oh, nothing. It even sounds silly to say it to you, as a warning. But,
+dear, I feel I MUST tell you. He's engaged."
+
+"Oh, is he?" Patty tossed her head, and then went on arranging her
+hair, but the pink flush on her cheek deepened. "Are you sure?" she
+said, carelessly.
+
+"Well, I'm not sure that he's engaged, really," and Adele wrinkled her
+pretty brow, as she looked at Patty; "but he told me last winter that
+all his life was bound up in Kitty, and he loved her with all his
+heart, or something like that."
+
+"Kitty who?"
+
+"I can't remember her other name, although he told me."
+
+"How did Bill happen to tell you this, Adele?"
+
+"He was here, and I was chaffing him about one of the Crosby girls, and
+then he told me that about Kitty. And somehow I thought you ought to
+know it."
+
+"Oh, fiddlesticks, Adele, as if I cared! I can't understand why you
+should think _I_ would care if Mr. Farnsworth were engaged to
+forty-'leven girls. It's nothing to me."
+
+"Of course I know it isn't, Patty; but I just wanted to tell you."
+
+"All right, honey; I'm glad you did. Now go on downstairs, and I'll be
+down in a few minutes."
+
+Adele ran away and Patty proceeded to don her royal robes.
+
+The coronation gown was of white chiffon, having no decoration save
+tiny bunches and garlands of flowers. It was not made in the prevailing
+fashion, but copied from a quaint old picture and was very becoming to
+its wearer.
+
+Her golden curls were loosely massed and a few flowers adorned them.
+
+Patty sat a moment in front of her mirror, talking to herself, as she
+often did.
+
+"Of course Little Billee is engaged," she said to herself; "he's too
+nice a man not to be. And I hope his Kitty is a lovely, sweet, charming
+girl. I don't think, as an engaged man, he had any business to throw
+flowers in at my window, but I suppose that was because we've always
+been good friends. I don't see how he could tear himself away from the
+charming Kitty long enough to come East, but he's always flying across
+the continent on his business trips."
+
+Daisy came into Patty's room then, and the two girls went downstairs
+together.
+
+The guests had gathered for the garden party, and were dotted over the
+lawns or grouped on the veranda.
+
+"Thank goodness it's a warm day," said Patty, as they went down the
+stairs. "Sometimes on May-day we have to go around in fur coats."
+
+At the foot of the staircase Bill Farnsworth waited to greet Patty.
+
+He came forward with an eager smile and took her two hands in his.
+
+"Little Apple Blossom!" he exclaimed; "Patty Pink-and-White!"
+
+For the life of her, Patty could not be as cordial as she would have
+been if Adele had not told her what she did. But though she tried to
+speak a genuine welcome, she only succeeded in saying, "How do you do,
+Mr. Farnsworth?" in a cool little voice.
+
+Big Bill looked at her in amazement.
+
+"You gave me a better greeting than that from your window," he said, in
+laughing reproach. "I still have an apple blossom left. May I give it
+to you?" and Bill produced a small but perfect spray which he proceeded
+to pin on the shoulder of Patty's gown.
+
+"My costume is complete," said Patty, with a smiling dissent; "it
+doesn't need any additional flower."
+
+"It needs this one to make it perfect," said Farnsworth, calmly, and
+indeed the pretty blossom was no detriment to the effect.
+
+"Oh, Phil, how gorgeous you look!" and Patty abruptly turned from
+Farnsworth to admire Van Reypen's get-up.
+
+"Me, too!" exclaimed Hal Ferris, stepping up to be admired. The men's
+decorations consisted of garlands draped across their shoulders and
+tied with huge bows of ribbon. On their heads they wore classic wreaths
+which Daisy and Hal had made, and which were really not unbecoming. The
+procession formed in the hall, and went out across the lawn to the May
+Queen's throne.
+
+Hal Ferris and Van Reypen headed the line, Hal being the sceptre-bearer
+and Philip the crown-bearer.
+
+Daisy followed these, carrying a silk banner which waved in the breeze,
+and she was followed by Baby May, carrying a basket of blossoms, which
+she scattered as she went along.
+
+Patty came next, and surely a fairer May queen never went to her
+coronation. Patty's blonde beauty was well suited to the costume and
+floral decorations she wore, and she looked like a vision of Spring,
+incarnate, as she walked smilingly along. Behind her came Kit and
+Roger, who were Court Jesters. Their costumes were most elaborate, of
+the recognised style for jesters, and they carried baubles which
+provoked great merriment.
+
+As Farnsworth had not been expected, there was no part for him on the
+program, but he calmly declared that he would be the band. He had
+brought a cornet, upon which he was a really fine performer, and he
+took up his place at the end of the line and played gay and merry music
+to which they marched.
+
+The affair was exceedingly informal, and those in the procession
+chatted as they passed the guests who were mere lookers-on.
+
+Baby May, indeed, left her place to run to her mother and give her a
+flower, and then dutifully returned to escort Patty.
+
+The throne was under a bower made of evergreen boughs and trailing
+vines, interspersed with apple blossoms and other flowers.
+
+As the procession neared the throne, Ferris, with his long gold
+sceptre, struck an attitude on one side, and Van Reypen, who carried
+the crown on a white satin cushion, took his place on the other side.
+
+Daisy as Maid of Honour and Baby May as Flower Girl took their stand,
+and the two Court Jesters danced to their appointed places.
+
+This left Patty alone, and, as there had been no rehearsal, she was a
+little uncertain what to do, when Farnsworth stepped forward and took
+her hand and gracefully led her to the throne, where he seated her in
+state. Then he made a profound bow and stepped away to one side.
+
+Van Reypen came forward, and with a gay little impromptu speech, put a
+floral crown on Patty's head, and Ferris presented her with the long
+gilded sceptre.
+
+Patty made a little speech of humorous greeting, and the coronation was
+declared over, and Patty was Queen of the May.
+
+The guests came thronging around to talk to the pretty queen, and then
+they all went to the tea-tent. This gay and festive place was decorated
+with flowers and flags, and a delightful feast was served.
+
+"Will you have an ice, Patty?" asked Farnsworth, "or something more
+substantial?"
+
+"Here you are, Patty; I know what you want." and Kit Cameron came up
+with a cup of hot bouillon and a sandwich.
+
+"Yes, indeed, Kit, I'm famishing. Thank you so much," and Patty ignored
+Farnsworth's remark entirely, and beamed pleasantly on Kit.
+
+Farnsworth looked at her curiously for a moment, and then walked away.
+
+He sat down by Daisy Dow, and said abruptly:
+
+"What's the matter with Patty, that she doesn't like me any more?"
+
+"Nonsense, Bill; she does like you."
+
+"No, she doesn't. She's cool as a cucumber. She used to like me, but
+she's changed all through. I s'pose she likes those other fellows
+better--and I don't blame her."
+
+"They're both awfully gone on her," and Daisy looked at Cameron and Van
+Reypen hovering around Patty, who seemed to be sharing her favours
+equally between them.
+
+"I don't belong here," said Farnsworth, gloomily. "I'm out of my
+element. I belong out West, riding over the plains and untrammelled by
+conventions."
+
+"Don't be a goose, Bill," and Daisy looked at him kindly. "You've
+better manners than lots of these Eastern men, and you have a whole lot
+more innate kindliness."
+
+"That's good of you, Daisy," and Bill flashed her a grateful look. "But
+I know the difference myself; I'm uncouth and awkward where those chaps
+are correct and elegant. I'm going back to Arizona and stay there."
+
+"All because Patty Fairfield didn't welcome you with open arms!"
