FERN FALLS
Christmas would be on Wednesday, and it was arranged that Patty and
Mona should go up to Fern Falls on Monday. Roger and Philip Van Reypen
were to go up on Tuesday for the Christmas Eve celebration; and the
rest of the house-party were already at the Kenerleys'.
The girls started off early in the afternoon, and a train ride of
three hours brought them to the pretty little New England village of
Fern Falls.
Jim Kenerley met them with a motor.
"We hoped for snow," he said, as he cordially greeted the befurred
young women who stepped off the train at the little station. "So much
more Christmassy, you know. But, at any rate, we have cold, clear
weather, and that's something. Hop in, now. Adele didn't come to meet
you,--sent all kinds of excuses, which I've forgotten, but she can
tell you herself, when we reach the house. Here, I'll sit between you,
and keep you from shaking around and perhaps spilling out."
Cheery Jim Kenerley bustled them into the tonneau, looked after their
luggage, and then, taking his own place, drew up the fur robes snugly,
and the chauffeur started off. It was a four-mile spin to the house,
for the village itself was distant from the station, and the
Kenerleys' house a mile or so beyond.
It was cold, but the girls were warmly wrapped up and didn't a bit
mind the clear, frosty air, though in an open car. "Didn't bring the
limousine," Mr. Kenerley rattled on. "Can't abide to be shut up in a
stuffy glass house, and then, you know, people who ride in glass
houses mustn't throw stones."
"But, you see, we girls couldn't hit anything if we did throw a
stone," said Patty. "At least, women have that reputation."
"That's so," agreed Jim. "Can't even hit the side of a barn, so they
say. But I expect you girls that grow up with athletics and basket
ball, and such things, put the old proverbs to rout."
"How's Daisy?" asked Mona. "Same as ever?"
"Yep; same as ever. Daisy's all right, you know, if things go her way.
But if not----"
"If not, she makes them go her way," said Mona, and Jim laughed and
agreed, "She sure does!"
At last they reached the house, which Jim informed them they had
dubbed the Kenerley Kennel, for no particular reason, except that it
sounded well.
"But you have dogs?" asked Patty, as they rolled up the driveway.
"Yes, but we didn't exactly name it after them. Hello, here are the
girls!"
Adele and Daisy appeared in the doorway, and greeted the visitors in
truly feminine fashion, which included much laughter and exclamation.
"Where do I come in?" said a laughing voice, and a big, laughing man
left his seat by the fireplace and came toward them.
"This is my brother," said Adele, "by name, Mr. Harold Ferris,--but
commonly called Chub."
The name was not inapt, for Mr. Ferris showed a round, chubby face,
with big, dancing black eyes and ringlets of dark hair clustered on
his brow. Only his enormous size prevented his appearance being
positively infantile, and his round, dimpled face was as good-natured
as that of a laughing baby.
"And so you're the two girls who are to spend Christmas with us," he
said, beaming down on them from his great height. "Well, you'll do!"
He looked approvingly from Patty's flower face to Mona's glowing
beauty, and truly it would have been hard to find two more attractive
looking girls. The sudden transition from the cold out-of-doors to the
warmth of the blazing fire had flushed their cheeks and brightened
their eyes, and the hearty welcome they received brought smiles of
delight to their faces.
"Now, come away with me," said Adele, "and get off your furs and
wraps, and make yourselves pretty for tea."
"Oh, I know what you'll do," said Chub, in an aggrieved tone. "You'll
just go upstairs and hob-nob and talk and gossip and chatter and
babble, and never get down here again! I know girls! Why, first thing
I know, you'll be having your tea sent up there!"
"Great idea!" exclaimed Patty, twinkling her eyes at him. "Let's do
that, Adele; kimono party, you know. We'll see you at dinner time,
Mr. Ferris."
"Dinner time, nothing! If you're not back here in fifteen minutes, the
whole crowd of you, I'll--I'll----"
"Well, what will you do?" laughed Mona.
"Never you mind,--you'll find out all too soon. Now, skip, and
remember, tea will be served in just fifteen minutes."
