"I can"t flirt with you, Patty. I"m not that sort. You know very well I"ve only a plain, plodding sort of a mind, and I can"t keep up with this repartee and persiflage that you carry on with these other chaps."
"I don"t carry on," said Patty, laughing.
"I didn"t say you carried on," returned Kenneth, who took everything seriously. "I meant you carried on conversations that are full of wit and repartee, of a sort that I can"t get off."
"n.o.body wants you to, you dear old Ken! You wouldn"t be half as nice if you were as foolish and frivolous as these society chatterboxes! You"ve got more sterling worth and real intellect in your make-up than they ever dreamed of. Now, stop your nonsense and come on and dance.
But--don"t undertake to lecture Patty Fairfield,--she won"t stand for it!"
"I didn"t mean to lecture you, Patty," and Kenneth spoke very humbly.
"But when I saw you tucked away behind those palms, flirting with that yellow-headed rattle-pate, I felt that I ought to speak to you."
"You SPOKE, all right!" and Patty looked at him severely. "But you know perfectly well, Kenneth Harper, that I wasn"t doing anything I oughtn"t to. You know perfectly well that, though I like what you call "flirting," I"m never the least bit unconventional and I never forget the strictest law of etiquette and propriety. I"d scorn to do such a thing!"
Patty"s blue eyes were blazing now with righteous indignation, for Kenneth had been unjust, and Patty would not stand injustice. She was punctilious in matters of etiquette, and she had not overstepped any bounds by sitting out a dance in that alcove, which was a part of the ballroom and a refuge for any one weary of dancing.
"And you know perfectly well, Kenneth," she went on, "that you DIDN"T think I was unconventional, or anything of the sort. You were only----"
Patty paused, for she didn"t quite want to say what was in her mind.
"You"re right, Little Patty," and Kenneth looked her straight in the eyes; "you"re right. I WAS jealous. Yes, and envious. It always hurts me to see you laughing and talking in that darling little way of yours, and to know that _I_ can"t make you talk like that. I wish I weren"t such a stupid-head! I wish _I_ could say things that would make you play your pretty fooleries with ME."
Patty looked at him in amazement. She had never suspected that serious-minded, hard-working Kenneth had anything but scorn for men of less mental calibre and quicker wit.
"Why, Kenneth," she said, gently, "don"t talk like that. My friendship for you is worth a dozen of these silly foolery flirtations with men that I don"t care two cents for."
"I don"t want your friendship, Patty," and Kenneth"s deep voice trembled a little; "I mean I don"t want ONLY your friendship. And yet I know I can"t hope for anything more. I"m too dull and commonplace to attract a beautiful b.u.t.terfly like you."
"Kenneth," and Patty gave him a glance, gentle, but a little bewildered, "you"re out of your head. You have a splendid head, Kenneth, full of wonderful brains, but you"re out of it. You get yourself back into it as quick as you can! And don"t let"s dance this dance, please; I am tired. I wish you"d take me to Mrs. Perry."
In silence, Kenneth complied with Patty"s wish, and took her to where Lora Perry was sitting.
Then he went away, leaving Patty much more disturbed by what he had said than by all the gay fooleries of Eddie Bell or Kit Cameron.
CHAPTER X
QUARANTINED
"Tired?" asked Mrs. Perry, as she welcomed Patty to her side.
"A little; I love to dance, but a long program does weary me. Are we going home soon?"
"Whenever you like, dear."
"Oh, not until the others are ready. There goes Marie. She"s having a lovely time to-night. Isn"t she a pretty thing?--and so popular."
Patty"s admiration was sincere and honest, and Marie"s dark, glowing beauty was well worthy of commendation.
But seeing Patty sitting by Mrs. Perry, Marie came to them, when the dance ended, and declared that she was quite ready to go home, although the program wasn"t finished.
"What"s all this about?" inquired Kit Cameron, coming up to them. "Go home? Not a bit of it! There are a lot of dances yet."
"Well, you stay for them if you like, Kit," said his sister, rising.
"I"m going to take these girls away. They"ve danced quite enough, and it"s time they went home."
"Whither thou all goest, I will go also," said Cameron. "Where"s Harper?"
Kenneth and d.i.c.k Perry came along then, and both men expressed their willingness to go home.
Patty was rather silent during the homeward way, and indeed, as all were more or less weary, there was little gay conversation.
As they entered the house, Nora, the parlour-maid, appeared to take their wraps.
"Where is Babette?" asked Mrs. Perry, surprised to see Nora in place of her French maid.
"Sure she"s sick, Mrs. Perry; she do be feelin" that bad, she had to go to bed. So she bid me do the best I can for the young ladies."
"I"m sorry to hear Babette is ill; I must go and see her at once." And Mrs. Perry went away toward the servants" quarters.
She returned shortly, saying Babette had a bad cold and a slight fever, but that her symptoms were not alarming.
"But I"m sorry you girls can"t have her services to-night," Mrs. Perry went on.
"It doesn"t matter a bit," said Patty; "I"d be sorry for myself, if I couldn"t get in and out of my own clothes! Don"t think of it, Mrs.
Perry."
They all went up to their rooms, and though Nora did her best to a.s.sist Patty, her unskilful help bothered more than it aided. So she kindly dismissed the girl, and catching up a kimono went across to Marie"s room.
"You get me out of this frock, won"t you, Marie?" she said. "It fidgets me to have Nora fumbling with the hooks. It"s a complicated arrangement and I know she"d tear the lace."
Marie willingly acquiesced, and then Patty slipped off the pretty yellow gown, and got into her blue silk kimono.
"Stay here and brush out your hair, Patty," said Marie, "and we can have a "kimono chat," all by ourselves."
So Patty sat down at Marie"s toilet table, and began to brush out her golden curls.
"Did you like the ball, Patty?" asked Marie, as she braided her own dark hair.
"Lovely! Everybody was so nice to me. And you had a good time yourself, I know. I saw you breaking hearts, one after another, you little siren."
"Siren, yourself! How did you like that Bell boy?"
"Gracious! That sounds like a hotel attendant! In fact I think "bellhop," as I believe they call them, wouldn"t be a bad name for Eddie Bell. I liked him ever so much, but he was a little,--well,--fresh is the only word that expresses it."
"He is cheeky; but he doesn"t mean anything. He"s a nice boy; I"ve known him for years. He"s an awful flirt,--but he admired you like everything. Though as to that, who doesn"t?"