+
+A flush rose to Big Bill's handsome face. "It is partly that, Daisy,
+but I can't blame her. There's no reason why that exquisite little
+piece of humanity should want to have anything to do with me,--a big
+bear of a man."
+
+"Honestly, Bill, you ought not to belittle yourself like that. I'm
+ashamed of you. But I'll tell you one thing: Patty is sometimes a
+little perverse. She can't seem to help it. She's a perfect dear, but
+she is a coquette. If you ask me, I think the more glad she is to see
+you, the more likely she is to be cool to you."
+
+"Nonsense, Daisy! what sort of talk is that! Why should she act that
+way?"
+
+Bill's straightforward gaze of blank amazement made Daisy laugh, but
+she only said: "I can't tell you why she does such things, but she does
+all the same."
+
+Just then Hal Ferris came up and monopolised Daisy's attention, and
+Farnsworth, imagining himself in the way, strolled off. He joined the
+laughing group that was gathered around Patty, but he stood moodily
+silent, listening while she chaffed the others.
+
+"It's getting chilly," Patty said, at last, "and I think it's too late
+to stay outdoors any longer. May parties are all very well while the
+sun shines. But as queen, I issue a royal mandate that now we all go in
+the house and dance."
+
+"And as First Goldstick-in-Waiting, I claim the first dance with the
+queen," and Philip Van Reypen tucked Patty's hand through his arm and
+led her away to the house.
+
+"And I claim the Maid of Honour," and Kit Cameron led Daisy away.
+
+"Hold on," cried Hal Ferris, "the Maid of Honour is my partner."
+
+"Possession is nine points of the law," and Hal gaily retained Daisy's
+hand in his own, lest she should escape him.
+
+But there were plenty of other gay and merry maidens of the court, and
+soon several couples were whirling up and down through the great hall.
+
+Farnsworth stood apart, not joining in the dance, and presently Adele
+came up to him.
+
+"Dance with me, Bill," she said, with the freedom of long acquaintance.
+
+"Thank you," said Farnsworth, and in a moment they had joined the other
+couples. Bill was a perfect dancer, and when they stopped, Adele said:
+"Why don't you dance with Patty? She is a lovely dancer. I'd like to
+see you two dance together."
+
+Still with a grave face, Bill crossed the room to where Patty was
+standing.
+
+"Miss Fairfield," he said, politely, "our hostess has ordained that I
+dance this dance with you." He clicked his heels together, and made a
+low military bow.
+
+"Indeed," said Patty, coolly, "but the Queen of May takes no one's
+orders, not even those of her beloved hostess."
+
+"Then you refuse?" and Farnsworth looked Patty straight in the eyes.
+
+"Of course I refuse," and she gave her little head a disdainful toss.
+"This dance belongs to Mr. Van Reypen."
+
+Philip was just passing, and as Patty laid her hand on his arm, he
+stopped.
+
+"Certainly it does," he said, but it was easy to be seen that the dance
+was as much a surprise to him as it was a pleasure.
+
+Farnsworth looked after the two, as they danced away. And then he
+turned on his heel and went in search of Adele.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+MOONLIGHT
+
+
+The May party was over, but a few of the guests, besides those staying
+in the house, remained for dinner.
+
+"Shall I change my frock, Adele, or keep on this toggery for dinner?"
+said Patty.
+
+"Oh, keep that on. You may as well be Queen of May as long as you can."
+
+So Patty kept on her pretty, picturesque costume, and when dinner time
+came she made up her mind to ask Adele to seat her next to Farnsworth.
+But as the company paired off to go to dinner Big Bill was nowhere
+visible.
+
+"Where's Mr. Farnsworth?" asked Patty, casually, of Jim Kenerley.
+
+"Oh, he's gone. We expected him to stay the week-end, but he said he
+was due at another country house party, farther on somewhere, and he
+couldn't even stay for dinner."
+
+Patty was sorry she had acted so rude to Bill, and sorry that he had
+gone. "But," she said to herself, by way of extenuation, "I didn't want
+to dance with anybody who asked me to because his hostess commanded
+him! He never even said he wanted to dance with me himself, but only
+that Adele said he must. But I do think he was mean to go away without
+saying good-bye to me!"
+
+However, it was not Patty's nature to let her mind dwell on a
+disappointment, and she promptly proceeded to forget all about Mr.
+Farnsworth, and to turn her mind to her present partner. This happened
+to be Kit Cameron, and as he was in his gayest mood she responded and
+their conversation was of the merriest sort.
+
+After dinner, Kit persuaded Patty to walk on the veranda for a bit of
+exercise. There was a large swing-seat, upholstered in red, which he
+declared was just the place for a tete-a-tete.
+
+"But it's too cold," objected Patty.
+
+"I'll get you a wrap," and Kit flew into the house and procured a long
+cloak, in which he enveloped Patty, and they sat in the swing together.
+
+"What became of the Colossal Cowboy?" said Kit; "I thought he was here
+for the weekend."
+
+"I thought so, too," returned Patty, "but it seems he had another
+engagement."
+
+"I'm glad of it. You're altogether too fond of him."
+
+"Fond of him! What do you mean? I'm nothing of the sort. Why, I
+scarcely spoke to him."
+
+"I know it. That's what gave you away."
+
+"Don't be a silly! I haven't the slightest interest in Mr. William
+Farnsworth, or his comings and goings."
+
+"You'd rather have me here, wouldn't you?"
+
+"Oh, EVER so much rather!" And Patty spoke with such intense enthusiasm
+that she was very evidently joking.
+
+"But really, Patty, let's be in earnest just for a minute. Wouldn't you
+rather have me around than anybody?"
+
+"Why, I don't know; I never thought about it."
+
+"Think about it now, then. Honest, I mean it."
+
+"Oh, don't mean things. It's too heavenly a night to talk seriously."
+
+"Isn't it a wonderful night? Do you know a house party like this and
+moonlight on a veranda, like this, always goes to my head. I think
+week-ending is apt to go to one's head, anyway. But let it go. Let it
+go to your head, too."
+
+"I don't think I'd better," and Patty spoke hesitatingly; "I might say
+something foolish."
+
+"Oh, do, Patty! DO say something foolish! If you don't, I shall."
+
+"Well, go on, then."
+
+"May I, Patty? May I tell you that I've simply lost my heart to
+you,--you beautiful little May Queen!"
+
+"And is that what you call foolish?" Patty pouted, adorably.
+
+"Yes, it's foolish, because I know there's no hope for me. I know you
+don't care one least scrap of a speck for me! Now, do you?"
+
+"If you're so positive yourself, why ask me?"
+
+"Oh, I MIGHT be mistaken, you know. Oh, if I only MIGHT! Patty, DEAR
+little Patty, couldn't you be my princess? My own Princess Poppycheek."
+
+"I've been your Belle," and Patty laughed merrily at the recollection.
+
+"There you go, laughing at me! I knew you would. That shows you don't
+care anything for me. If you did, you wouldn't laugh at me!"
+
+"Oh, yes, I would! the more I care for people the more I laugh at
+them,--always."
+
+"You must be simply crazy over me then! If you don't stop laughing I
+won't swing you any more."
+
+"Oh, yes, do, it's lovely to swing back and forth in the moonlight like
+this. The May party was pretty, wasn't it?"
+
+"You're just trying to change the subject. But I won't have it changed.
+Let's go back to it. Patty, couldn't you stop laughing at me long
+enough to learn to care for me a little?"
+
+"How can I tell? I don't know how long it would take to learn to care
+for you a little. And, anyway, I do care for you a little,--but only a
+very, very little."