The girls had really no intention of not returning, and it was not
much more than the allotted time before Patty and Mona were arrayed in
soft, pretty house-dresses and reappeared in the great hall, where tea
was already being placed for them.
The big fireplace had cosy seats on either side, and the crackling
logs and flickering blaze made all the light that was needed save for
a pair of tall cathedral candles in their antique standards.
"What a duck of a house!" exclaimed Patty, as she came down the broad
staircase, her soft, rose-coloured chiffon gown shimmering in the
firelight. She cuddled up in a corner near the fire, and Hal Ferris
brought a cushion to put behind her.
"It ought to be a rose-coloured one," he said, apologetically; "but I
didn't see one handy to grab, and really this old blue isn't half bad
for a background."
"Much obliged for your kind colour-scheme," said Patty, smiling at
him, "and I'll have one lump, please, and a bit of lemon."
Big Mr. Ferris proved himself tactful as well as kind, for he divided
his attentions impartially among the four ladies.
"A little shy of men; aren't we, Adele?" he said to his sister. "Even
Jim seems to have disappeared. Not that I mind being the only pebble
on the beach,--far from it,--but I'm afraid I can't prove entertaining
enough for four."
"You're doing nobly so far," said Patty, cuddling into her cushion,
for she loved luxurious warmth, like a kitten.
"Two more men are coming to dinner, girls," said their hostess; "and
to-morrow, you know, we'll have two more house-party guests. Don't
worry, Chub, you shan't be overworked, I promise you."
After a pleasant tea hour, the girls went again to their rooms,
ostensibly to rest before dinner, but really to have what Patty called
a kimono party.
All in their pretty negligees, they gathered in Adele's room and
talked as rapidly and interruptingly as any four girls can.
"Do you hear from Bill Farnsworth often?" asked Daisy of Patty,
_apropos_ of nothing but her own curiosity.
"Not often, Daisy," returned Patty, of no mind to pursue the subject.
"But don't you ever hear from him?" persisted the other.
"Oh, sometimes," said Patty, carelessly. "He sent me flowers for my
coming-out party."
"I hear from Bill sometimes," said Adele. "I asked him to come to
this party, but he couldn't possibly leave just now. He's awfully
busy."
"What's he doing?" asked Mona.
"I don't know exactly," answered Adele. "Jim can tell you, but it has
something to do with prospecting of mines. Say, girls, do you want to
see the baby before she's put to bed?"
Of course they did, and they all trooped into the nursery to admire
the tiny mite of humanity, who looked a picture, with her tumbled
curls and her laughing face, just ready for bed.
She remembered Patty and Mona, and greeted them without shyness,
clinging to Patty's neck and begging her to stay and sing her to
sleep.
This Patty would have done, but Adele wouldn't allow it, and ordered
the girls back to their rooms to dress for dinner.
"Eight o'clock sharp," she warned them, "and don't put on your
prettiest gowns; save those for to-morrow night."
Patty wandered around her room, singing softly, as she dressed.
Looking over her dinner gowns, she decided upon her second best, a
white marquisette with a garniture of pearl beads and knots of pale
blue velvet. When the maid came to assist her she was nearly dressed,
and ten minutes before the dinner hour she was quite ready to go
downstairs. "I may as well go on down," she thought to herself. "I can
explore the house a little."
She looked in at Mona's door as she passed, but as that young woman
was just having her gown put over her head, she didn't see Patty, and
so Patty went on downstairs.
There was no one about, so she strolled through the various rooms,
admiring the big, pleasant living-room, the cosy library, and then
drifted back to the great hall, which was very large, even for a
modern country house. It was wainscoted in dark wood, and contained
many antique bits of furniture and some fine specimens of old armour
and other curios. Jim Kenerley's father had been rather a noted
collector, and had left his treasures to his only son. They had chosen
this house as being roomy and well-fitted for their belongings.
Patty came back to the great fireplace, and stood there, leaning her
golden head against one of the massive uprights.
"Adele told me you were a peach," exclaimed a laughing voice, "but
she didn't half tell me how much of a one you are!"
