GOOD-BYE FOR NOW
It was the day of Farnsworth's departure. In fact, the whole house
party was leaving. Roger had already gone, and the Kenerleys and Daisy
Dow were to go next day, while Cromer, who had become attached to
Spring Beach, had concluded to transfer himself to a hotel and stay the
rest of the summer.
"I hate to have you all go," said Mona, dolefully. "Now that I've new
servants, and such good ones, I'd like to have you all stay on
indefinitely."
"There are others," suggested Jim Kenerley.
"I know, but I don't want others. This crowd has become so chummy and
nice it's a pity to break it up. Aren't you sorry to go, Bill?"
"Haven't gone yet!" said Farnsworth, cheerfully.
"But your things are all packed, and you're to go this afternoon," said
Mona.
"Well, it's morning now; why borrow trouble? Let's have some fun
instead."
"Yes, let's!" and Mona brightened up. "Let's go on a picnic!"
"I hate picnics," said Daisy; "they're no fun. Let's motor over to
Lakeville."
"I hate Lakeville," said Patty. "Let's have a dress-up party of some
kind."
"We can't get up a fancy dress party in a few hours," objected Adele
Kenerley. "Let's have a contest of some sort,--with prizes. Tennis,--or
basket ball."
"Oh, it's too warm for those things," said Laurence Cromer. "Let's do
something quieter. I'll tell you what,--let's play Human Parcheesi!
Just the thing."
"What IS Human Parcheesi?" asked Patty, interested at once.
"Oh, it's a new game," explained Cromer; "in fact, I just made it up
this instant."
"How do you play it?" asked Mona.
"I don't quite know myself yet. I haven't finished making it up.
Anyway, you have to have more people. Let me see, we have seven here.
Can you get some more, Mona? We won't play till after luncheon. It will
take the rest of the morning for me to finish making up the game. We'll
play on the west lawn. Oh, it's going to be lovely! I want four billion
yards of red ribbon and cosy decorations and a lot of things! Skip to
the telephone, Mona, and invite enough people to make twenty of us all
together. Tell 'em to come at three o'clock, I'll be ready then."
"Bill has to go away about six," said Mona, doubtfully.
"Well, make 'em come at two, then. The game won't take long, once we
get started. Now, I'll select four players. Mona will be one, and Daisy
Dow, Jim Kenerley and I will be the others."
Mona was already at the telephone, and the other selected players drew
around Cromer to learn what they were to do.
"It's going to be the greatest fun ever," he declared. "If we can't get
red ribbon, we'll take twine. Guess it'll be better, anyhow. Mona, will
you send a slave to the general store to buy a lot of balls of twine?"
"I'll attend to it," said Patty, "Mona's telephoning."
When Patty returned from this errand, the others were all out on the
west lawn. Farnsworth and Jim Kenerley were measuring off spaces, and a
gardener was driving in pegs.
When the twine arrived, it was stretched on these pegs, until the whole
lawn was diagrammed like a parcheesi board. There were the four squares
in the corners, representing "Homes," there was a large square in the
centre, and the paths were marked into regular rectangles with a
"Safety Spot" in every fifth space.
So carefully was the measuring done that at a short distance it looked
exactly like a parcheesi board, except the colouring.
"Now," said Cromer, when the ground was ready, "each of you four
'Players' must fix up your corner 'Homes' with a different colour."
So Daisy chose pink, and Mona blue, and Mr. Kenerley yellow, and
Laurence Cromer green.
Rugs of appropriate colours were brought from the house for these
"Homes," and a few wicker chairs or campstools were placed in them.
Then the spirit of emulation was roused, and the "Players" sought for
little tables, vases of flowers, or potted palms to decorate their
"Homes."
Mrs. Kenerley helped her husband, and Patty assisted Cromer, with their
feminine tastes and ideas, and Patty prevailed on the head gardener to
cut his choicest flowers to decorate the game.
"You see," Laurence said, "we COULD get this thing up beautifully, with
canopies and flags of the four colours, and turkey red strips down
these paths and all that. But this will do for a makeshift game."
The central square was prettily arranged with a set of furniture
brought from a veranda, a tea table, a stand of flowers, and a flagpole
and flag.
Comfortable seats were arranged here for Mrs. Parsons, and any one else
who was merely a spectator of the game. Under Cromer's directions, the
girls made sixteen caps and sashes of cheesecloth, four of each colour.
The guests whom Mona invited all came, and soon after two o'clock the
game began. The four "Players," each decorated with his or her own
colour, went to their respective homes, and from there called out the
names of those whom they wished for "Counters." Mona called first, and
promptly chose Patty.
When Patty came to Mona's "Home" she was given a blue cap and sash,
which she immediately donned.
Daisy was next, and she chose Farnsworth, who went forward to receive
his pink cap and sash.
After a time each "Player" had chosen four counters, and the caps and
sashes were all proudly worn.
