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Patty Fairfield

C >> Carolyn Wells >> Patty Fairfield




Patty was relieved to learn that it wasn't a case of intentional torture,
and by this time she found herself in the great hall.

The grandeur of her surroundings fairly dazzled her, for Patty was an
inexperienced little girl, and had lived simply, though very comfortably
all her life. And so she looked with amazement on the walls frescoed in
brilliant colors, the enormous gilt-framed mirrors, the tall palms and
marble statues, the rich draperies and stained-glass windows.

If she had been older and more experienced she would have known that it was
_too_ gorgeous, the coloring too bright and garish, and the ornamentation
over-showy. But to her childish eyes it all seemed wonderfully fine.

"Oh, Uncle Robert," she cried, "is this your home? How beautiful it is! I
never saw such a lovely place in my life."

This speech pleased Mr. St. Clair beyond measure, for he dearly loved to
have his beautiful home appreciated, and he beamed, and rubbed his hands
together with a general air of satisfaction.

"Yes, yes," he said, "it is fine,--_fine_! There isn't another such place
for miles around."

Then they went into the drawing-room and Patty was presented to her Aunt
Isabel.

Mrs. St. Clair was a fair, large woman, with golden hair, elaborately
frizzed, and kind blue eyes. She was fashionably dressed, and her silks
rustled and her bugles tinkled as she came forward to meet her visitor.

"I am charmed to see you, Patty, my dear," she said, kissing her
affectionately.

"And I am very glad to be here, Aunt Isabel," said Patty, and just then she
was interrupted by the violent entrance of what seemed to be a small pink
cyclone.

This was the eight year old Florelle, and without a doubt it was she who
was responsible for the shrieks Patty had heard.

The child wore a short, beruffled dress of pink silk, a huge pink sash, and
pink stockings and slippers. Her eyes were reddened with crying and her
cheeks were tear-stained, and she ran to Patty, screaming:

"I will! I _will_! She's _my_ cousin, and I'm going to see her _now_."

Then she threw her arms round Patty's waist, and smiled up into her face.
She was a very pretty little girl when she smiled, and Patty couldn't help
admiring her, though so far she had seemed like anything but a lovable
character.

"Oh, Florelle," said her mother, mildly, "how naughty you are. I told you
to go to bed like a goody girl, and you should see Cousin Patty in the
morning."

"But I wanted to see her to-night. So I made nurse dress me, and I'm going
to stay up to dinner."

"Let her stay, mamma," said Ethelyn. "If you don't, she'll yell again, and
I'm tired of hearing her."

"Yes, you can stay, baby," said Mrs. St. Clair, "and now, Ethelyn, take
Patty to her room, and get yourselves ready for dinner."

The two girls went off together, and Patty discovered that the rest of the
house was as sumptuous as her first view of it.

The same brilliant coloring and florid ornamentation appeared everywhere,
and when at last Ethelyn stopped before an open door, and said, "This is
your room," Patty gave a little cry of delight, for she entered what seemed
a veritable fairy bower.

The walls and ceiling were tinted pink and frescoed with garlands of roses
and flying birds. There was a fascinating bay window with latticed panes,
and a cozy window-seat with soft cushions. The brass bedstead had a lace
coverlet over pink silk, and the toilet-table had frilled curtains and pink
ribbons. There were silver-mounted brushes and bottles and knickknacks of
all kinds. The little work-table was a gem, and there was a lovely
writing-desk with silver appointments and pink blotting-paper. Then there
was a cozy divan, with lots of fluffy pink pillows, and through a
half-opened door, Patty could see a dear little dressing-room.

There were beautiful pictures on the walls, and costly vases and
bric-a-brac all about, and it all showed such kind thought on the part of
somebody, that Patty's heart was touched.

"Is it for me? Who did it all?" she asked, turning to Ethelyn with shining
eyes.

"Oh, mamma did it; she loves to do such things. That is, she planned it,
and the servants did the work. Here's my room right next. It's just like
it, almost." So it was, or at least it had been, but it showed signs of
carelessness and disorder. A lamp globe was broken, and there was a large
hole burned in one of the pretty rugs. The toilet table, too, was in sad
disarray, and some papers were sticking out of the closed desk.

