AN INVITATION DECLINED
Philip Van Reypen went away, and his aunt never knew that he had been to
her house on that occasion.
"I'm glad that boy has sense enough to keep away when I tell him to," she
remarked at luncheon, and Patty hastily took a sip of water to hide her
uncontrollable smile.
"Yes, he seems to obey you," she said, by way of being agreeable.
"He does. He's a good boy, but too impressionable. He's captivated by
every girl he meets, so I warn you again, Miss Fairfield, not to notice
his pretended interest in you."
Patty tossed her head a little haughtily.
"Do not be alarmed, Mrs. Van Reypen," she said, "I have no interest
whatever in your nephew."
She was a little annoyed at the absurd speeches of the old lady, and
determined to put a stop to them.
"I should hope not," was the reply. "A person in your position should not
aspire to association with young gentlemen like my nephew."
Patty was really angry at this, but her common sense came to her aid. If
she elected to play the part of a dependent, she must accept the
consequences. But she allowed herself a pointed rejoinder.
"Perhaps not," she said. "Yet I suppose a companion of Mrs. Van Reypen's
would meet only the best people."
"That, of course. But you cannot meet them as an equal."
"No," agreed Patty, meekly. Then to herself she said: "Only a week of
this! Only six days now."
That afternoon they went to the dressmaker's.
Patty put on a smart tailored costume, and almost regretted that she had
left her white furs at home. But she and Nan had agreed that they were
too elaborate for her use as a companion, so she wore a small neckpiece
and muff of chinchilla. But it suited well her dark-blue cloth suit and
plain but chic black velvet hat.
The dressmaker, an ultra-fashionable modiste, looked at Patty with
interest, recognising in her costume the work of adept hands.
Moreover, Patty's praise and criticism of Mrs. Van Reypen's new gowns
showed her to be a young woman of taste and knowledge in such matters.
Both the modiste and her aristocratic patron were a little puzzled at
Patty's attitude, which, though modest and deferential, was yet sure and
true in its judgments and opinions.
At last, when Mrs. Van Reypen was undergoing some tedious fitting, Patty
had an inspiration.
"May I be excused long enough to telephone?" she asked.
"Certainly," said Mrs. Van Reypen, who was in high good humour, because
of her new finery. "Take all the time you like."
Patty had noticed a telephone booth in the hall, and, shutting herself in
it, she called up Nan.
By good fortune Nan was at home, and answered at once.
"Oh!" began Patty, giggling, "I've so much to tell you, and it's all so
funny, I can't say a word. We're at the dressmaker's now, and I took this
chance to call you up, because I won't be overheard. Oh, Nan, it's great
fun!"
"Tell me the principal facts, Patty. And stop giggling. Is she kind to
you? Is she patronising? Have you a pleasant room? Do you want to come
home? Are you happy there?"
"Oh, Nan, wait a minute, for goodness' sake! Yes, she's patronising--she
won't let me speak to her grand nephew. Oh--I don't mean her grand
nephew! I mean her grand, gorgeous, extraordinary nephew. But I don't
care; I've no desire to speak to him."
"Does he live there?"
"No; and never mind about him, anyway. How are you all? Is father well?
Oh, Nan, it seems as if I'd been away from home a year! And what do you
think? I have to dance for her to amuse her!"
"Patty! Not really? Well, you can do that all right."
"Sure I can! Oh, she's a peach! Don't reprove my slang, Nan; I have to be
so precise when I'm on duty. Well, I must say good-by now. I'll write you
a long letter as soon as I get a chance. To-night we're going to see
Mlle. Thingamajig dance, and to-morrow night, to the opera. So you see
I'm not dull."
"Oh, Patty, I wish you'd drop it all and come home! I don't like it, and
Fred doesn't either."
"Tra-la-la! 'Twill all be over soon! Only six days more. Expect me home
next Thursday afternoon. Love to all. Good-by. Patty!"
Patty hung up the receiver, for she knew if she talked any longer she'd
get homesick. The sound of Nan's familiar voice made her long for her
home and her people. But Patty was plucky, and, also, she was doggedly
determined to succeed this time.
So she went back to Mrs. Van Reypen with a placid countenance, and sat
for an hour or more complimenting and admiring the costumes in process of
construction.
Somehow the afternoon dragged itself away, and the evening, at the
theatre, passed pleasantly enough.
But the succeeding days went slowly.
Mrs. Van Reypen was difficult to please. She was fretty, irritable,
inconsequent, and unjust.
What suited her one day displeased her highly the next.
So long as Patty praised, complimented, and flattered her all went fairly
well.
But if Patty inadvertently disagreed with her, or expressed a contrary
opinion, there was a scene.
And again, if Patty seemed especially meek and mild Mrs. Van Reypen would
say:
"Don't sit there and assent to everything I say! Do have some mind of
your own! Express an honest opinion, even though it may differ from
mine."