"Now we 'Players,'" Cromer directed, "stay here in our 'Homes,' and we
send out our 'Counters,' just as if we were playing real parcheesi.
Daisy, you throw your dice first."
Daisy threw the dice which had been provided, and she threw a five and
a three.
"Put a counter out with the five," said Cromer, "and let him march
three squares for the three."
Amid much laughter and fun, Daisy sent Big Bill Farnsworth out first,
and ordered him to march three spaces. This Farnsworth did, and stood
waiting for his next move.
Then Jim Kenerley threw, but threw only a three and a four, so he had
to wait another turn.
The game proved to be great fun. A five thrown allowed another counter
started out, and all other throws meant movements of the counters. A
counter on a "Safety Spot" was secure against invaders, but on an
unprotected square one might be sent back "Home" to start all over
again.
Of course the great central square was the goal, and there refreshing
lemonade or iced tea awaited the "Counters." Many were the amusing
exigencies. Daisy had just triumphantly put out her last counter when
two others were returned ignominiously "Home."
Counters chatted affably with other counters who chanced to be on
adjoining squares, or gleefully sent them home, as they invaded the
same square.
Patty stood comfortably on a "Safety Spot," with Captain Sayre on the
next space but one.
"This is a great game," said she. "Isn't Mr. Cromer clever to invent
it? Do you know I already see great possibilities in it. I'm going to
get up a fine one for a charity or something."
"Yes, do; I'll help you. Make people pay to be 'Counters,' and then
have prizes for those who get all the way around."
"Yes, and then have--"
But Captain Sayre had been moved four spaces away, and was out of
hearing distance, though he could still smile and wave his hand at
Patty on her "Safety Spot."
As the game progressed, one after another reached the Central Square,
but as Jim Kenerley got all four of his "Counters" in first he was
declared winner.
Then all ran into the Central Square and soon discovered that
"Parcheesi" gave them a good appetite for tea and cakes.
Soon after five the Spring Beach guests went home, charmed with the new
game, and promising to play it again some day. The "Red Chimneys" party
congratulated Cromer heartily on his clever entertainment, and renewed
their lamentations that the house party would be so soon only a memory.
"Let's all go over to the Country Club for a farewell dinner and
dance," suggested Jim Kenerley.
"All right," agreed Patty, who was always ready for a dance.
"I can't go," said Farnsworth. "I have to take the six-thirty
train,--but you others go on."
"Too bad, old fellow," said Kenerley; "wish you could go. But the rest
of you will, won't you?"
They all accepted the invitation, and went away to dress.
Patty hung back a moment to say good-bye to Bill, but Daisy forestalled
her.
"Oh, Bill," she said, "walk with me as far as the rose garden. I want
to say my farewells to you."
Farnsworth couldn't well refuse, so he went off with Daisy, giving
Patty a pleading look over his shoulder which she rightly read to mean
that he wanted to see her again before he left.
But Daisy prolonged her interview as much as possible, with the amiable
intention of keeping Patty and Bill apart.
At last Bill said, as they stood on the terrace, "You ought to be
dressing, Daisy. You'll be late for the club dinner party."
"No hurry," she said, shrugging her shoulders, "I can go over later."
"How?" asked Farnsworth, suddenly interested.
"Oh, Barker will take me over in a runabout."
"But Barker's to take me to the station. You'd better go with the rest,
Daisy."
Something in Bill's tone made Daisy acquiesce, so she said, shortly,
"Oh, very well," and turned toward the house.
She went to her room, and Farnsworth looked about for Patty. She was
nowhere to be seen, and all the first floor rooms were empty save for a
servant here and there. Finally Bill said to a parlourmaid, "Please go
to Miss Fairfield and ask her if she will come down and see Mr.
Farnsworth just a minute."
The maid departed, and a moment later Patty came down. She was all
dressed for the dinner, in a soft, shimmering, pale blue chiffon, and
she wore Bill's wreath in her hair.
"Apple Blossom," he said, softly, and his voice choked in his throat.
"I've been trying to get you a moment alone all day," he said, "but I
couldn't. I believe you evaded me on purpose!"
"Why should I?" and Patty looked a little scared.
"I'll tell you why! Because you knew what I wanted to say to you!
Because you KNOW--confound that butler! He's everywhere at once! Patty,
come in the drawing-room."
"Jane's in there," said Patty, demurely, and smiling up at Bill from
under her long lashes.
"Well, come,--oh, come anywhere, where I can speak to you alone a
minute!"
"Just one minute," said Patty, "no more!"
"All right, but where can we go?"
"Here!" said Patty, and leading him through the dining-room, she opened
the door of the butler's pantry, a spacious and attractive room of
itself.
"James won't be in here to-night," she said, "as we are dining out. But
I'll only stay a minute."
"But, Patty, DARLING, I want to tell you,--you know I'm going away, and
I won't see you again,--and I MUST tell you,--I must ASK you--"
"Patty--Pat-ty! Bill! Where ARE you both?"
