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.