Then, if Patty did this, it would bring down vials of wrath on her
inoffensive head. Often she was at her wits' end to know what to say. But
her sense of humour never deserted her, and if she said something,
feeling sure she was going to get sorely berated for saying it, she was
able to smile inwardly when the scathing retort was uttered.
Sunday was an especially hard day. It was stormy, so they could not go
out.
So Mrs. Van Reypen bade Patty read sermons to her.
When Patty did so she either fell asleep and then, waking suddenly,
declared that Patty had been skipping, or else she argued contrary to the
doctrines expressed in the sermons and expected Patty to combat her
arguments.
"I'm tired of hearing you read," she said, at last. "You do read
abominably. First you go along in staccato jerks, then you drone in a
monotone. Philip is a fine reader. I love to hear Philip read. I wish
he'd come in to-day. I wonder why he doesn't? Probably because you're
here. He must have taken a violent dislike to you, Miss Fairfield."
"Do you think so?" said Patty, almost choking with suppressed laughter at
this version of Philip's attitude toward her.
"Yes, I'm sure he did. For usually he likes my companions--especially if
they're pretty. And you're pretty, Miss Fairfield. Not the type I admire
myself,--I prefer brunettes,--but still you are pretty in your own way."
"Thank you," said Patty, meekly.
"And you're especially pretty when you dance. I wish you could dance for
me now; but, of course, I wouldn't let you dance on Sunday. That's the
worst of Sundays. There's so little one can do."
"Shall I sing hymns to you?" inquired Patty, gently, for she really felt
sorry for the discontented old lady.
"Yes, if you like," was the not very gracious rejoinder, and, without
accompaniment, Patty sang the old, well-known hymns in her true, sweet
voice.
The twilight was falling, and, as Patty's soothing music continued, Mrs.
Van Reypen fell asleep in her chair.
Exhausted by a really difficult day Patty also dropped into a doze, and
the two slept peacefully in their chairs in front of the dying embers of
the wood fire.
It was thus that Philip Van Reypen found them as he came softly in at
five o'clock.
"Well, I'll be excused," he said, to himself, "if I ever saw anything to
beat that!"
His gaze had wandered from his sleeping aunt to Patty, now sound asleep
in a big armchair.
The crimson velvet made a perfect background for her golden curls, a bit
tumbled by her afternoon exertions at being entertaining.
Her posture was one of graceful relaxation, and pretty Patty had never
looked prettier than she did then, asleep in the faint firelight.
"By Jove!" exclaimed the young man, but not aloud, "if that isn't the
prettiest sight ever. I believe there's a tradition that one may kiss a
lady whom one finds asleep in her chair, but I won't. She's a dear little
girl, and she shan't be teased."
Then Mr. Philip Van Reypen deliberately, and noiselessly, lifted another
large armchair and, carefully disposing his own goodly proportioned frame
within it, proceeded to fall asleep himself--or if not really asleep, he
gave an exceedingly good imitation of it.
Patty woke first. As she slowly opened her eyes she saw Philip dimly
through the now rapidly gathering dusk.
Quick as a flash she took in the situation, and shut her eyes again,
though not until Philip had seen her from beneath his own quivering lids.
After a time she peeped again.
"Why play hide-and-seek?" he whispered.
"What about your promise?" she returned, also under her breath.
"Had to come. Aunty telephoned for me."
"Oh!"
Then Mrs. Van Reypen awoke.
"Who's here?" she cried out. "Oh, Philip, you!"
She heartily kissed her nephew, and then rang for lights and tea.
"Miss Fairfield," she said, not untimidly, but with decision, "you are
weary and I'm not surprised at it. Go to your room and rest until dinner
time! I will send your tea to you there."
"Yes, Mrs. Van Reypen," said Patty, demurely, and, with a slight
impersonal bow to Philip, she left the room.
"Oh, I say! Aunty Van!" exclaimed the young man, as Patty disappeared,
"don't send her away."
"Be quiet, Philip," said his aunt. "You know you don't like her, and she
needs a rest."
"Don't like her!" echoed Philip. "Does a cat like cream? Aunty Van,
what's the matter with you, anyway? Who is she?"
"She's my companion," was the stern response, "my hired companion, and I
do not wish you to treat her as an equal."
"Equal! She's superior to anything I've ever seen yet."
"Oh, you rogue! You say that, or its equivalent, about every girl you
meet."
"Pooh! Nonsense! But I say, aunty, she'll come down to dinner, won't
she?"
"Yes--I suppose so. But mind now, Philip, you're not to talk to her as if
she were of your own class."
"No'm; I won't."
Reassured by the knowledge that he should see her again, Philip was most
affable and agreeable, and chatted with his aunt in a happy frame of
mind.
Patty, exiled to her own room, decided to write to Nan.
She filled several sheets with accounts of her doings at Mrs. Van
Reypen's, and gloated over the fact that there were now but four days of
her week left.
"I shall win this time," she wrote, "and, though life here is not a bed
of roses, yet it is not so very bad, and when the week is over I shall
look back at it with lots of funny thoughts. Oh, Nan, prepare a fatted
calf for Thursday night, for I shall come home a veritable Prodigal Son!
