THE HOUSE SALE
The House Sale was in full swing. It had been well advertised, and the
object was a popular one, and throngs of willing buyers crowded the
Fairfield house.
The family belongings had, many of them, been carried to the upper
floors, and the first and second stories given over to the Bazaar.
The beds had been removed and the bedrooms were veritable stores of all
sorts of light and dainty apparel and feminine trinkets. The rooms
downstairs were filled with fine wares and were crowded with
purchasers. The girls, dressed to suit their calling, were brisk and
busy salesladies, and everywhere was laughter and merry chat.
Daisy, in a stunning new sports suit, looked with satisfaction on her
stacks of golf accoutrements, skates, tennis sets, and side lines of
bright caps and sweaters for both sexes. And her wares simply melted
away. She laughingly put up her prices, but so attractive were the
goods that they sold quickly.
Elise, too, did a rushing business in the library. She had several
assistants, and they were all kept at work by the kind patrons. Many
worthwhile books had been given the girls, and there were beside,
library furnishings, and a few autographed books and letters that
commanded large prices. A set of Riley's works was on sale, and these
Farnsworth bought, requesting that they remain in their place until his
further directions.
"Whatever are you going to do with them, Bill?" asked Elise, who looked
like a pretty Portia in her cap and gown.
"Why not peruse them myself?" he returned.
"But I chance to know that you have a set of Riley."
"Well, maybe, I'll give them to somebody as a gift. If I can't find
anybody to accept them, I'll turn them over to your girls' library."
"Oh, I dare say you can give them away. A beautiful set like that!
Why, they're Russia bound!"
"Why, so they are!"
"As if he didn't know that!" exclaimed one of the girls to Elise, as
Farnsworth sauntered away. "Why, he gave that set to the sale!"
"He did! And then bought them back again!"
"Yes, that's just what he has done."
"Oh, well, then, he does mean to give them to somebody,--somebody in
particular."
And Farnsworth certainly did mean to give them to somebody in
particular. He designed them as a gift for Patty. He knew she would
enjoy the poems, and he chose the edition with great care. Then, to
enhance the value, he made it a present to the Club Sale, and promptly
bought it back.
The big Westerner made his way through the crowds, stopping here and
there to buy a flower or a trinket from the beguiling vendors. He
looked in at the dining-room, and saw the long table set with marvelous
confections, each to be sold with its dish of fine china or crystal.
Also, on side tables were center-pieces, doilies, and napkins of all
varieties of embroidery and decoration. A large back veranda had been
arranged as a refreshment room, and here Farnsworth discovered Nan and
Mr. Fairfield eating ice cream.
"Join us," they begged, but a smiling headshake was the negative reply.
"I'm on a still hunt for Patty. I'm told she's upstairs."
"Yes, in her own rooms," said Nan. "But you can't get in, the place is
jammed. Wait till she has sold off a lot of stuff, then there'll be at
least standing room. I've just come down from there and I never saw
such a crowd."
"I'm fairly good at stemming crowds,--I think I'll go up."
Farnsworth squared his broad shoulders and started up the stairway.
By tactful manoeuvring, rather than by muscular strength, he gained his
goal, and stood in the doorway of Patty's boudoir.
She was showing off a boudoir set to a prospective purchaser. It was
of pale blue brocaded satin, edged with swansdown. There was a
fetching lace cap with blue bows and little yellow rosebuds; also
dainty blue slippers with rosebuds on them. Gaily, Patty donned the
lovely garments, over her fluffy white frock, and pirouetted before her
own cheval glass.
"You see," she said, in wheedling, saleslady tones, "it is a work of
art! _Ma foi_! but it is _chic_! _n'est-ce pas_? Excuse my fearful
French, but I can't sell this Parisian rig in English!"
"It is just darling!" declared the lady who was looking at it. "Of
course I'll take it. I never saw one I liked so well."
Farnsworth stood watching the scene, thinking how much Patty's winning
personality added to the charm of the robe, and wondering if she would
accept the books he had bought for her.
The sale concluded, Patty thanked her patron, and in a moment was
called upon to repeat the performance, as indeed she had been doing
most of the evening. This time it was not so willing a buyer.
A gaunt, elderly spinster, with elaborately coiffed white hair and
ostentatious costume, demanded a kimono that should be just her style
and of embroidered crepe de chine.
"Here is a lovely one in heliotrope," said Patty, smiling as she
brought one of the prettiest ones she had.
