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PATTY'S SUMMER DAYS
by
CAROLYN WELLS
Author of "Idle Idylls," "Patty in the City," etc.
Illustrated
[Illustration]
New York Dodd, Mead & Company 1909
Copyright, 1906, by
Dodd, Mead & Company
Published, September, 1906
To
ELEANOR SHIPLEY HALSEY
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I A Gay Household 1
II Wedding Bells 13
III Atlantic City 27
IV Lessons Again 40
V A New Home 53
VI Busy Days 66
VII A Rescue 79
VIII Commencement Day 92
IX The Play 105
X A Motor Trip 118
XI Dick Phelps 130
XII Old China 143
XIII A Stormy Ride 155
XIV Pine Branches 169
XV Miss Aurora Bender 182
XVI A Quilting Party 195
XVII A Summer Christmas 208
XVIII At Sandy Cove 221
XIX Rosabel 234
XX The Rolands 246
XXI The Crusoes 259
XXII The Bazaar Of All Nations 271
XXIII The End Of The Summer 287
ILLUSTRATIONS
"Patty fairly reveled in Nan's beautiful trousseau" 8
"'There, you can see for yourself, there ain't no chip or
crack into it'" 147
"Although a successful snapshot was only achieved after
many attempts" 176
"Patty arrayed herself in a flowered silk of Dresden effect" 203
"In a few minutes Patty was feeding Rosabel bread and milk" 234
PATTY'S SUMMER DAYS
CHAPTER I
A GAY HOUSEHOLD
"Isn't Mrs. Phelps too perfectly sweet! That is the loveliest fan I ever
laid eyes on, and to think it's mine!"
"And _will_ you look at this? A silver coffee-machine! Oh, Nan, mayn't I
make it work, sometimes?"
"Indeed you may; and oh, see this! A piece of antique Japanese bronze!
Isn't it _great?_"
"I don't like it as well as the sparkling, shiny things. This silver tray
beats it all hollow. Did you ever see such a brightness in your life?"
"Patty, you're hopelessly Philistine! But that tray is lovely, and of an
exquisite design."
Patty and Nan were unpacking wedding presents, and the room was strewn
with boxes, tissue paper, cotton wool, and shredded-paper packing.
Only three days more, and then Nan Allen was to marry Mr. Fairfield,
Patty's father.
Patty was spending the whole week at the Allen home in Philadelphia, and
was almost as much interested in the wedding preparations as Nan herself.
"I don't think there's anything so much fun as a house with a wedding
fuss in it," said Patty to Mrs. Allen, as Nan's mother came into the room
where the girls were.
"Just wait till you come to your own wedding fuss, and then see if you
think it's so much fun," said Nan, who was rapidly scribbling names of
friends to whom she must write notes of acknowledgment for their gifts.
"That's too far in the future even to think of," said Patty, "and
besides, I must get my father married and settled, before I can think of
myself."
She wagged her head at Nan with a comical look, and they all laughed.
It was a great joke that Patty's father should be about to marry her dear
girl friend. But Patty was mightily pleased at the prospect, and looked
forward with happiness to the enlarged home circle.
"The trouble is," said Patty, "I don't know what to call this august
personage who insists on becoming my father's wife."
"I shall rule you with a rod of iron," said Nan, "and you'll stand so in
awe of me, that you won't dare to call me anything."
"You think so, do you?" said Patty saucily. "Well, just let me inform
you, Mrs. Fairfield, that is to be, that I intend to lead you a dance!
You'll be responsible for my manners and behaviour, and I wish you joy of
your undertaking. I think I shall call you _Stepmamma_."
"Do," said Nan placidly, "and I'll call you Stepdaughter Patricia."
"Joking aside," said Patty, "honestly, Nan, I am perfectly delighted that
the time is coming so soon to have you with us. Ever since last fall I
have waited patiently, and it seemed as if Easter would never come. Won't
we have good times though after you get back from your trip and we get
settled in that lovely house in New York! If only I didn't have to go to
school, and study like fury out of school, too, we could have heaps of
fun."