"Don't look at it," said Ethelyn, apologetically, "I'm so careless. I broke
that globe when I was swinging my dumb-bells, and I've done it so often
that mamma declared she wouldn't get me another. And I upset the alcohol
lamp on the rug. But I don't care; when we have a party it will all get
spruced up; mamma has everything put in order then. Now we'll dress for
dinner, Patty. What are you going to wear?"

"I don't know; I haven't many dresses. Aunt Isabel is going to buy me some,
you know."

"Yes, I know. Let's see what you have."

Ethelyn was already kneeling before Patty's open trunk, and overhauling her
belongings. "Oh, here's a blue crape," she cried, "you must look sweet in
this. Put it on."

"Why, that's my best party-frock, Ethelyn."

"Never mind; wear it to-night, and mamma'll get you some new party
clothes."

So Patty put on the blue crape, and very becoming it was, though somewhat
inappropriate for a quiet family dinner.

"We only have one maid between us," explained Ethelyn, calling from her own
room into Patty's. "Elise will do your hair when you want her, but just now
she's doing mine."

To Patty's surprise, when she saw Ethelyn again, she was arrayed in a light
green silk dress, and her hair was puffed high on her head. Patty wore hers
as usual, and felt as if her cousin had suddenly grown up away from her.

"Doesn't my hair look nice?" asked Ethelyn, as the girls went down-stairs
together. "Mamma says I'm too young to have it done up this way yet, but I
don't care what she says. I'm fifteen, and I think I'm old enough to do as
I choose. To-morrow we'll make Elise do yours up and see how you look."

"But I'm only fourteen," protested Patty, "and I don't want to be grown up
for years yet. Your hair looks lovely, but I like you better with it down,
as it was this afternoon."

"Don't say so before mamma, or shell insist on my wearing it so."

When the girls entered the drawing-room, Mrs. St. Clair smiled amiably at
her pretty niece, and bade her come to her side.

"My dear," she said, "you are a pretty little girl, and a sweet one, I've
no doubt, but your name I do not like at all. I can't abide nicknames, so
I'm going to call you by your full name. What is it, Martha?"

"Martha!" exclaimed Patty in surprise, "oh, no, Aunt Isabel, I was named
for my great-grandmother. My name is Patricia."

"Oh, how lovely," cried Aunt Isabel, kissing her niece in the exuberance of
her delight. "We will all call you Patricia. It is a beautiful name and
suits you extremely well. You must stand very straight, and acquire
dignified manners in order to live up to it."

This made merry Patty laugh, but she offered no objection to her aunt's
decision, and promised to sign her name Patricia whenever she wrote it, and
to make no further use of the despised nickname while staying at Villa
Rosa. Ethelyn was pleased too, at the change.

"Oh," she said, "now your name is as pretty as mine and Florelle's, and we
have the prettiest names in Elmbridge. Here comes Reginald, you haven't
seen him yet."

Reginald St. Clair, a lad of thirteen, advanced without a trace of shyness
and greeted his new cousin.

"So it is Patricia," he said, as he took her hand; "I heard them
rechristening you. How do you do, Cousin Patricia?"

"Very well, I thank you," she replied, smiling, "and though I meet you the
last of my new cousins, you are not the least," and she glanced up at him,
for Reginald was a tall boy for his age, taller than either Ethelyn or
Patty.

"Not the least in any way, as you'll soon find out if you stay with us,
Cousin Patricia."

Patty almost laughed at this boastful assumption of importance, but seeing
that the boy was in earnest, she humored him by saying:

"As the only son, I suppose you _are_ the flower of the family."

Then dinner was announced, and the beautiful dining-room was a new pleasure
to the little visitor. She was rapidly making the discovery that riches and
luxury were very agreeable, and she viewed with delight the handsome table
sparkling with fine glass and silver.

"Well, Patricia," said Uncle Robert, who had been warned against using the
objectionable nickname, "how do you like Villa Rosa so far?"

