Patty's Suitors
"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 feetWhere 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."