+
+"Yes, I know that. You don't fool me any. You wouldn't care if you
+NEVER saw me again."
+
+"Why, Kit Cameron, I would SO! If I though I'd never see you
+again--I'd--I'd--I'd drown myself!"
+
+"YES you WOULD! You little witch, how can you trifle with me like that,
+when my heart is just breaking for you?"
+
+"Oh, come now, Kit, it isn't as bad as that! And let me tell you
+something. Do you know I think you are one of the very nicest friends I
+ever had, and I'm not going to have our friendship spoiled by any
+foolishness! So you might as well stop right where you are now. That
+is, if you're in earnest. If you're just talking foolishness on account
+of the moonlight--and all,--I don't mind. But I won't have you serious
+about it."
+
+"All right, Poppycheek. I'm pretty serious, or I would be if you'd let
+me, but if you don't want it you shan't have it."
+
+"Well, I don't. I don't want seriousness from anybody. And, anyway,
+Kit, I'd be afraid of seriousness from you."
+
+"Why, Patty?"
+
+"'Cause it would probably turn out to be a practical joke."
+
+"Joke nothing! The regard I have for you, Miss Poppycheek Fairfield, is
+too everlasting real to have any joke about it!"
+
+"And the friendship I have for you, Mr. Kit Cameron, is so nice and
+real, that I'm going to keep it up."
+
+Patty knew from the undertones of Kit's voice that he was very much in
+earnest, and as she felt no interest in him beyond that of a good
+friend, she shrank from wounding his feelings by letting him go on
+further. And so she determinedly led the conversation further and
+further away from personal matters, and soon she gaily declared that it
+was getting too late for moonlight chat and she was going in the house.
+
+Kit followed her in, and though he showed in no way the appearance of a
+rejected suitor, he was quieter than usual and less inclined to
+merriment. "He'll get over it," said Patty to herself, after she
+reached her room that night. "I s'pose all girls have to go through
+with these scenes, sooner or later. But I didn't mind Kit so much,
+because he was nice and sensible about it."
+
+Then Daisy came in for a kimono confab, and perched herself on the edge
+of Patty's bed.
+
+"What's the matter between you and Bill Farnsworth, Patty?" she asked
+without prelude of any sort.
+
+"Nothing," said Patty, as she took the hairpins from a long shining
+strand of hair.
+
+"There is, too. He asked me why you were so cool to him."
+
+"He did! Well, I'm sure I don't know what he meant, for I wasn't cool
+to him,--or anything else. I treated him politely, as I would any
+casual friend."
+
+"Politely! I saw you refuse to dance with him, myself. If you call THAT
+polite!"
+
+"If you want to know, Daisy, that was because he didn't want to dance
+with me. He said he only asked me because Adele insisted upon it."
+
+"Patty, it's none of my business, but I do think you might be nicer to
+Bill, for I know he thinks an awful lot of you."
+
+"Why, Daisy Dow! why should he think a lot of me when he's as good as
+engaged to another girl?"
+
+"Engaged! Bill Farnsworth engaged! nothing of the sort. I know better."
+
+"But he is. Adele told me so. Or, if he isn't engaged, he's very much
+in love with a girl named Kitty. Do you know her?"
+
+"Kitty who? Where is she?"
+
+"I don't know, I'm sure. But he told Adele his whole heart and life
+were bound up in this Kitty Somebody. So I'm sure I don't see any
+reason why I should be running after him."
+
+"I can't imagine you running after anybody, Patty. You don't need to,
+for the boys all run after you. But it's very queer I never heard of
+this Kitty. I've known Bill for years. Let me see; there was Kate
+Morton,--but I never thought Bill cared especially for her. And anyway,
+I can't imagine calling HER Kitty! She's as tall and straight as an
+Indian!"
+
+"Well, Bill calls her Kitty; Adele said so."
+
+"Oh, is it Kate Morton, then? Did Adele say that?"
+
+"No, Adele said she couldn't remember the girl's last name. And I don't
+care if it's Kate Morton or Kathleen Mavourneen! It's nothing to me
+what kind of a girl Bill Farnsworth likes."
+
+"Of course it isn't. I know you never liked Bill."
+
+"I did SO! I DO like him, but just the same as I like all the other
+boys."
+
+"Then what makes you turn pink every time Bill's name is mentioned, and
+never when you speak of anybody else?"
+
+"I don't! And if I did, it wouldn't mean anything. I'm not specially
+interested in anybody, Daisy, but if I were, I wouldn't sit up and
+blush about it. You like Bill an awful lot, yourself."
+
+"I do like him," said Daisy, frankly; "and I always have. He's a
+splendid man, Patty, one of the biggest, best natures I know. Why, at
+school we used to call him Giant Greatheart,--he was so thoroughly
+noble and kind to everybody."
+
+"Well, I'm sick of hearing his praises sung, so you'll please change
+the subject."
+
+Daisy was quite willing to do this, for she had no wish to annoy Patty,
+and the girls chatted of other matters until Adele came along and sent
+them both to bed.
+
+The next day was Sunday, and Patty didn't come downstairs until time
+for the midday dinner.
+
+"I think you might have come down earlier," said Van Reypen,
+reproachfully, as Patty came smilingly down the staircase. "I wanted
+you to go for a walk this morning; it's simply great out in the
+sunshine."
+
+"I'll go after dinner," said Patty; "isn't it funny why people have
+dinner at one o'clock, just because it's Sunday?"
+
+"I'm glad of it. It'll give us the whole afternoon for our walk."
+
+"Good gracious! if I walk the whole afternoon you'll have to bring me
+home in a wheelbarrow!"
+
+"We won't walk far enough for that. If you get tired, we'll sit on a
+mossy mound in a bosky dell, or some such romantic spot."
+
+After dinner, Philip held Patty to her promise of going for a walk. She
+didn't care about it especially, really preferring to stay with the gay
+group gathered on the veranda, but Philip urged it, and Patty allowed
+herself to be persuaded.
+
+The country all around Fern Falls was beautiful, and a favourite walk
+was down to the Falls themselves, which were a series of small cascades
+tumbling down a rocky ravine.
+
+Philip turned their steps this way, and they sauntered along the
+winding footpath that followed down the side of the falls.
+
+"It is lovely here," said Patty, as she sat down on a rock for a short
+rest. "But I wouldn't want to live in the country all the year around,
+would you, Philip?"
+
+"Not if you didn't like it, dear. Suppose we have two homes, one in the
+city and one in the country?"
+
+"Homes for lunatics, do you mean?" and Patty favoured the young man
+with a wide-eyed gaze of inquiry.
+
+"You know very well what I mean," and Philip returned her gaze with one
+of calm regard. "You know why I brought you out here this afternoon,
+and you know exactly what I'm going to say to you. Don't you?"
+
+"Not EXACTLY," and Patty drew a roguish frown; "they all word it
+differently, you know."
+
+"It is a matter of utter indifference to me how the others word it,"
+and Philip leaned up comfortably against a rock as he looked at Patty.
+"The only thing that engrosses my mind, is whether I myself can word it
+persuasively enough to make you say yes. Do you think I can?"
+
+"You never can tell till you try," said Patty, in a flippant tone.
+
+"Then I'll try. But, Patty, dearest, you know it all; you know how I
+love you, you know how long I have loved you. Aren't you ever going to
+give me the least little encouragement?"
+
+"How can I, Phil, when I don't feel encouraging a bit?"
+
+"But you will, dear, won't you? You remember last winter when we went
+on that sleighride after the butter and eggs? Why, Patty, you ALMOST
+said yes, then."