"Heliotrope!" the lady almost screamed. "Do I then look so old? Am I
in the sere and yellow? Why do you offer me heliotrope?"
"Oh, don't you care for it?" said Patty, pleasantly; "it's one of my
favourite colours. What colour do you like best?"
"I like amber, but, of course, you wouldn't have that. Green, now?"
"No, we don't seem to have those. We've mostly pink and blue."
"Old-fashioned! Why don't you have amber or russet?"
"I wish we had. I'd love to give you what you want. How about white?"
"Namby pamby! But show me what you have. I'm determined to get
something."
"If you only cared for blue," and Patty sighed. "Here's a new box yet
unopened, but it says on the end, 'Light Blue.' So that wouldn't do."
"Oh, well, let me see it."
Patty opened the Japanese looking box, and out from the tissue papers
fell a dream of a kimono. Of palest blue silk, it was covered with
embroidered apple blossoms, not in a set design, but powdered over it,
as if wafted there by a summer breeze. The conventional Japanese
flowers are cherry blooms, but these were true apple blossoms, softly
pink and white, the very loveliest gown Patty had ever seen.
Farnsworth was looking on, and he, too, caught sight of the exquisite
design. He looked quickly at Patty, and, in dumb show, begged her not
to sell the garment. Nor had she any intention of doing so. The
moment she saw it, she wanted it for herself, and began hastily to fold
it back in its box.
"Wait! Stop!" cried the lady; "I think I want that."
"It's already sold," said Big Bill, stepping forward. "Isn't that the
one I ordered, Miss Fairfield?"
"Is it?" said Patty, helplessly, wanting to laugh at the way the lady
looked daggers at Bill, yet not knowing quite what to say.
"It is. Kindly lay it aside for me. Mark it Farnsworth."
"Do nothing of the sort!" snapped the lady. "You said that was an
unopened box. It can't belong to any one then. I will take it. How
much is it?"
Patty thought quickly. She had received a green kimono for Christmas,
which she had not worn, and didn't care for. It had been sent her by a
distant cousin, who would never know or care what she did with it.
"All right," she said, "take it if you like. You have the first right
to it."
Farnsworth looked disturbed, but did not combat Patty's decision.
"But," Patty went on, "I think I have a green one, after all. I've
just remembered it. You can take your choice."
Stepping aside to her own wardrobe, Patty brought out a box and shook
out a very pretty green gown. She put it on, and, draping it
gracefully, stood, with her head on one side, observing the effect.
She then looked doubtfully at the lady, and said, "I dare say you like
the blue one better, after all. This is a very pale green."
"It's a lovely green! Just the shade I like best. If you're willing,
I'll take the green one, by all means."
"Whichever you choose," and Patty swished the green folds around to
catch the light. Very becoming it was, and on pretty Patty it looked a
dream of loveliness.
"It's just bewitching," declared the gratified purchaser, and she paid
for it and left her address to have it sent home.
"Good work!" said Farnsworth, laughing, as the lady passed on to look
at other tempting wares. "You hypnotised her into taking the green
one. I say, Patty, I want to make you a present of that apple-blossom
wrap; mayn't I?"
"It isn't a wrap," said Patty, disdainfully, "it's a kimono, and the
very prettiest one I ever saw."
"All right. I don't care what the dinky thing's name is. It's the
most exquisite colouring, and it suits you down to the ground."
"It fits me down to the ground, too," laughed Patty, flinging the robe
on again, and gathering up its lustrous folds. It was too long for
her, but that, of course, could be remedied.
"Yes, you'll have to take a reef in it. Will you accept it, Little
Apple Blossom?"
"It's very expensive," Patty demurred, looking over her shoulder at the
graceful lines of the garment.
"That doesn't matter," and Farnsworth pulled out a roll of bills from
his pocket.
Patty gave him a scornful look. "Don't be so ostentatious!" she
flouted. "I didn't mean you couldn't afford it. I mean, I don't care
to accept a gift of such value. I know,--we all know--you have the
wealth of the Indies!"
Farnsworth looked at her in sheer amazement, a deep red flush stealing
over his face. Then, for a moment, he held her eyes with his own,
looking steadily at her.
"Very well," he said, gently, returning his money to his pocket. "I
won't give it to you, if you don't want me to."
"Oh, gracious to goodness! what a kimono!" cried Daisy Dow, who came
flying into the room, "I never saw such a beauty! I want it! Is it
yours, Patty? No? Oh, you're just trying it on."