"Oh, I think it is beautiful, Uncle Robert. Every room is handsomer than
the last, and my own room I like best of all. You're awfully good, Aunt
Isabel, to give me such a lovely room, and to spend so much thought and
time arranging it for me."

"And money, too," said her aunt, smiling. "That rug in your room, Patricia,
cost four hundred dollars."

"Did it really?" said Patty, with such a look of amazement, almost horror,
that they all laughed.

You see, Patty had never been used to such expensive rugs, still less had
she been accustomed to hearing the prices of things mentioned so freely.

"Oh, Aunt Isabel, I'd rather not have it then. Really, I'd much rather have
a cheaper one. Suppose I should spoil it in some way."

"Nonsense, my dear, spoil it if you like, I'll buy you another," said Uncle
Robert, grandly.

"Never mind rugs," interrupted Reginald. "I say, mother, aren't you going
to give a party for Patricia?"

"Yes, I think so," answered his mother, "but I haven't decided yet what
kind of an affair it shall be."

"Oh, have a smashing big party, and invite everybody."

"No, Reginald," said Ethelyn, "I hate those big parties, they're no fun at
all. It isn't going to be a party anyway. It's going to be a tea. Didn't
you say so, mamma? A tea is a much nicer way to introduce Patricia than a
party."

"Ho, ho," laughed her brother, "a tea! why they're the most stupid things
in the world. Nobody wants to come to a tea."

"They do so," retorted Ethelyn, "you don't know anything about society.
Teas are ever so much stylisher than evening entertainments, aren't they,
mamma?"

"Well, I don't know," said Mrs. St. Clair, doubtfully, "the Crandons gave a
tea when their cousin visited them."

"Ho, the Crandons," sneered Ethelyn, "they're nobody at all; why, they've
only got one horse."

"I know it," said her mother, "but they're awfully exclusive. They won't
speak to hardly anybody."

"Then don't speak to them," said Mr. St. Clair. "I just guess we're as good
as the Crandons any day in the week. I don't know as you'd better invite
them, my dear."

"They wouldn't come if you did," said Reginald.

"They would so," snapped Ethelyn, "they'd jump at the chance."

"I bet they wouldn't!"

"I bet they would! You don't know everything in the world."

"Neither do you!"

"Hush, children," said Mrs. St. Clair, mildly, "your Cousin Patricia will
think you very rude and unmannerly if you quarrel so. Florelle is the only
one who is behaving nicely, aren't you, darling?"

Florelle beamed at this, and looked like a little cherub, until Reginald
slyly took a cake from her plate.

"Oh-h-h!" screamed Florelle, bursting into tears, "he took my cakie, he
did,--give it to me!" and she began pounding her brother with her small
fists.

But Reginald had eaten it, and no other cake on the plate would pacify the
angry child.

"No, no," she cried, "I want that same one--it had a green nut on it,--and
I wa-a-ant it!"

"But brother can't give it to you, baby, he's eaten it," said her father,
vainly trying to console her with other dainties.

But Florelle continued to scream, and Mrs. St Clair was obliged to summon
the nurse and have her taken up-stairs.

"Well, that's a relief," said Ethelyn, as the struggling child was carried
away. "I told you you'd hear her yell pretty often, Patricia."

Patty felt rather embarrassed, and didn't know what to say; she was
beginning to think Villa Rosa had some thorns as well as roses.

After dinner, as they sat round the great fireplace in the library, Mrs.
St. Clair announced:

"I have made up my mind. I will give a tea for Patricia in order that she
may be properly introduced to the Elmbridge people,--the best of them,--and
then later, we will have a large party for her."

This pleased everybody and amiability was restored, and all fell to making
plans for the future pleasures of their guest.

When Patty went to her room that night, she was so tired out with the
excitements of the day, that she was glad to go to rest.

But first of all she opened the little box that her father had given her at
parting. Was it possible that she had left her father only the day before?
Already it seemed like weeks.

With eager fingers she broke the seals and tore off the paper wrappings,
and found to her great delight an ivory miniature of her mother.

