Patty groaned. "I resign, Pris; I resign. Here, you preside. I'll never
ask to make it again."
"I should like," observed the Twin, "to see Patty entertaining a young
man."
"It's not such an unprecedented event," said Patty, with some warmth.
"You can watch me to-morrow night if it will give you so much
pleasure."
"To-morrow night? Are you going to have a man for the Prom?"
"That," said Patty, "is my intention."
"And you haven't asked me for a dance!" This in an aggrieved chorus from
the entire room.
"I haven't asked any one," said Patty, with dignity.
"Do you mean you're going to have all of the twenty dances with him
yourself?"
"Oh, no; I don't expect to dance more than ten with him myself--I
haven't made out his card yet," she added.
"Why not?"
"I never do."
"Has he been here before, then?"
"No; that's the reason."
"The reason for what?"
"Well," Patty deigned to explain, "I've invited him for every party
since freshman year."
"And did he decline?"
"No; he accepted, but he never came."
"Why not?"
"He was scared."
"Scared? Of the girls?"
"Yes," said Patty, "partly--but mostly of the faculty."
"The _faculty_ wouldn't hurt him."
"Of course not; but he couldn't understand that. You see, he had a
fright when he was young."
"A fright? What was it?"
"Well," said Patty, "it happened this way: It was while I was at
boarding-school. He was at Andover then, and his home was in the South;
and one time when he went through Washington he stopped off to call on
me. As it happened, the butler had left two days before, and had taken
with him all the knives and forks, and all the money he could find, and
Nancy Lee's gold watch and two hat-pins, and my silver hair-brush, and a
bottle of brandy, and a pie," she enumerated with a conscientious regard
for details; "and Mrs. Trent--that's the principal--had advertised for a
new butler."
"I should have thought the old one would have discouraged her from
keeping butlers," said Georgie.
"You _would_ think so," said Patty; "but she was a very persevering
woman. On the day that Raoul--that's his name--came to call, nineteen
people had applied for the place, and Mrs. Trent was worn out from
interviewing them. So she told Miss Sarah--that's her daughter--to
attend to those who came in the evening. Miss Sarah was tall and wore
spectacles, and was--was--"
"A good disciplinarian," suggested the Twin.
"Yes," said Patty, feelingly, "an _awfully_ good disciplinarian. Well,
when Raoul got there he gave his card to Ellen and asked for me; but
Ellen didn't understand, and she called Miss Sarah, and when Miss Sarah
saw him in his evening clothes she--"
"Took him for a butler," put in Georgie.
"Yes, she took him for a butler; and she looked at the card he'd given
Ellen, and said icily, 'What does this mean?'
"'It's--it's my name,' he stammered.
"'I see,' said Miss Sarah; 'but where is your recommendation?'
"'I didn't know it was necessary,' he said, terribly scared.
"'Of course it's necessary,' Miss Sarah returned. 'I can't allow you to
come into the house unless I have letters from the places where you've
been before.'
"'I didn't suppose you were so strict,' he said.
"'We have to be strict,' Miss Sarah answered firmly. 'Have you had much
experience?'
"He didn't know what she meant, but he thought it would be safest to say
he hadn't.
"'Then of course you won't do,' she replied. 'How old are you?'
"He was so frightened by this time that he couldn't remember.
'Nineteen,' he gasped--'I mean twenty.'
"Miss Sarah saw his confusion, and thought he had designs on some of
the heiresses intrusted to her care. 'I don't see how you _dared_ to
come here,' she said severely. 'I should not think of having you in the
house for a moment. You're altogether too young and too good-looking.'
And with that Raoul got up and bolted.
"When Ellen told Miss Sarah the next day that he'd asked for me, she was
terribly mortified, and she made me write and explain, and invite him to
dinner; but wild horses couldn't have dragged him into the house again.
He's been afraid to stop off in Washington ever since. He always goes
straight through on a sleeper, and says he has nightmares even then."
"And is that why he won't come to the college?"
"Yes," said Patty; "that's the reason. I told him we didn't have any
butlers here; but he said we had lady faculty, and that's as bad."
"But I thought you said he _was_ coming to the Prom."
"He is this time."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," said Patty, with ominous emphasis, "I'm sure. He knows," she
added, "what will happen if he doesn't."
"What will happen?" asked the Twin.
"Nothing."
The Twin shook her head, and Georgie inquired, "Then why don't you make
out his program?"
"I suppose I might as well. I didn't do it before because it sort of
seemed like tempting Providence. I didn't want to be the cause of any
really _serious_ accident happening to him," she explained a trifle
ambiguously as she got out pencil and paper. "What dances can you give
me, Lucille? And you, Georgie, have you got the third taken?"
While this business was being settled, a knock unheeded had sounded on
the door. It came again.
"What's that?" asked Priscilla. "Did some one knock? Come in."
The door opened, and a maid stood upon the threshold with a yellow
envelop in her hand. She peered uncertainly around the darkened room
from one face to another. "Miss Patty Wyatt?" she asked.
Patty stretched out her hand in silence for the envelop, and, propping
it up on her desk, looked at it with a grim smile.
"What is it, Patty? Aren't you going to read it?"
"There's no need. I know what it says."
"Then I'll read it," said Priscilla, ripping it open.
"Is it a leg or an arm?" Patty inquired with mild curiosity.
"Neither," said Priscilla; "it's a collar-bone."
"Oh," murmured Patty.
"What is it?" demanded Georgie the curious. "Read it out loud."
"NEW HAVEN, November 29.
"Broke collar-bone playing foot-ball. Honest
Injun. Terribly sorry. Better luck next time."
"RAOUL."
"There will not," observed Patty, "_be_ a next time."