"I'm considering its purchase," said Farnsworth, "if I can find
somebody to give it to. Do you like it, Daisy?"
"Do I _like_ it! It's the loveliest thing in the whole Sale! By the
way, just look at the presents I've had!"
Sure enough, Daisy was adorned with two or three gay-coloured sport
sashes, over her arm were two silk sweaters, and she carried a basket,
in which was a collection of gloves, ties, handkerchiefs, scarfs, and
various odds and ends of sport apparel.
"What are you doing up here, anyway?" demanded Patty. "Who's looking
after your room?"
"All sold out! Not a mite of anything left to sell. I came near
disposing of your own pictures that still hang on the wall, and your
tables and chairs. Are you really looking for somebody to buy that
for, Bill? Well, it might as well be me!"
Daisy laughed gaily, and held out her hands for the kimono.
But Patty drew the blue folds around her and shook her yellow curls.
"Possession is nine points of the law," she laughingly said. "I'm
going to buy this thing myself."
"You can't," said Farnsworth, looking amused at the situation. "First
come, first served. I asked for it before you thought of buying it.
Now, I claim my purchase, and I shall give it to one or other of you
two girls. I offered it to Patty first, so it is for her to say. If
she refuses, I offer it to Daisy."
So gay was his manner, so light his tone, that Patty couldn't resent
his words, but a twinkle in his eye made her realise that he knew he
was cornering her. He knew how she admired the kimono. It would be
difficult if not impossible to duplicate it. She must accept it from
him or see Daisy triumphantly walk off with it.
The latter alternative was surely unthinkable! So Patty said, with
exaggerated meekness, "Thank you, Little Billee, I accept it with
pleasure. You are very kind."
Farnsworth burst out laughing at the mild tone and the shy, downcast
eyes, whereupon Patty favoured him with an innocent stare, saying,
"What is the matter?"
"A whole lot is the matter!" Daisy answered for him. "I wanted that
robe, and now you've gone and got it, Patty Fairfield! You're the girl
who gets everything! All right, Bill, just for that, you've got to
give me the set of books you bought from Elise, and had saved for you.
Will you?"
"If you say I've got to,--why ask me will I?" he returned,
good-naturedly. "I am as wax in the hands of you two. Certainly,
Daisy, I'll be honoured if you'll accept the books."
"What are they?" asked Patty, carelessly, as she still bent her
attention to the embroideries of her new acquisition.
"Oh, it's a set of Riley. A wonderful set,--bound in Russia leather."
Patty looked up, quickly. She felt a conviction that Farnsworth had
bought these books for her. To be sure she wouldn't want to accept two
handsome presents from him, yet the idea of his so easily passing them
over to Daisy annoyed her.
"Riley!" she exclaimed, involuntarily. "Why didn't you give those to
me, instead of this gown?"
"The books are better suited to Daisy," he returned, "and the gown
suits nobody but you."
"Oh, because Daisy is more intellectual, I suppose, and I'm----"
"Yes, and you're just a little piece of vanity, who cares only for
dress and finery."
Farnsworth was having his innings now. Patty had hurt his feelings,
and she knew it; and so, he was teasing her in return.
Daisy laughed at Patty's unmistakable chagrin, and ran away downstairs
to claim her books.
It so chanced that there was no one else in Patty's boudoir at that
moment. Everybody had flocked to the next room to see a new
consignment of treasures displayed, and Farnsworth and Patty were alone.
"Yes," he said, looking straight at her, "I did buy the Riley set for
you. But as you're so averse to accepting my ostentatious offerings, I
thought better to give it to Daisy. And I had another reason, too."
"I'm glad you did," said Patty, coldly; "and I wish you had given her
this also."
She began to draw off the kimono, but Farnsworth took a step toward
her, and with one big swoop, gathered her into his arms.
"Apple Blossom!" he whispered, "my little Apple Blossom girl!"
So impulsive and all-embracing was the action, so swift the kiss that
fell on Patty's pink cheek, and so quickly was she released, that she
stood, gasping from breathlessness, and astonishment, as others began
to return to the room.
Van Reypen was among them, and he called out to Patty:
"We've come for you. If your things aren't all sold, let somebody else
look after them. We're going to supper now, and we want all our crowd
together."
Gratefully, Patty turned to him, her head still in a whirl from
Farnsworth's audacity, and with Philip she went downstairs.