+
+"Why, Philip Van Reypen! I didn't do anything of the sort! I had no
+idea of saying yes, then,--I haven't now,--and I'm not sure that I ever
+shall have!"
+
+"I'll wait, Patty," and Van Reypen spoke cheerfully. "I'll wait, Little
+Girl, because I think a love like mine is bound to win at last. And I
+know you're too young yet to make up your mind. But, Patty, there isn't
+anybody else, is there?"
+
+"Anybody else what?"
+
+"Anybody else who likes you as much as I do. Is there?"
+
+"Now, Phil, how could I tell that? When people say they love you heaps
+and heaps, you never know quite how much to believe, or quite how much
+is just the influence of the moonlight."
+
+"Well, there's no moonlight here now. So when I tell you how much I
+love you, it's all true. You believe that, don't you, Little Girl?"
+
+"Yes, I believe it. But, Philip, I wish you wouldn't talk about it
+to-day. I'm tired of--"
+
+"Of having men tell you how much they love you? Poor little Patty! I'm
+afraid you'll have to put up with that all your life."
+
+"Oh, horrible!" and Patty made a wry face. "I suppose some girls like
+it, but I don't."
+
+"I'll tell you a way to avoid it, Patty. Be engaged to me, now,--even
+if you won't marry me right away, and then, you see, other men can't
+propose to you."
+
+"Do you mean be engaged to you, Phil, without intending EVER to marry
+you!"
+
+"Well, don't consider the second question at present. Just be engaged
+to me, and then we'll see about it."
+
+"No, I don't think that would be fair. You make it seem as if being
+engaged to a man doesn't mean anything."
+
+"Patty! dearest! DON'T talk like that! It would mean all the world to
+me. And I'm sure I could make you love me enough to want to marry me,
+after awhile. If you knew how much I loved you, I'm sure you'd agree
+that you couldn't resist that love for long."
+
+Van Reypen looked very handsome and very earnest as he gazed into
+Patty's eyes. And Patty looked very sweet and dear as she gazed back at
+him with a troubled expression on her lovely face.
+
+Then with a sudden, impulsive gesture she put out both her hands and
+Philip took them in his own.
+
+"Don't make me decide now, Phil," she said, and she looked at him with
+a pathetic smile. "I don't know what I want. I know I DON'T want to
+marry you,--or anybody else,--for a long time. And I don't think I want
+to be engaged to anybody just yet, either."
+
+"Of course you don't, you dear little girl," and Van Reypen's tone was
+hearty and genuinely helpful. "You've only just begun to have your
+little fling, and enjoy yourself in your own sweet, butterfly way. And
+I'm not going to tease you or cause you one moment's worry. But, oh,
+Patty, darling, if ever you have a moment when you want to think about
+these things, think about me, won't you, dear? and remember that my
+whole heart is yours and my whole life is devoted to you. You don't
+understand now, what the whole love of a man means, but some day you
+will, and then, if your heart can turn to me, let it do so, won't
+you,--little sweetheart?"
+
+Patty was thrilled, not only by Philip's words, but by the deep and
+sincere love shining in his eyes, and which she could not mistake.
+
+"You are very dear to me, Philip," she said, with absolute sincerity;
+"and I do want you to know how much I appreciate what you have
+said,--and how grateful I am--"
+
+"Hush, Patty," and Philip smiled gently at her; "I don't want that. I
+don't want your appreciation nor your gratitude for what I feel for
+you. When you are ready to give me your love, in return for the love I
+offer you, I want it more than I can tell you. But until then, I want
+your friendship, the same good comradeship we have always had, but not
+any gratitude, or foolishness of that sort. Do you understand?"
+
+"I do understand, Phil, and I think you're splendid! I want to keep on
+being your friend,--but I don't want you to think---"
+
+"No, dear; I promise not to think that you are giving me undue
+encouragement,--for that is what you're trying to say. And you mustn't
+let my hopes or desires trouble you. Always treat me just exactly as
+you feel toward me, with gay comradeship, with true friendliness, or
+whatever is in your heart. But always remember that I am still loving
+you and waiting and hoping."
+
+Philip gave Patty one long look deep into her eyes, and then, with an
+entire change of manner, he said lightly, "Now, my lady fair, if you
+are rested, suppose we walk back to the house?"
+
+"I am rested," and Patty jumped up, "so you won't have to do what I
+feared,--take me home in a wheelbarrow."
+
+Van Reypen looked at her quizzically.
+
+"Do you remember," he said, "the classic poem from which that quotation
+is taken?"
+
+"It's from Mother Goose, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes; but if you recollect, it was a bachelor gentleman who went to
+London. And when he returned he brought a WIFE home in a wheelbarrow.
+I'm not having quite THAT experience."
+
+"No," said Patty, demurely, "but you haven't any wheelbarrow."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+IN THE RUNABOUT
+
+
+When they reached the house, Patty went straight up to Mr. Kenerley,
+and said in a low tone, "Jim, I want to ask a favour of you."
+
+"Anything at all, Patty Pink; anything, to the half of my kingdom!"
+
+"Well, I want the little car, the runabout; and I want to go off for a
+little while, all by myself."
+
+"Patty! You amaze me! Does this mean a clandestine meeting with a
+rustic swain? Oh, my child, I thought you were well brought up!"
+
+"Don't tease me, Jim," and Patty looked really serious. "If you must
+know, though, it's because I want to get away from the rustic swains. I
+want a little time to myself. And if I stay here, the boys are all
+around; and if I go to my room, the girls won't give me any peace, and,
+oh, Jim, DO help me out!"
+
+"Why, of course, you Blessed Infant. Trust all to your Uncle Jim! Come
+along with me."
+
+The two started down the walk toward the garage, and Adele called out,
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"Going to elope," Kenerley returned gaily over his shoulder, and they
+went on.
+
+He took out the little car, which Patty could easily run herself, and
+putting her in, he jumped in beside her.
+
+"I'll go with you, past the porch," he said, "and see you outside the
+gate."
+
+So they dashed by the group on the veranda, not heeding their chaff and
+once outside the grounds, Jim said, "Are you sure you want to go alone,
+Patty?"
+
+"Yes, please, Jim. I want to think a little."
+
+"Oh, you GIRL! you needn't tell ME! some chap's been making love to
+you!"
+
+"Nonsense!" but Patty's blush belied her words.
+
+"I hope it IS nonsense, Patty, dear. You're too young to have a serious
+affair yet awhile. Take an old friend's advice and say no this time."
+
+"Of course I shall. Don't worry about me, Jim."
+
+"No, indeed. You've good common sense in that curly golden pate of
+yours. I'll get out here, and you go along, Patty, and have a nice
+little maiden meditation all to yourself, and come back fancy free, but
+don't stay out too late."
+
+Kenerley got out of the car and went back to the house, and Patty drove
+on alone.
+
+It was just what she wanted, an opportunity to think over what Philip
+had said. And she was fond of motoring alone, and an experienced
+driver. She went slowly at first, enjoying the beautiful country with
+its serene air of Sunday afternoon calm.
+
+The trend of her thoughts was not a question of whether or not she
+should accept Van Reypen; but more a dreamy recollection and living
+over the scene at the Falls.
+
+She pictured in her mind how really noble and handsome he looked, and
+she almost wondered at herself why she had only a friendly feeling
+toward him.