Patty turned her head slowly, and looked at Mr. Hal Ferris.
"And I thought you were a mannerly boy!" she said, in a tone of grave
reproach.
"I beg your pardon," he exclaimed. "I do indeed! I'm almost a stranger
to you, I know; I ought to have waited until I know you better to say
anything of that sort to you! May I take it back, and then say it to
you again after I do know you better?"
Patty couldn't help smiling at his mock dismay.
"And how well shall I have to know you," he went on, "before I can say
it to you properly?"
"I can't answer that question at once," said Patty. "We'll have to let
our acquaintance proceed, and see----"
"And see how the cat jumps," he suggested.
"Yes," agreed Patty. "And, by the way, what a jumper that cat must
be."
"Small wonder, with everybody waiting to see how she jumps! Oh, pshaw!
here comes a horde of people, and our pleasant tete-a-tete is
spoiled!"
"Never mind; we'll have another some time," and Patty gave him a
dimpled smile that quite completed the undoing of Mr. Harold Ferris.
The "horde" proved to be two young men from nearby country houses, Mr.
Collins and Mr. Hoyt. And then the other members of the household
appeared, and soon dinner was announced.
"We haven't any especial guest of honour," said Mrs. Kenerley, "for
you're all so very honourable. So pair off just as you like."
Hal Ferris jumped a low chair and two footstools to reach Patty before
any one else could. "Come in with me," he said. "I know the way to the
dining-room."
"I'm glad to be shown," said Patty. "You see, I've never been here
before."
"I know it; that's why I'm being so kind to you. To-morrow I'll take
you up in the tower--it's great."
"Why, is this place a castle?"
"Not exactly, but it's modelled after an old chateau. Really, it's a
most interesting house."
"All right. To-morrow we'll explore it thoroughly."
And then they took their seats at the table, and as the party was
small, conversation became general.
Suddenly Patty became aware that Mr. Collins, who sat on the other side
of her, was trying to attract her attention. He was a mild-mannered
young man, and he looked at her reproachfully.
"I've asked you a question three times, Miss Fairfield," he said, "and
you never even heard it."
"Then you certainly can't expect me to answer it, Mr. Collins," and
Patty laughed gaily. "Won't you repeat it for me, please? I'll promise
to hear it this time."
"I said, did you ever make a lemon pig?"
"A lemon pig! No, I never did. How do you make it?"
"Oh, they're the maddest fun! I say, Mrs. Kenerley, mayn't we have a
lemon?"
"Certainly, Mr. Collins."
"And, oh, I say, Mrs. Kenerley, if it isn't too much trouble, mayn't
we have a box of matches, and two black pins, and a bit of paper?"
"And a colander and a tack hammer and a bar of soap?" asked Ferris,
but Mr. Collins said, gravely: "No, we don't want those."
The articles he had asked for were soon provided, and in the slow,
grave way in which he did everything, Mr. Collins began to make the
strange animal of which he had spoken. The lemon formed the whole pig,
with four matches for his legs, two black pins for his eyes, and a
narrow strip of paper, first curled round a match, for his tail. It
was neither artistic nor realistic, but it was an exceedingly comical
pig, and soon it began to squeak in an astonishingly pig-like voice.
Then a tap at the window was heard, and a farmer's gruff voice
shouted: "Have you my pig in there? My little Lemmy pig?"
"Yes," responded Mr. Collins, "we have; and we mean to keep him, too."
"I'll have the law of ye," shouted the farmer. "Me pig escaped from
the sty, and I call upon ye to give him up!"
"We won't do it!" shouted several of the men in chorus.
"Then, kape him!" returned the voice of the farmer, and they heard his
heavy tramp as he strode away.
Patty looked puzzled. She couldn't understand what it all meant, until
Hal Ferris whispered, "It was only Collins; he's a ventriloquist."
"Oh," said Patty, turning to Mr. Collins, delightedly, "was it really
you? Oh, how do you do it? I've always wanted to hear a ventriloquist,
and I never did before."
