"I don"t wonder!" declared Mona. "It was awful for you to perch on one toe for a hundred million mile ride! And I reclined at ease on a Roman trident, or whatever you call it!" "Tripod, you mean," said Adele, laughing, "or is it trireme?"
"Dunno," said Mona, who was arranging Patty in a soft easy-chair in the dressing-room of the club. "Now, you sit there, you Sea Witch," she commanded, "and I"ll have a maid bring you a hot bouillon or a weak tea, whichever you prefer. You can"t have coffee, it might spoil that pinky-winky complexion of yours."
"Nothing can spoil that!" said Daisy, and though the remark sounded complimentary, it was prompted by a spirit of jealousy. Daisy had truly appreciated Patty"s generosity in the matter of the note but she couldn"t gracefully submit to having her own brunette beauty eclipsed by what she called a doll-face.
Patty"s weariness was purely muscular, and so of short duration, and after ten minutes" rest, she was feeling as fresh as ever.
"Now, what do we do?" she asked, shaking her draperies into place and adjusting the new wreath on her hair.
"Now comes the supper," said Mona, "and I"m glad of it. Come on, girls."
The long dining hall at the club was a pretty sight. The guests were all in their Pageant costumes, and as the various float groups mingled, the contrasts were effective. A Venetian gondolier escorted a fisher girl of the Seine, or a bold buccaneer from the Spanish Main clanked his sword in time with the clatter of the wooden sabots of a Holland la.s.s.
Neptune was waiting to escort the Spirit of the Sea to a table, but as Patty came through the dressing-room door, Captain Sayre bowed before her, and asked the honour of taking her to supper. As Farnsworth had made no engagement with Patty, merely taking it for granted that she would go with him, she saw no reason to decline Captain Sayre"s invitation, and went gaily away with him.
Farnsworth gazed after her with a look of dazed bewilderment.
"Had you asked her?" said an amused voice, and turning, he saw Mrs.
Parsons at his elbow.
"No! I was too stupid to think of it!"
"Patty is so very popular, you know, it"s difficult to secure her favours. Have you engaged any dances?"
"No! What an idiot I am! You see, Mrs. Parsons, I"m not really a "society man," and in these formal affairs, I"m a bit out of my element. Will you do me the honour to go to supper with me?"
Aunt Adelaide looked at the towering figure in its regal velvet robes.
"I oughtn"t to," she said, with a little laugh, "but I can"t resist the temptation. So I will! The idea of MY going with the king of the whole show!"
"Excepting Miss Fairfield, there"s no one I"d rather have," said Big Bill, honestly, and so Father Neptune strode majestically to his seat at the head of the table, and at his right sat primly, fluttering Aunt Adelaide, instead of the witching sprite he had expected to place there.
Patty was really glad, for she didn"t wish to appear too exclusively with Farnsworth, and yet she was a little disappointed, too, for as the Spirit of the Sea, her place was by Father Neptune.
But Captain Sayre made himself very entertaining, and as Jack Pennington was on her other side, she soon forgot all about Little Billee, and gave herself up to the fun of the moment.
"I well remember your beautiful dancing," said the captain. "Will you give me some waltzes?"
"I don"t give them plurally," said Patty, smiling at him. "I"ll give you one, perhaps; a half one, anyway."
"Not enough!" said Captain Sayre, decidedly. "I must have more than that, by fair means--or otherwise. Where is your card?"
"I haven"t any yet; won"t it be time enough to get one after supper?"
"Yes, if you let me see it before any one else. I find it"s a trick with the young men here to make dance engagements surrept.i.tiously at the supper table."
Patty glanced about, and saw more than one ta.s.selled card appearing and disappearing from hand to hand.
A moment later, she heard a voice behind her chair. "Apple Blossom," it whispered, "I"ve brought you a dance card. Say "Thank you, Bill.""
"Thank you, Father Neptune," said Patty, flashing a smile at him, as she took the card, and turned back to the captain.
CHAPTER XVII
THE APPLE BLOSSOM DANCE
"Now I have a programme, Captain Sayre," Patty said. "If you really want a part of a dance--"
"I don"t!" declared the captain, positively. "There are some ladies I"d dance half a dance with, but NOT with you."
"Then I suppose I"ll have to give you a whole one," Patty sighed, "and I know I won"t have enough to go "round. You know it"s late, and there are only ten dances on the list."
"And they"re half gone!" exclaimed Captain Sayre, as he looked at the card Patty had handed him.
"What!" she cried, looking at it herself.
Sure enough there was a very big black B. F. written against every other dance!
"Bill Farnsworth!" she exclaimed. "Well, if he hasn"t a nerve! He wants the earth!"
"And the sea, and all that in them is!" said Captain Sayre. "Look here, Miss Fairfield, I"ll be satisfied with the other five. Thus, you"re dividing your dances evenly, don"t you see?"
"Nonsense! I"ll agree to no such highway robbery! You may have a dance, Captain Sayre,--take a waltz, if you like; and then give me my card again. Do you want one, Jack?"
"DO I? Does a squirrel want nuts? Only one, Sea Spirit?"
"Yes, only one. It"s such a short programme to-night."
"And is Big Bill to have five?"
"Indeed, no! I shall cross those all off but one."
Learning, somehow, of what was going on, most of the men at the table began to beg Patty for a dance, and in a few moments her card was filled.
She shook her head reprovingly at Farnsworth, who quite understood the reason.
Supper over, the dancing began, and as it was a summer evening, the dances alternated with cooling strolls on the long verandas of the club house. Patty loved to dance, and greatly preferred good dancers for partners.
Captain Sayre was especially proficient in the art, and as their dance was followed by an "extra," he persuaded Patty to do a fancy dance with him, like they had danced at the Sayres" garden party. Soon most of the dancers had paused to watch the two, swaying and pirouetting in a dance, partly impromptu, and partly fashioned on some they had previously learned. It was a pretty sight. Patty, whose step was light as thistledown, followed any hint of Captain Sayre"s, and so clever were his leads that the audience broke into loud applause. It was almost more than Farnsworth could bear. He stood looking at them with such a wistful expression that Patty concluded to stop.
"I"m a little tired," she whispered to her partner, "but I want to dance a moment alone. Will you let me? And ask the orchestra to play the Spring Song."
"I"ll love to look at you," declared the captain, and at the end of a measure, he gracefully danced away from her, and Patty stood alone.