She had seen the picture often; it had been one of her father's chief
treasures, and she prized it the more highly as she thought what a
sacrifice it must have been for him to give it up, even to his child.

It was in a Florentine gold frame, and Patty placed it in the centre of her
dressing-table, and then sat down and gazed earnestly at it.

She saw a sweet, girlish face, which was very like her own, though she
didn't recognize the resemblance.

"Dear mother," she said softly, "I will try to be just such a little girl
as you would have wished me to be if you had lived to love me."




CHAPTER V


A MINUET

"Mamma," said Ethelyn, the next morning at breakfast, "I'm going to take a
holiday from lessons to-day, because Patricia has just come, and she
doesn't want to begin to study right away."

"Indeed, miss, you'll do nothing of the sort," replied her mother; "you had
a holiday yesterday because Patricia was coming; and one the day before, on
account of Mabel Miller's tea; and you had holiday all last week because of
the Fancy Bazaar. When do you expect to learn anything?"

"Well, I don't care," said Ethelyn, tossing her head, "I'm going to stay
with Patricia to-day, anyhow; if she goes to the schoolroom, I will, and if
she don't, I won't."

"Oh, I'll go to school with you, Ethelyn," said Patty, anxious to please
both her aunt and cousin if possible.

But Mrs. St. Clair said, "No, indeed, Patricia, you don't want to begin
lessons yet. Why, you're scarcely rested from your journey. I am going to
New York to-day to buy you some new dresses, and if you're not too tired,
you may go with me and help select them."

"Well, I just guess Patricia won't go to New York, unless I go too," cried
Ethelyn in great excitement. "Do you think I'll stay at home and grub in
the schoolroom while she's having a good time in the city? Not much, my
Mary Anne!"

"Ethelyn!" said her mother, reprovingly, "how many times must I tell you
not to use slang? It is vulgar and unladylike, and quite out of keeping
with your social position."

"I don't care; it's expressive if it isn't stylish."

"Don't say stylish, either. That isn't genteel at all. Say 'correct.'"

"Oh, 'correct.' Well, mother, I guess it must be correct to use slang,
'cause Gladys Mahoney does, and she's a hummer on style."

"And I've no doubt her mother reproves her for it, just as I do you. Now go
to the schoolroom, it is nearly ten o'clock."

"I won't go unless Patricia comes too. If she's going to New York with you,
I'm going."

"Ethelyn," said Mrs. St. Clair, sternly, "do as I bid you. Go to the
schoolroom at once, and study your lessons diligently."

"No, I won't," replied Ethelyn, stubbornly, "I won't stir a step unless
Patty comes too."

"But I'm going to take Patricia to New York."

"Then I'm going to New York," said Ethelyn, with an air of settling the
question, and then she began drumming on the table with her fingers.

"I want to go to New York with you, mamma," said Florelle; "I want to buy a
new dolly."

"No, baby," said her mother, "you can't go this time. You stay at home like
a good girlie, and I'll bring you a beautiful new doll."

"But I _want_ to go! I _will_ go!" and Florelle began to cry.

"Stop that crying," said her father, "stop it at once, and when I come home
I'll bring you a big box of candy."

"No, I don't want candy,--I want to go to New York,--I want to go--I
do-o-o," she wound up with a prolonged wail.

"Good gracious, Florelle," said Reginald, "do stop that fearful yowling. If
you don't, as soon as I go down town I'll send a bear back here to eat you
up."

At this Florelle screamed louder than ever, and had to be taken away from
the table.

Patty felt quite helpless in the midst of this commotion. She had been
accustomed to obey willingly her father's lightest wish, and Ethelyn's
impertinence amazed her. As for little Florelle, she thought the child was
quite old enough to be reasoned with, and taught not to cry so violently
over every trifle.

But she realized it was not her place to criticise her cousins' behavior,
so she did the best she could to pour oil on the troubled waters.

"Aunt Isabel," she said, "if you don't mind, I'll stay at home and study
with Ethelyn."