Of course, I don't mean this literally; we have lovely things to eat
here, but it's 'hame, hame, fain wad I be.' I won't write again, I'll
probably get no chance, but send Miller for me at four o'clock on
Thursday afternoon."
After writing the letter Patty felt less homesick. It seemed, somehow, to
bring Thursday nearer, to write about it. She began to dress for dinner,
and, in a spirit of mischief, she took pains to make a most fetching
toilette.
Her frock was of white mousseline de soie that twinkled into foolish
little ruffles all round the hem.
More tiny frills gambolled around the low-cut circular neck and nestled
against Patty's soft, round arms.
Her curly hair was parted, and massed low at the back of her neck, and
behind one ear she tucked a half-blown pink rosebud.
The long, dreamy day had roused in Patty a contrary wilfulness, and she
was quite ready for fun if any came her way.
At dinner Mrs. Van Reypen monopolised the conversation. She talked mostly
to Philip, but occasionally addressed a remark to Patty. She was
exceedingly polite to her, but made her feel that her share of the
conversation must be formal and conventional. Then she would chatter to
her nephew about matters unknown to Patty, and then perhaps again throw
an observation about the weather at her "companion."
Patty accepted all this willingly enough, but Philip didn't.
He couldn't keep his eyes off Patty, who was looking her very prettiest,
and whose own eyes, when she raised them, were full of smiles.
But in vain he endeavoured to make her talk to him.
Patty remembered Mrs. Van Reypen's injunctions, and, though her
bewitching personality made such effort useless, she tried to be
absolutely and uninterestingly silent.
"Aunty Van," said Philip, at last, giving up his attempts to make Patty
converse, "let's have a little theatre party to-morrow night. Shall us?
I'll get a box, and if you and Miss Fairfield will go, I'll be
delighted."
"I'll go, with pleasure," replied his aunt, "but Miss Fairfield will be
obliged to decline. She has been out late too often since she has been
here, and she needs rest. So invite the Delafields instead, and that will
make a pleasant quartette."
For an instant Patty was furiously angry at this summary disposal of
herself, but when she saw Philip's face she almost screamed with
laughter.
Crestfallen faintly expressed his appearance. He was crushed, and looked
absolutely stunned.
"How he is under his aunt's thumb!" thought Patty, secretly disgusted at
his lack of self-assertion, but she suddenly changed her mind.
"Thank you, Aunty Van," she heard him saying, in a cool, determined
voice, "but I prefer to choose my own guests. I do not care to ask the
Delafields--unless you especially desire it. I am sorry Miss Fairfield
cannot go, but I trust you will honour me with your presence." Philip had
scored.
Mrs. Van Reypen well knew if she went alone with her nephew, under such
conditions, he would be sulky all the evening. Nor could she insist on
having the Delafields asked after the way he had put it.
She then nobly endeavoured to undo the mischief she had wrought.
"No, Philip, I don't care especially about the Delafields. And if Miss
Fairfield thinks it will not tire her too much I shall be glad to have
her accept your kindness."
His kindness, indeed! Patty felt like saying, "Do you know I am Patricia
Fairfield, and it is I who confer an honour when I accept an invitation?"
It wasn't exactly pride, but Patty had been brought up in an atmosphere
of somewhat old-fashioned chivalry, and it jarred on her sense of the
fitness of things to have Philip's invitation to her referred to as a
"kindness."
So she decided to take a stand herself.
"I thank you for your _kindness_, Mr. Van Reypen," she said, with just
the slightest emphasis on _kindness_, "but I cannot accept it. I quite
agree with Mrs. Van Reypen that I need rest."
The speech was absurd on the face of it, for Patty's rosy, dimpled cheeks
and sparkling eyes betokened no weariness or lassitude.
But Mrs. Van Reypen accepted this evidence of the girl's obedience to her
wishes, and said:
"You are right, Miss Fairfield, and my nephew will excuse you from his
party."
Philip sent her a reproachful glance, and Patty dropped her eyes again,
wishing dinner was over.
At last the ladies left the table, and Philip rose and held aside the
portiere while his aunt passed through.
As Patty followed, he detained her a moment, and whispered:
"It is cruel of you to punish me for my aunt's unkindness."
"I can't help it," said Patty, and as her troubled eyes met his angry
ones they both smiled, and peace was restored.
"After Friday," whispered Patty, as she went through the doorway.
"After Friday," he repeated, puzzled by her words, but reassured by her
smiles.
And then Mrs. Van Reypen sent Patty to her room for the night, and when
Philip came to the drawing-room he found he was destined to be
entertained by his aunt alone.
"Of course," said Patty, to her own reflection in her mirror, "a
companion can't expect to sit with 'the quality,' but it does seem a
shame to dress up pretty like this and then be sent to bed at nine
o'clock! Never mind, only three evenings more in this house, and then
victory for Patty Fairfield!"