+
+"But I like him better than Kenneth," she assured herself; "that is, I
+like him MORE than I do Kenneth. Ken is an old dear, but he IS slow;
+and Philip has all the nice ways and mannerisms that I do like in a
+man. He's always equal to any occasion, without any effort. He's just
+born so. He's an aristocrat like his aunt, but he hasn't a bit of
+her,--well,--it is really a kind of snobbishness. She's intolerant of
+people not in her own set. But Phil is kind and courteous to everybody.
+And he has a sense of humour. I suppose that's what's the matter with
+Ken. The poor boy hasn't a spark of fun in him except what I've banged
+into his blessed old head. There's Kit Cameron now, he has too much fun
+in him. He'd make anybody's life a practical joke. I don't believe he
+half meant what he said to me in the swing last night. I think he would
+have said the same to any girl, sitting there in the moonlight. Well, I
+do seem to be growing up. I wish I had Nan here. She's so nice to talk
+things over with. Not that I want to talk anything over. I believe it
+isn't considered correct to tell about the proposals you have, but I
+guess a mother wouldn't count,--even if she is a stepmother. And Nan is
+such a duck of a stepmother! I'll certainly tell her about these
+proposals I've had. I don't believe I'll ever have any more. But all
+the same, I'm not going to get engaged yet! I'd rather be an old maid
+than to take the first man who asks me. But there's one thing certain,
+I do like Philip the best of the bunch!"
+
+Patty went on along the highway, stopping now and then to gather a
+particularly beautiful branch of wild rose, or a few spring beauties.
+
+She had on a simple little frock of pink linen, with a sailor collar of
+fine white embroidery, and a big black velvet bow at her throat. She
+wore no hat but her golden hair was partly confined by a band of black
+velvet. She had a light dust coat of pongee silk, though Jim had told
+her there was a warmer coat in the car if she should want it.
+
+When Kenerley returned to the group on the veranda a wild shout greeted
+him, inquiring where Patty was.
+
+"I told you she was going to elope," returned Jim; "I was merely
+helping her along. I left her just outside the gate on her way to meet
+her rustic swain."
+
+"Nonsense, Jim," said his wife, "where did she go? Over to the
+Crosbys'?"
+
+"She didn't say anything to me about the Crosbys. In fact, Adele, she
+didn't tell me where she was going, and I wasn't so inquisitive as to
+ask her. I let my guests do as they like and go where they choose.
+Patty asked me for the runabout and I gave it to her. If she had wanted
+the touring car she could have had it,--or the limousine,--or the
+wheelbarrow."
+
+A smile passed over Van Reypen's face at the chance reference to the
+last-named vehicle, and his intuitions told him that Patty had gone for
+a solitary drive to get away from other people for a little while.
+
+"Oh, LOOK who's here!" cried Daisy, suddenly, as a motor car came
+whizzing up the steps and out jumped Bill Farnsworth.
+
+"I just stopped for a minute," he said to Adele, "to see how you all
+are after your party."
+
+"All quite well," said Adele, "but sorry you couldn't stay here with us
+instead of going on."
+
+"Sorry, too," said Farnsworth. "Where's Miss Fairfield?" and he looked
+about inquiringly.
+
+"Gone for a drive," replied Adele, and Farnsworth made no further
+reference to Patty. But his call was short and soon he was again
+starting his car.
+
+"Which way did Miss Fairfield go?" he murmured in a low voice to
+Kenerley, as his car moved off.
+
+"East," said Jim, with a teasing smile at Farnsworth, and then Bill was
+gone.
+
+He swung out on to the broad highway and turned east. There were no
+bypaths near and he had an intention of following and overtaking Patty.
+He wanted to see her, and with Bill Farnsworth to want to do anything
+was to do it.
+
+Now it chanced that Patty had had a detention. Though an expert driver,
+and a fairly good mechanician for her own car, she was not entirely
+familiar with the car she was driving, and when it stopped stock-still
+at the side of the road, she found herself unable to discover the exact
+difficulty.
+
+She was not overanxious, for it was a frequented road and she felt sure
+some car would come along, in whose driver she might feel sufficient
+confidence to ask help. But it so chanced that she sat for some time
+before any car came. The sun was warm and she threw off her coat,
+really enjoying basking in the sunshine while she waited.
+
+And it was this sudden apparition of a golden head shining in the
+sunlight that gave Farnsworth a shock of surprise as he came up behind
+Patty's car.
+
+"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "there she is! In trouble, too. Jolly well I
+came along, bless her heart! But it's funny if she can't manage the
+car. I believe she's sitting there purposely."
+
+For a few moments Bill sat looking at the yellow head and smiling
+gently at it. Then he had an inspiration to drive right past her and
+see if she would speak to him. She had been far from cordial the day
+before and Farnsworth was uncertain whether she wanted to see him or
+not.
+
+So, driving slowly, he passed by Patty in her motionless car.
+
+Patty jumped at the sound of some one coming, and intending to ask
+help, held out her hand and said, "Please--" before she realised who it
+was.
+
+Farnsworth turned his head, stopped his car, whipped off his cap and
+jumped out, saying, as he walked toward Patty's car, "An accident,
+ma'am? Can I help you?"
+
+A spirit of perversity rose in Patty's heart. Without knowing why, she
+desired to inflict a hurt on the man who was smiling at her.
+
+"I beg your pardon," she said, coldly, "I thought you were a stranger."
+
+"I'll be a stranger, if you like," and Farnsworth bowed profoundly.
+
+"Very well, I wish you would. Pray proceed with your journey," and
+Patty bowed, and turned her head toward the opposite landscape.
+
+"But you would ask a stranger to help you," said Farnsworth, feeling a
+strong desire to shake the exasperating little pink figure.
+
+"Not every stranger," said Patty. "I am waiting to select the one I
+want."
+
+"Oh, DO select me! I'm an awfully nice stranger, and incidentally, I
+could fix that car of yours in a jiffy."
+
+"Did Adele order you to fix this car?" and Patty's blue eyes gave Bill
+a look of withering scorn.
+
+"No, she did not."
+
+"Then I can't think of allowing you to do it. I don't want you to do
+ANYTHING for me except at Adele's orders!"
+
+"You little goose! I've a notion to kidnap you, wild roses and all, and
+take you off in my car."
+
+"Did Adele order you to do THAT?"
+
+"Patty, stop this nonsense! Of course I know what you mean, that I
+asked you to dance in Adele's name, instead of in my own."
+
+"Yes; I admit I prefer to be asked to dance, personally, and not
+vi-vike--"
+
+"Vicariously is the word you are floundering over," said Farnsworth
+with utmost gravity; "well, now, I'll fix your car vicariously, or
+personally, or any old way you like,--if you'll just behave yourself
+and smile upon me."
+
+"I don't want my car fixed."
+
+"You prefer to stay here?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"Alone." Patty tried very hard to look like a stone image but only
+succeeded in looking like a very pretty pink-cheeked girl.
+
+However, at her last word, and when Patty was just about to break into
+a dimpled smile, Farnsworth achieved a most dignified and conventional
+bow, replaced his cap, and without another glance at Patty,
+deliberately got into his car and drove away. He passed Patty,
+continuing east, and in a few moments was lost to sight, as he flew
+down the road at a swift pace.
+
+"Well!" remarked Miss Patricia Fairfield, aloud. "Well! Hooray for you,
+Little Billee! I didn't know you had it in you to act like that!
+But"--and her face clouded a little--"I suppose your head is so full of
+Kitty Morton that you don't care what becomes of Patty Fairfield! H'm."
+
+Patty sat still for some time, thinking over this new episode. She had
+been rude to Farnsworth, and she had done it purposely. But she was
+accustomed to having young men laugh at her pertness and chuckle over
+her sauciness.