Mona's voice rose high as she called, and it was joined by others
calling the same two names.
"They're calling, we must go!" exclaimed Patty.
"Go! Nothing!" cried Big Bill, savagely. He glanced round,--he saw the
dumb-waiter, built large and roomy in accordance with all the plans of
"Red Chimneys."
In about three seconds he had picked Patty up, and before she knew it,
she found herself sitting on the top shelf of that big dumb-waiter,
and, moreover, she found herself being lowered, at first slowly, and
then rapidly.
She was about to scream when she heard Big Bill whisper softly, but
commandingly, "Not a word! Not a sound! I'll pull you up in a few
minutes."
She heard the doors above her close. She was in total darkness. She had
no desire to scream, but she was consumed with laughter.
Farnsworth had hidden her! Hidden her from Mona and the others, in the
dumb-waiter! What a man he was! She had no idea what he intended to do
next, but she was not afraid. It was an escapade, and of all things
Patty loved an escapade!
After closing the doors, Bill put out the light in the butler's pantry,
opened the door, slipped through the dimly lighted dining-room, and
came around by a side hall to the group in the main hall.
"Calling me?" he said. "I was just coming to say good-bye to you all.
Where's Patty?"
"That's what we want to know," said Mona. "We thought she was with you."
"She isn't," said Bill, truthfully enough.
"Well, where CAN she be? I've looked everywhere! Even in the pantries."
"Hasn't one load already started?"
"Yes, Aunt Adelaide and the Kenerleys have gone."
"Didn't she go with them?"
"Why, she MUST have done so. Well, good-bye, dear old Bill, come and
see us again next summer, won't you?"
"I will so!" and Bill shook Mona's hand mightily, as an earnest of his
words.
"And I'm sorry to go off and leave you, but you go to the station in a
few minutes, don't you?"
"Yes, and Barker will look after me. Run along, Mona, I'll write you in
a day or two, and tell you how much I've enjoyed my visit here."
Some further cordial good-byes were said, and then the car started off
with Daisy, Mona, and Cromer to the Country Club. Farnsworth flew back
to the pantry.
"Hello," he said, as he drew up the dumb-waiter, "you WILL evade me,
will you, you little bunch of perversity?"
Patty, who was still laughing at his daring deed, said, "Have they all
gone?" "They sure have! You and I are here all alone."
"Oh, Bill!" and Patty's lip quivered a little. "How COULD you do that?
What SHALL I do?"
"Now don't get ruffled, little one; my train goes in twenty minutes.
You're going to the station to see me off, and then Barker will take
you on to the Country Club to join the rest of them. You won't be half
an hour late!"
This wasn't a VERY dreadful outlook, so Patty smiled again.
"Why stay in this queer place?" she said. "Why not go out on the
veranda?"
"No; there are eleven hundred servants bobbing up everywhere! Here I
can have you all to myself long enough to make you answer one question.
Apple Blossom, will you marry me?"
"No, sir; thank you," and Patty blushed, but looked straight into
Farnsworth's eyes.
"You mean it, don't you?" he said, returning her gaze. "And why not,
little girl?"
"Because, Billee, I don't want to marry anybody,--at least, not for
years and years. I like you AWFULLY,--and I appreciate all your
kindness, and your,--your liking for me----"
"Don't say liking, sweetheart; it's love,--deep, true, BIG love for
you,--you little sunbeam. Oh, Patty, CAN'T you?"
"No, Little Billee, I can't,--but,--but I DO like to have you love me
like that!"
"Then I shall WAIT, dear!" and Bill's voice was full of triumphant
gladness. "If you like to have me love you, I can hope and believe that
some day you'll love me. You ARE too young, dear, you're just a little
girl, I know."
"Why, I'm not even 'out,'" said Patty. "I'm to come out next winter,
you know."
"Yes, and then you'll have lots of admirers, and they'll flatter you,
but they won't spoil you. I know your sweet, simple, generous nature;
it can't be spoiled, even by the foolishnesses of society." "Will YOU
come to my coming-out party, Bill?"
"I don't know, perhaps so. I may see you before then. And I'll write to
you, mayn't I, Apple Blossom?"
"Oh, yes, do! I love to get letters, and I know I'll love yours."
"DO love them, dear, and perhaps, through them, learn to
love,--Jiminetty Christmas, Apple Blossom, I've just ten minutes to
catch that train! Come on, dear, fly with me, at least to the railroad
station!"
They flew, and by speeding the car, Barker just managed to reach the
station in time. The ride was a silent one, but Farnsworth held Patty's
hand in a close, warm pressure all the way. As they reached the
platform, he bent over her and whispered:
"Good-bye, sweetheart, DEAR little Apple Blossom. Some day I shall come
back and win you for my own. Until then, I shall just wait,--and love
you."
A light kiss fell on the little hand he had been holding, and then
Farnsworth flung himself out of the motor-car, and on to the platform
of the already moving train.
"To the Country Club, Barker," said Patty.