""Cause it would probably turn out to be a practical joke."
"Joke nothing! The regard I have for you, Miss Poppycheek Fairfield, is too everlasting real to have any joke about it!"
"And the friendship I have for you, Mr. Kit Cameron, is so nice and real, that I"m going to keep it up."
Patty knew from the undertones of Kit"s voice that he was very much in earnest, and as she felt no interest in him beyond that of a good friend, she shrank from wounding his feelings by letting him go on further. And so she determinedly led the conversation further and further away from personal matters, and soon she gaily declared that it was getting too late for moonlight chat and she was going in the house.
Kit followed her in, and though he showed in no way the appearance of a rejected suitor, he was quieter than usual and less inclined to merriment. "He"ll get over it," said Patty to herself, after she reached her room that night. "I s"pose all girls have to go through with these scenes, sooner or later. But I didn"t mind Kit so much, because he was nice and sensible about it."
Then Daisy came in for a kimono confab, and perched herself on the edge of Patty"s bed.
"What"s the matter between you and Bill Farnsworth, Patty?" she asked without prelude of any sort.
"Nothing," said Patty, as she took the hairpins from a long shining strand of hair.
"There is, too. He asked me why you were so cool to him."
"He did! Well, I"m sure I don"t know what he meant, for I wasn"t cool to him,--or anything else. I treated him politely, as I would any casual friend."
"Politely! I saw you refuse to dance with him, myself. If you call THAT polite!"
"If you want to know, Daisy, that was because he didn"t want to dance with me. He said he only asked me because Adele insisted upon it."
"Patty, it"s none of my business, but I do think you might be nicer to Bill, for I know he thinks an awful lot of you."
"Why, Daisy Dow! why should he think a lot of me when he"s as good as engaged to another girl?"
"Engaged! Bill Farnsworth engaged! nothing of the sort. I know better."
"But he is. Adele told me so. Or, if he isn"t engaged, he"s very much in love with a girl named Kitty. Do you know her?"
"Kitty who? Where is she?"
"I don"t know, I"m sure. But he told Adele his whole heart and life were bound up in this Kitty Somebody. So I"m sure I don"t see any reason why I should be running after him."
"I can"t imagine you running after anybody, Patty. You don"t need to, for the boys all run after you. But it"s very queer I never heard of this Kitty. I"ve known Bill for years. Let me see; there was Kate Morton,--but I never thought Bill cared especially for her. And anyway, I can"t imagine calling HER Kitty! She"s as tall and straight as an Indian!"
"Well, Bill calls her Kitty; Adele said so."
"Oh, is it Kate Morton, then? Did Adele say that?"
"No, Adele said she couldn"t remember the girl"s last name. And I don"t care if it"s Kate Morton or Kathleen Mavourneen! It"s nothing to me what kind of a girl Bill Farnsworth likes."
"Of course it isn"t. I know you never liked Bill."
"I did SO! I DO like him, but just the same as I like all the other boys."
"Then what makes you turn pink every time Bill"s name is mentioned, and never when you speak of anybody else?"
"I don"t! And if I did, it wouldn"t mean anything. I"m not specially interested in anybody, Daisy, but if I were, I wouldn"t sit up and blush about it. You like Bill an awful lot, yourself."
"I do like him," said Daisy, frankly; "and I always have. He"s a splendid man, Patty, one of the biggest, best natures I know. Why, at school we used to call him Giant Greatheart,--he was so thoroughly n.o.ble and kind to everybody."
"Well, I"m sick of hearing his praises sung, so you"ll please change the subject."
Daisy was quite willing to do this, for she had no wish to annoy Patty, and the girls chatted of other matters until Adele came along and sent them both to bed.
The next day was Sunday, and Patty didn"t come downstairs until time for the midday dinner.
"I think you might have come down earlier," said Van Reypen, reproachfully, as Patty came smilingly down the staircase. "I wanted you to go for a walk this morning; it"s simply great out in the sunshine."
"I"ll go after dinner," said Patty; "isn"t it funny why people have dinner at one o"clock, just because it"s Sunday?"
"I"m glad of it. It"ll give us the whole afternoon for our walk."
"Good gracious! if I walk the whole afternoon you"ll have to bring me home in a wheelbarrow!"
"We won"t walk far enough for that. If you get tired, we"ll sit on a mossy mound in a bosky dell, or some such romantic spot."
After dinner, Philip held Patty to her promise of going for a walk. She didn"t care about it especially, really preferring to stay with the gay group gathered on the veranda, but Philip urged it, and Patty allowed herself to be persuaded.
The country all around Fern Falls was beautiful, and a favourite walk was down to the Falls themselves, which were a series of small cascades tumbling down a rocky ravine.
Philip turned their steps this way, and they sauntered along the winding footpath that followed down the side of the falls.
"It is lovely here," said Patty, as she sat down on a rock for a short rest. "But I wouldn"t want to live in the country all the year around, would you, Philip?"
"Not if you didn"t like it, dear. Suppose we have two homes, one in the city and one in the country?"
"Homes for lunatics, do you mean?" and Patty favoured the young man with a wide-eyed gaze of inquiry.
"You know very well what I mean," and Philip returned her gaze with one of calm regard. "You know why I brought you out here this afternoon, and you know exactly what I"m going to say to you. Don"t you?"
"Not EXACTLY," and Patty drew a roguish frown; "they all word it differently, you know."
"It is a matter of utter indifference to me how the others word it,"
and Philip leaned up comfortably against a rock as he looked at Patty.
"The only thing that engrosses my mind, is whether I myself can word it persuasively enough to make you say yes. Do you think I can?"
"You never can tell till you try," said Patty, in a flippant tone.
"Then I"ll try. But, Patty, dearest, you know it all; you know how I love you, you know how long I have loved you. Aren"t you ever going to give me the least little encouragement?"
"How can I, Phil, when I don"t feel encouraging a bit?"
"But you will, dear, won"t you? You remember last winter when we went on that sleighride after the b.u.t.ter and eggs? Why, Patty, you ALMOST said yes, then."
"Why, Philip Van Reypen! I didn"t do anything of the sort! I had no idea of saying yes, then,--I haven"t now,--and I"m not sure that I ever shall have!"