"I'm afraid you're studying too hard, Patty," said Mrs. Allen, looking at
her young guest.
"She is, Mother," said Nan, "and I wish she wouldn't. Why do you do it,
Patty?"
"Well, you see, it's this way. I found out the first of the year that I
was ahead of my class in some studies, and that if I worked extra hard I
could get ahead on the other studies, and,--well, I can't exactly explain
it, but it's like putting two years' work into one; and then I could
graduate from the Oliphant school this June, instead of going there
another year, as I had expected. Then, if I do that, Papa says I may stay
home next year, and just have masters in music and French, and whatever
branches I want to keep up. So I'm trying, but I hardly think I can pass
the examinations after all."
"Well, you're not going to study while you're here," said Mrs. Allen,
"and after we get Nan packed off on Thursday, you and I are going to have
lovely times. You must stay with me as long as you can, for I shall be
dreadfully lonesome without my own girl."
"Thank you, dear Mrs. Allen, I am very happy here, and I love to stay
with you; but of course I can stay only as long as our Easter vacation
lasts. I must go back to New York the early part of next week."
"Well, we'll cram all the fun possible into the few days you are here
then," and Patty's gay little hostess bustled away to look after her
household appointments.
Mrs. Allen was of a social, pleasure-loving nature. Indeed, it was often
said that she cared more for parties and festive gatherings than did her
daughter Nan.
Nobody was surprised to learn that Nan Allen was to marry a man many
years older than herself. The surprise came when they met Mr. Fairfield
and discovered that that gentleman appeared to be much younger than he
undoubtedly was.
For Patty's father, though nearly forty years old, had a frank, ingenuous
manner, and a smile that was almost boyish in its gaiety.
Mrs. Allen was in her element superintending her daughter's wedding, and
the whole affair was to be on a most elaborate scale. Far more so than
Nan herself wished, for her tastes were simple, and she would have
preferred a quieter celebration of the occasion.
But as Mrs. Allen said, it was her last opportunity to provide an
entertainment for her daughter, and she would not allow her plans to be
thwarted.
So preparations for the great event went busily on. Carpenters came and
enclosed the wide verandas, and decorators came and hung the newly made
walls with white cheese cloth, and trimmed them with garlands of green.
The house was invaded with decorators, caterers, and helpers of all
sorts, while neighbours and friends of Mrs. Allen and of Nan flew in and
out at all hours.
The present-room was continually thronged by admiring friends who never
tired of looking at the beautiful gifts already upon the tables, or
watching the opening of new ones.
"There's the thirteenth cut-glass ice-tub," said Nan, as she tore the
tissue paper wrapping from an exquisite piece of sparkling glass. "I
should think it an unlucky number if I didn't feel sure that one or two
more would come yet."
"What are you going to do with them all, Nan?" asked one of her girl
friends; "shall you exchange any of your duplicate gifts?"
"No indeed," said Nan, "I'm too conservative and old-fashioned to
exchange my wedding gifts. I shall keep the whole thirteen, and then when
one gets broken, I can replace it with another. Accidents will happen,
you know."
"But not thirteen times, and all ice-tubs!" said Patty, laughing. "You'll
have to use them as individuals, Nan. When you give a dinner party of
twelve, each guest can have a separate ice-tub, which will be very
convenient."
"I don't care," said Nan, taking the jest good-humouredly, "I shall keep
them all, no matter how many I get. And I always did like ice-tubs,
anyway."
Another great excitement was when Nan's gowns were sent home from the
dressmaker's. Patty was frankly fond of pretty clothes, and she fairly
revelled in Nan's beautiful _trousseau_. To please Patty, the bride-elect
tried them all on, one after another, and each seemed more beautiful than
the one before. When at last Nan stood arrayed in her bridal gown, with
veil and orange blossoms complete, Patty's ecstacy knew no bounds.
"You are a picture, Nan!" she cried. "A perfect dream! I never saw such a
beautiful bride. Oh, I am so glad you're coming to live with us, and then
I can try on that white satin confection and prance around in it myself."