+
+One or two cars passed her, but as she scrutinised the drivers, they
+did not seem to be just the type of whom she cared to ask help; but
+presently a small car came toward her, driven by a frank-looking,
+pleasant-faced young man.
+
+"Hello," he called out with the camaraderie of the road; "had a
+breakdown? Want some help?"
+
+"Yes, sir," and Patty spoke in a timid, subdued voice.
+
+"Then I'm your man," he said, as he jumped out and came over to her
+car. "My name's Peyton," he went on, "Bob Peyton, and very much at your
+service. What's the matter?"
+
+"I don't know, sir," and Patty surrendered to a mischievous impulse;
+"I'm Mrs. Hemingway's maid; Mrs. Hemingway, sir, she can run the car,
+but I can't."
+
+"Where is Mrs. Hemingway?"
+
+"When the car broke down, sir, she said she would go for help. I think
+she went to that house over there."
+
+"H'm! And so you're her maid. Personal maid, do you mean?"
+
+"Not exactly, sir. I'm her new waitress, she was just taking me home,
+sir."
+
+Patty didn't know why she was talking this rubbish, but it popped into
+her head, and the young man's eyes were so twinkly and gay, she felt
+like playing a joke on him. She thought he would fix her car, and then
+she would thank him and ride away, without having given her real name.
+
+"Ah, my good girl," Mr. Peyton said, "and so you are a waitress. What
+is your name?"
+
+"Suzette, sir. I'm French."
+
+"Yes, I can see that by looking at you! Well, Suzerte, are you an
+experienced waitress?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir. I've worked in the best families and in,--and in hotels
+and--and--"
+
+"And on oceans liners, I presume! Well, Suzette, here's a proposition.
+My sister wants a waitress, awfully. Hers has just left. If you will go
+along with me to my sister's house, she will pay you twice what your
+previous mistress did."
+
+Patty appeared to consider the question.
+
+"Who is your sister, sir?"
+
+"Mrs. Brewster; she lives in that next place, where you see the red
+brick chimneys."
+
+Now Patty knew all about the Brewsters, although she had never met
+them. They were great friends of the Kenerleys, and indeed the whole
+house party was invited to dine at the Brewsters' the next night.
+Adele, too, had spoken about Bob Brewster's brother, and Patty realised
+they were friends and neighbours.
+
+In her present mood, Patty was simply aching for an escapade. And she
+thought it would be a pretty good practical joke if she should go to
+Mrs. Brewster's and pretend to be a waitress. She would telephone Adele
+what she was up to, and they would send another car for her that
+evening. Perhaps if she had thought another moment she wouldn't have
+done it, but on the impulse she said. "I'd love to get double wages,
+sir, and I will go to your sister's, but what about Mrs. Hemingway's
+car?"
+
+"I will take you over to my sister's first,--it's only a short jump,
+and then I'll come back and see about this car."
+
+So Patty got out of her own car and into Bob Peyton's, and in a moment
+they were spinning along toward the red chimneys.
+
+The young man said not a word on the way, and Patty's spirits fell as
+she began to think she had undertaken a foolish prank, with no fun in
+it. But she realised that in her role of waitress she could not expect
+the young man of the house to talk to her, so she sat demurely silent,
+trying to look as much like a waitress as possible, and succeeding not
+at all.
+
+On reaching the house, which proved to be a large and elaborate affair,
+Mr. Peyton drove around to a side door. He ushered Patty into a small
+waiting-room, and went in search of his sister. Patty heard much gay
+laughter from the drawing-rooms, and suddenly felt that her joke was
+not as funny as she had expected. But she determined to carry it a
+little further and see what might happen.
+
+A charming young woman soon came to her, and said with a pleasant
+smile, "Is this Suzette?"
+
+"Yes, madame," and Patty's manner was quite all that was to be desired
+in a waitress.
+
+"I am Mrs. Brewster. My brother has told me the circumstances of his
+finding you. I am not sure that I'm doing right in taking you away from
+your present employer, but I'm going to be selfish enough to ask you to
+help me out for a short time, anyway. I have guests for dinner, and my
+waitress has gone. My guests are really important people and I was at
+my wits' end how to manage, until you appeared. If you will only stay
+and wait on my table at dinner, I will let you do as you choose
+afterwards,--return to Mrs. Hemingway or remain with me."
+
+The plan seemed to promise some fun to Patty. She would privately
+telephone Adele, who would tell Jim. It was to be a joke on the rest of
+them, especially Kit who had said Patty could never fool him. And ever
+since the Belle Harcourt joke, which had not fooled Kit after all, she
+wanted to try again. She would make Adele pretend she thought Patty was
+lost, and both Kit and Philip would be greatly alarmed.
+
+"I will stay for dinner, madame," she said, at last, "and afterward we
+can decide. You may not like my work."
+
+"I'm sure I shall; you seem capable, and my brother tells me you are
+experienced. I fear though, your gown is a little,--a little--"
+
+"I understand, madame. You see, this is my Sunday afternoon frock. If I
+stay with you, I will send for my black ones. Perhaps, if I took off
+the lace collar now."
+
+"Yes, and the black bow. It is those things that make your garb
+inappropriate. I will, of course, provide you with an apron and cap.
+Will you come with me now to the dining-room, and I will show you about
+your duties."
+
+Mrs. Brewster gave Patty full directions about the serving of the
+dinner and then provided her with a cap and apron. The trifle of muslin
+and lace, when perched on Patty's gold curls, was really most becoming;
+and though she removed her collar and bow, the frilled bretelles of the
+dainty apron were quite as effective, and Patty looked like the kind of
+waitress that is seen in amateur plays.
+
+"If not asking too much, madame," she said, "may I telephone to a
+friend?"
+
+"Is it necessary?" and Mrs. Brewster looked a little surprised.
+
+"It would be polite, I think, madame," returned Patty, with eyes cast
+down, "as it is to some people with whom I expected to take supper.
+They will wait for me, I fear?"
+
+"Ah, yes, Suzette, you are right. You may telephone, but I will tell
+you frankly, I do not like to have my servants make a practice of
+telephoning to their friends."
+
+"No, madame," and Patty's tone was most humble.
+
+To her great delight the telephone was in a small booth by itself, and
+Patty soon made Adele acquainted with the whole story.
+
+Adele was not altogether pleased with the prank, but as she couldn't
+help herself, she accepted the situation with a good grace, and
+promised to send for Patty later in the evening.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE RIDE HOME
+
+
+Patty stood in the butler's pantry when the guests entered the
+dining-room for dinner.
+
+She was determined to do her part perfectly, for she knew quite well
+how everything should be done, and she entered into the spirit of it as
+if it were a play.
+
+There were eight at the table, and as Patty tripped in to serve the
+soup she caught the approving glance of Mr. Bob Peyton. She quickly
+dropped her eyes and proceeded with her duties quietly and correctly.
+But as she set down the third soup plate, she chanced to look across
+the table, and met the calm, straightforward gaze of Bill Farnsworth!
+
+She didn't drop the soup-plate or make any awkward movement. Patty was
+not that sort. She looked down quickly, though it was with difficulty
+that she prevented the corners of her mouth from breaking into a smile.
+Immediately she suspected the whole truth. Farnsworth was a guest at
+this house,--of course he had sent Bob Peyton to her rescue! Or, hadn't
+he? Could it have been possible that Mr. Peyton found her unexpectedly?