"Oh, yes, you did!" said a voice from the other end of the table, and
Patty looked up, saying earnestly, "No, I didn't!" when she realised
that the accusation had really come from Mr. Collins.
"Oh, what fun!" she cried, clapping her hands. "Do some more!"
"I'd rather he wouldn't," said Adele, and Patty looked at her in
surprise. "Why not, Adele?" she asked.
Everybody laughed, and Adele said: "You're too easily fooled, Patty.
That was Mr. Collins speaking like me. He knows my voice so well he
can imitate it."
"He'd better stop it!" came in a deep growl from Jim Kenerley's end of
the table, and Patty was surprised at such a speech from her urbane
host. Then she realised that that, too, was Mr. Collins speaking.
"I just love it!" she exclaimed. "I've always wanted to know how to do
it. Won't you teach me?"
"You couldn't learn," said Mr. Collins, smiling at her.
And then Patty _heard herself_ say: "I could so! I think you're real
mean!"
Her bewildered look changed to admiration at his wonderful imitation
of her voice, and the natural, petulant tone of the remark.
"It's too wonderful!" she said. "Some other time, Mr. Collins, after
dinner, maybe, will you teach me just a little about it?"
"I'll try," he said, kindly; "but I warn you, Miss Fairfield, it isn't
easy to learn, unless one has a natural gift for it, and a peculiar
throat formation."
"Don't teach her," begged Daisy Dow. "She'll be keeping us awake all
night with her practising."
It was like Daisy to say something unpleasant; but Patty only smiled
at her, and said, "I'll practise being an angel, and sing you to
sleep, Daisy."
"You sing like an angel without any practice," said Mona, who was
always irritated when Daisy was what Patty called snippy.
"Oh, do you sing, Miss Fairfield?" said Mr. Hoyt, from across the
table. "You must join our Christmas choir, then. We're going to have a
glorious old carolling time to-morrow night."
"I'll be glad to," replied Patty, "if I know your music."
But after dinner, when they tried some of the music, they discovered
that Patty could sing readily at sight, and she was gladly welcomed to
the musical circle of Fern Falls.
"How long are you staying here?" asked Mr. Hoyt.
"A month, at least," Adele answered for Patty.
"Oh, no, not so long as that," Patty protested. "A fortnight, at
most."
But Adele only smiled, and said, "We'll see about that, my dear."
After a time, Hal Ferris came to Patty, and tried to draw her away
from the group around the piano.
"You're neglecting me shamefully," he said; "and I'm the brother of
your hostess! Guests should always be especially kind to the Brother
of a Hostess."
"What can I do for you?" asked Patty, smiling, as she walked out to
the hall with him.
"Quit talking to the other people, and devote yourself to me," was the
prompt response.
"Do all your sister's guests do that?"
"I don't want 'em all to; I only want you to."
"And what about _my_ wants?"
"Yes; _what_ about them? You want to talk to me, _don't_ you?"
His tone and smile were so roguishly eager that Patty felt a strong
liking for this big, boyish chap.
"I'll talk for ten minutes," she said, "and then we're going to dance,
I believe."
"Oh, and then they'll all be after you! I say," and he drew her toward
a window, from where the moonlight could be plainly seen, "Let's go
out and skate. The ice is fine!"
"Skate! You must be crazy!"
"Yes; I supposed you'd say so! But to-morrow more people are coming,
and I'll never see anything of you. Say, how about this? Are you game
to get up and go for an early morning skate, just with me, and not let
anybody else know?"
"I'd like that!" and Patty's eyes sparkled, for she dearly loved early
morning fresh air. "Of course, we'll tell Adele."
"Yes; so she'll have some breakfast made for us. But nobody else. How
about eight o'clock? Regular breakfast will be at nine-thirty."
"Good! I'll be ready at eight."
"Meet me in the breakfast-room at eight, then. Do you know where it
is? Just off the big dining-room."
"What are you two hob-nobbing about?" asked Daisy, curiously, as she
strolled over toward them.
"I'm just telling Miss Fairfield about the plan of the house," said
Ferris, innocently. "It's well planned, isn't it?"
"Very," said Patty.