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.