+She didn't think so. She believed that Little Billee had sent Peyton to
+her aid, because she had refused his assistance. Of course, Bill had
+not foreseen the waitress joke, and doubtless he was as much surprised
+to see her now as she was to see him. Unless Mr. Peyton had told all
+the guests that he had found a waitress along the road in a stalled
+motor-car!
+
+Well, at any rate, Patty determined to go on with the farce to the best
+of her ability. If Farnsworth thought he could rattle her, he was very
+much mistaken. But she would not look at him again. If he should smile
+at her, she knew she should smile, for she was on the verge of laughing
+anyway. So the dinner proceeded. Patty did her part beautifully,
+serving everything just exactly right and doing everything just as it
+should be done. And not once during the long dinner, did she catch the
+eye of either Farnsworth or Mr. Peyton. Once or twice she looked at
+Mrs. Brewster with a note of inquiry in her eyes, and that lady gave an
+almost imperceptible nod of approval, so that Patty knew everything was
+going all right.
+
+At last it was time for Patty to bring in the finger bowls. They stood
+neatly ranged in readiness for her, and in each one was a pansy blossom.
+
+On the table near the doorway through which Patty went in and out of
+the dining-room, chanced to be a big bowl of apple blossoms, and Patty
+appropriated one of these and substituted it for the pansy in the
+finger bowl which she subsequently placed before Farnsworth.
+
+She did not glance at him, but she had the satisfaction of seeing him
+start with surprise, and then let his glance travel around the table as
+if assuring himself that he was the only one thus honoured.
+
+He tried to catch Patty's eye, but she resolutely refrained from
+looking at him.
+
+After dinner was over, and the guests returned to the drawing-room,
+Patty remained in the dining-room, wondering what would happen next.
+
+In a few moments Mrs. Brewster came running out to her.
+
+"You little brick!" she cried; "but, my DEAR child, what MADE you do
+it?"
+
+"What do you mean, madame?" asked Patty, in her most waitress-like
+voice.
+
+"What do I mean? You rogue! You scamp! Mr. Farnsworth has told us all
+about it! I don't know what you mean by this masquerade. But it's over
+now, and you must come into the drawing-room at once! Take off that
+apron and cap, and put on your collar and bow again."
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Brewster, I can't go into the drawing-room. All your guests
+have on their evening things, and this is a morning frock!"
+
+"Nonsense, child, come right along in. You look as sweet as a peach."
+
+"But I say, Ethel," and Bob Peyton bounced out into the dining-room,
+"Miss Fairfield hasn't had any dinner, herself," and he smiled at
+Patty. "You see I know all about you. Farnsworth told the whole story.
+You are miffed with him, I believe, and wouldn't let him help you. So
+he came right over here and sent me back to help a fair lady in
+distress. Why you got up that waitress jargon _I_ don't know."
+
+"I don't either," and Patty dimpled roguishly at him. "I have an awful
+way of cutting up any jinks that happen to pop into my head! You'll
+forgive me, won't you?"
+
+"I never should have forgiven you if you HADN'T!" and Peyton smiled
+admiringly into the big blue eyes that implored his forgiveness so
+sweetly.
+
+"You DEAR child," Mrs. Brewster rattled on, "to think you haven't had a
+mite of dinner! Now I will get you something."
+
+"No, no, thank you," laughed Patty, "I will confess that I ate all I
+wanted here in the pantry while the dinner was going on. Cook sent up
+special portions for me, and I had plenty of time to do justice to
+them."
+
+"I'm glad of that," said Mrs. Brewster, cordially, "and now, Miss
+Fairfield, come into the drawing-room. I want my guests to know what a
+little heroine it is who waited on us at dinner. What a girl you are!
+I've often heard Adele Kenerley speak of you, and I'm so glad to know
+you. You must come and make me a visit, won't you, to prove that you
+forgive me for letting you wait on my table?"
+
+"The pleasure was mine," returned Patty, dropping a pretty curtsy. Then
+they all went to the drawing-room, where Patty was praised and
+applauded till she blushed with confusion.
+
+Farnsworth stood leaning against the mantel as she entered the room. He
+waited till the introductions were over and until the hubbub roused by
+Patty's story had subsided. Then, as she stood beside her hostess, he
+went over to her, and said, "What is your greeting for me, Miss
+Fairfield?"
+
+"I gave you my greeting at the table," said Patty, and she flashed a
+glance at him from beneath her long lashes.
+
+"WAS it a greeting?"
+
+But before Patty could answer, Mrs. Brewster came to her and said in
+her enthusiastic way, "Oh, Miss Fairfield, I've been telephoning Mrs.
+Kenerley and telling her all about it! And what DO you think? She says
+that she and Jim are the only ones over there who know where you are,
+and they're pretending they don't know, and all the young people are
+crazy with anxiety!"
+
+"I suppose I ought to go right home," said Patty, "and relieve their
+anxiety. But I'd like to stay a little while longer. And, yet, I don't
+want them to know where I've been, until I get there, and tell them
+myself."
+
+"Let them wait," said Bob Peyton. "It won't hurt them to worry a
+little. Now, Miss Fairfield, we're going to have some music, and
+perhaps,--as you're such an angel of goodness to us anyway,--perhaps
+you'll sing for us."
+
+They all sang in chorus, and some sang solos, and after awhile it was
+Patty's turn.
+
+She had none of her elaborate music with her, so she told Mrs. Brewster
+she would sing any songs or ballads that she might happen to have.
+
+They found a book of old songs, which Mr. Brewster declared were his
+favourites, and Patty sang two or three of those.
+
+Among them was the old Scotch song of "Loch Lomond." Patty had never
+seen this, but as Mr. Brewster was fond of it he urged her to try it.
+The song was not difficult and Patty read easily, so she made a success
+of it. As she came to the lines, "I'll take the high road and you take
+the low road," she glanced at Farnsworth, with a half-smile.
+
+He did not return the smile, but looked at her steadily and with a
+slightly puzzled expression.
+
+When the song was over, Farnsworth crossed the room and stood by
+Patty's side.
+
+"Why do you want to take the high road, if I take the low road?" he
+asked her, abruptly. He took no pains to lower his tones, and Bob
+Peyton who stood near heard what he said.
+
+"Because I'm taking the low road, and Miss Fairfield will ride with me,
+though she won't with you."
+
+Peyton's manner was so light and his smile so gay, that Patty answered
+in the same key, ignoring Farnsworth's serious face.
+
+"I like to take the road with Mr. Peyton," she answered gaily, "because
+it leads to such pleasant places," and she smiled at Mrs. Brewster.
+
+"You dear child! You are perfectly fascinating," Mrs. Brewster declared.
+
+"There, there, Ethel, you mustn't tell Miss Fairfield what we all think
+about her," Peyton interrupted.
+
+And then Patty was called to the telephone.
+
+"You must come home, Patty," Adele's voice said.
+
+"All right, I will, Adele," Patty replied; "but tell me this, does Kit
+think I'm lost, or anything?"
+
+"No, Patty, he doesn't; but all the rest do. Kit pretends he thinks
+something has happened to you, but he told me privately that he knew
+perfectly well that you were all right, and that Jim and I know where
+you are! Oh, you can't fool HIM. But Mr. Van Reypen is nearly crazy. He
+says he doesn't think anything dreadful has happened to you, but he
+thinks you've had a breakdown and can't get home, and he insists on
+starting out to look for you. If you don't come right away, Patty dear,
+I can't keep him here much longer!"
+
+"All right, Adele, I'll start at once; truly, I will! Don't send for
+me. Somebody here will take me over. You know your little runabout is
+here. I'll come home in that."
+
+"Don't drive it yourself."
