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!"