They all laughed at this, and Nan exclaimed, in mock reproach:
"I'd like to see you do it, Miss! Prance around in my wedding gown,
indeed! Have you no more respect for your elderly and antiquated
Stepmamma than that?"
Patty giggled at Nan's pretended severity, and danced round her, patting
a fold here, and picking out a bow there, and having a good time
generally.
The next day there was a luncheon, to which Mrs. Allen had invited a
number of Nan's dearest girl friends.
Patty enjoyed this especially, for not only did she dearly love a pretty
affair of this sort, but Mrs. Allen had let her help with the
preparations, and Patty had even suggested some original ideas which
found favour in Mrs. Allen's eyes.
Over the table was suspended a floral wedding bell, which was supplied
with not only one clapper, but a dozen. These clappers were ingenious
little contrivances, and from each hung a long and narrow white ribbon.
After the luncheon, each ribbon was apportioned to a guest, and at a
given signal the ribbons were pulled, whereupon each clapper sprang open,
and a tiny white paper fluttered down to the table.
[Illustration: "Patty fairly reveled in Nan's beautiful trousseau"]
These papers each bore the name of one of the guests, and when opened
were found to contain a rhymed jingle foretelling in a humorous way the
fate of each girl. Patty had written the merry little verses, and they
were read aloud amid much laughter and fun.
As Patty did not know these Philadelphia girls very well, many of her
verses which foretold their fates were necessarily merely graceful little
jingles, without any attempt at special appropriateness.
One which fell to the lot of a dainty little golden-haired girl ran thus:
Your cheeks are red, your eyes are blue;
Your hair is gold, your heart is too.
Another which was applied to a specially good-humoured maiden read thus:
The longer you live the sweeter you'll grow;
Your fair cup of joy shall have no trace of woe.
But some of the girls had special hopes or interests, and these Patty
touched upon. An aspiring music lover was thus warned:
If you would really learn to play,
Pray practice seven hours a day,
And then perhaps at last you may.
And an earnest art student received this somewhat doubtful encouragement:
You'll try to paint in oil,
And your persistent toil,
Will many a canvas spoil.
Patty's own verse was a little hit at her dislike for study, and her
taste in another direction:
Little you care to read a book,
But, goodness me, how you can cook!
Nan's came last of all, and she read it aloud amid the gay laughter of
the girls:
Ere many days shall pass o'er your fair head,
Your fate is, pretty lady, to be wed;
Yet scarcely can you be a happy wife,
For Patty F. will lead you such a life!
The girls thought these merry little jingles great fun, and each
carefully preserved her "fortune" to take home as a souvenir of the
occasion.
Bumble Barlow was at this luncheon, for the Barlows were friends and near
neighbours of the Allens.
Readers who knew Patty in her earlier years, will remember Bumble as the
cousin who lived at the "Hurly-Burly" down on Long Island.
Although Bumble was a little older, and insisted on being called by her
real name of Helen, she was the same old mischievous fly-away as ever.
She was delighted to see Patty again, and coaxed her to come and stay
with them, instead of with the Allens. But Mrs. Allen would not hear of
such an arrangement, and could only be induced to give her consent that
Patty should spend one day with the Barlows during her visit in
Philadelphia.
The short time that was left before the wedding day flew by as if on
wings. So much was going on both in the line of gaiety and entertainment,
and also by way of preparation for the great event, that Patty began to
wonder whether social life was not, after all, as wearing as the more
prosaic school work.
But Mrs. Allen said, when this question was referred to her, "Not a bit
of it! All this gaiety does you good, Patty. You need recreation from
that everlasting grind of school work, and you'll go back to it next week
refreshed, and ready to do better work than ever."
"I'm sure of it," said Patty, "and I shall never forget the fun we're
having this week. It's just like a bit of Fairyland. I've never had such
an experience before."
Patty's life had been one of simple pleasures and duties. She had a great
capacity for enjoyment, but heretofore had only known fun and frolic of a
more childish nature. This glimpse into what seemed to be really truly
grown-up society was bewildering and very enjoyable, and Patty found it
quite easy to adapt herself to its requirements.