+
+"Of course not. Somebody will drive me. I'll be over in fifteen
+minutes. Good-bye."
+
+Patty hung up the receiver and returned to the drawing-room.
+
+"I must go right straight away," she said, smiling at her hostess. "My
+joke worked a little too well, and unless I appear they're going to
+send out a search party after me! I told Adele her little car was here.
+How did it get here, Mr. Peyton?"
+
+"I went after it and brought it here; instead of taking it to Mrs.
+Hammersmith's or whatever her name was!"
+
+"You mean Mrs. Hemingway," said Patty, laughing, "my former mistress,
+who left me in her car to go in search of help."
+
+"Yes," said Peyton. "Wasn't it lucky I came along? You little thought
+Farnsworth sent me, did you?"
+
+"Indeed I didn't!" and Patty smiled at him, "and will you take me home
+in that little car? for I promised Adele I'd go at once."
+
+"Of course I will," said Bob Peyton, "if you must go."
+
+So Patty was made ready for her drive and Mrs. Brewster insisted she
+should wear the warm coat as the evening had grown chilly.
+
+The whole crowd went out on the steps to see Patty off, and Mr.
+Brewster tucked her in, while Bob Peyton cranked the car.
+
+"All aboard," said Peyton, straightening himself up, at last; and then,
+somehow,--and Patty never knew how it happened,--somebody jumped into
+the seat beside her, somebody grasped the steering-wheel, and the
+little car flew down the road and out at the gate, and even before
+Patty looked up to see the face of the man beside her, she KNEW it was
+not Mr. Peyton!
+
+She looked up, and saw smiling at her the blue eyes of Bill Farnsworth.
+
+Mrs. Brewster had tied a chiffon scarf over Patty's hair, and as Patty
+looked up in Farnsworth's face, the moonlight illumined her own face
+until she looked more like a fairy than a human being.
+
+"Apple Blossom!" said Big Bill, under his breath. "I never shall find a
+more perfect name for you than that! Now, tell me what it's all about.
+Hurry up, we haven't much time."
+
+"But--but I'm so surprised! Why are YOU here, instead of Mr. Peyton?"
+
+"Because I wanted to ride home with you."
+
+"So did he."
+
+Farnsworth shrugged his broad shoulders, as if to say that what Peyton
+wanted was a matter of utter indifference to him. "Go on," he said
+briefly, "tell me what it's all about."
+
+"I don't know what you mean! What's all WHAT about?"
+
+"The way you're treating me. The last time I saw you was last winter;
+at the Hepworths' wedding, to be exact. We were friends then,--good
+friends. Then I came up here,--yesterday. I threw your own flowers in
+at your window, and you came and smiled at me and said you were glad to
+see me. Didn't you?"
+
+"Yes," said Patty, in a faint little voice.
+
+"Yes, you DID. And then,--then, Apple Blossom, when you came down
+stairs later, playing May Queen, you scarcely looked at me! you
+scarcely spoke to me! You wouldn't dance with me!"
+
+"But you only asked me because--"
+
+"Don't tell that story again! Because Adele told me to ask you, is
+utter rubbish, and you know it! That isn't why you wouldn't dance with
+me. No-sir-ee! You had some other reason, some foolish crazy reason, in
+your foolish crazy little noddle! Now out with it! Tell me what it is!
+Own up, Posy-Face. You heard something or imagined something about me,
+that doesn't please your ladyship, and I have a right to know what it
+is. At least, I'm going to know, whether I have a right or not. What is
+it or who is it that has interfered with our friendship?"
+
+Patty looked up at Bill and read determination in his face. She knew it
+was no time for chaffing or foolishness. So she only said, as she
+looked straight at him,--"Miss Morton."
+
+"Miss Morton! for Heaven's sake, what DO you mean?"
+
+"The girl you're engaged to."
+
+"The girl I'm engaged to! Patty, HAVE you taken leave of your senses?"
+
+"Well, anyway, if you're not engaged to her, you're terribly in love
+with her! Your whole life and love is bound up in her!"
+
+"Patty, I've heard there is a lunatic asylum over near Scottsville, and
+I'm going to take you right straight over there, unless you stop
+talking this rubbish! Now, if you're still possessed of the power of
+rational conversation, tell me who is this Miss Morton!"
+
+"Miss Kate Morton,--the lady you're in love with."
+
+Patty's spirits had begun to rise, and as she said this she looked up
+at Farnsworth, with demure face, but with a mouth dimpling into
+laughter.
+
+"Kate Morton! Why, I haven't seen her for ten years!"
+
+"Was it a hopeless affection, then? Are you only true to her memory?"
+
+"Patty, BEHAVE yourself! Who mentioned Kate Morton's name to you?"
+
+"Kitty! You always call her Kitty."
+
+Farnsworth chuckled. "Call her KITTY! why, I'd sooner call the Flatiron
+Building 'Kitty.' It would be about as appropriate."
+
+"Well, anyway, you told Adele that you loved Kitty with all your heart
+and soul."
+
+A great light seemed to break upon Farnsworth. He looked at Patty for a
+moment, with slowly broadening smile, and then he burst into
+irrepressible laughter.
+
+"Oh, Patty!" he exclaimed, between his spasms of mirth; "Kitty! oh,
+Kitty! Patty!"
+
+Patty sat looking at him in stern silence.
+
+"I should think, Mr. Farnsworth, if any one ought to go to a lunatic
+asylum it might as well be you! You sit there like an imbecile saying,
+oh, Patty! oh, Kitty!"
+
+"I don't know which I love most, you or Kitty!" and again Farnsworth
+went off in a roar of laughter.
+
+"I don't care to be mentioned in connection with Miss Morton," and
+Patty tried her best to look like a tragedy queen.
+
+"But it ISN'T Miss Morton, it's Kitty CLIVE."
+
+"Adele said she couldn't remember her last name. But it doesn't matter
+to ME whether it's Miss Morton or Miss Clive."
+
+"Oh, DON'T, Patty! You'll be the death of me! Why, Apple Blossom, Miss
+Clive,--Kitty Clive,--is--my horse!"
+
+Patty hesitated a moment, and then gave in, and laughed too.
+
+"You must be AWFULLY fond of your horse," she said at last.
+
+"I am; Kitty Clive is a wonder, and last summer we rode thousands of
+miles over the prairies. There NEVER was such a horse as my Kitty! And
+I remember I DID rave about her to Adele. But Adele MUST have known
+what I was talking about."
+
+"No, she didn't. She thought it was a girl, and she told me not to--not
+to--" Patty floundered a little, and then concluded her sentence, "not
+to interfere."
+
+"And, so, Apple Blossom, you were cool to me,--you were cruel to
+me,--you had no more use for me whatever; because you thought I liked
+another girl?"
+
+"Well--I didn't want to interfere."
+
+"You BLESSED Posy-Face! do you know what this MEANS to me? It means
+that you CARE--"
+
+"No, I DON'T, Bill! I don't care if you like all the girls in the
+world. Only, you mustn't like them better than you do me."
+
+"As if I COULD like anybody better than I do you!"
+
+"And then we're friends again?"
+
+"Friends!"
+
+"Yes, friends. Don't you want to be friends with me, Little Billee?"
+
+"Apple Blossom, I want to be to you anything and everything that you
+will let me be."
+
+"Then we will be friends. Chums and comrades and good, GOOD friends."
+
+Patty put a little pink hand out from the big coat sleeve and Bill
+clasped it in his great warm hand.
+
+"Chums,--Apple Blossom,--and comrades, and good, GOOD friends!"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Patty's Suitors, by Carolyn Wells
+
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