"Well, do as you like, child," said her aunt, carelessly; "of course I can
select your clothes just as well without you, and I'll take you both to New
York some Saturday. But you needn't study unless you choose, you know."

"Well, I'll stay with Ethelyn, anyway," said Patty, tucking her arm through
her cousin's as they went off to the schoolroom.

"What a mean old thing you are," said Ethelyn crossly. "You might just as
well have said you'd go to New York, and then I would have gone too, and we
could have had a lovely time shopping, and lunching at Delmonico's, and
perhaps going to a matinée."

"But your mother said you couldn't go," said Patty, in surprise.

"Oh, that's nothing. I would have gone all the same, and now you've spoiled
it all and we've got to drudge over our books. Here's the schoolroom. Miss
Morton, this is my cousin, Patricia Fairfield. She is to begin lessons
to-day."

While Ethelyn was talking, the girls had mounted to the third floor of the
great house, and entered the large and attractive-looking schoolroom.

Miss Morton was a sweet-faced young woman, who greeted Ethelyn pleasantly
and then turned cordially to the stranger.

"We are glad to have you with us," she said; "you may sit here at this
desk, and presently I will ask you some questions about your studies."

Reginald was already in his place and was studying away for dear life. He
was naturally a studious boy, and he was anxious to prepare himself to
enter a certain school the next year.

But Ethelyn had no taste for study, and she flounced herself into her chair
and unwillingly took up her books.

"Now, Ethelyn," said Miss Morton, "you must learn that history lesson
to-day. You've dawdled over it so long, that it has become a real bug bear
to you. But I'm sure if you determine to conquer it, you can easily do so.
Just try it."

"Ho," called out Reginald, teasingly, "can't learn a history lesson! I
couldn't wait for you, so I went on ahead. I'm 'way over to the 'Founding
of the German Empire.' Where are you in history, Patricia?"

"I've only studied United States History," she replied, a little ashamed of
her small attainments, "but I've been through that twice."

"Well," said Miss Morton, kindly, "it's better to know one thing thoroughly
than to have smatterings of a great many. If you are familiar with United
States History, you will enjoy lessons in the history of other countries
for a change."

"I'm sure I shall," said Patty, "and my father told me to study whatever
you thought best for me. But I don't like to study very much. I'd rather
read story books."

Miss Morton examined Patty in arithmetic, geography, and some other
branches, and decided that as her attainments in knowledge were about equal
to those of her cousins, they might all have the same lessons each day.

Patty afterwards discovered that Reginald learned these lessons, and
Ethelyn did not. But she simply skipped them and went on to the next,
apparently making the same progress as her brother.

Patty had become absorbed in her history lesson, which was very
interesting, when Ethelyn began to chatter.

"Miss Morton," she said, "we are going to have a party for my cousin."

"Are you? That will be very nice, but don't let us discuss it now, for I
want you to put your whole attention on that history lesson."

"I will,--but, Miss Morton, it's going to be a very grand party. Everybody
in Elmbridge will be invited. I mean," she added, tossing her head,
"everybody that _is_ anybody."

"Everybody is somebody," said Reginald, without looking up from his book,
"and I wish you'd keep still, Ethelyn."

"Well, you know what I mean; everybody that's rich and important, and fit
for us to know."

"Why," said Patty, looking at her cousin in surprise, "aren't people fit
for you to know unless they're rich?"

"No," said Ethelyn, "I wouldn't associate with people unless they were
rich, and neither would you, Patricia."

"Yes, I would," said Patty, stoutly, "if they were good and wise and
refined, and they often are."

"Well, you can't associate with them while you're living with us, anyhow;
we only go with the swells."

"Ethelyn," said Miss Morton, gently, "that isn't the right way to talk. I
think--"

"Oh, never mind what you think," said Ethelyn, rudely, "you know the last
time you preached to me, I nearly made mamma discharge you, and I'll do it
for sure if you try it again."

Miss Morton bit her lip and said nothing, for she was a poor girl and had
no wish to lose her lucrative position in the St. Clair household, though
her ideas were widely at variance with those of her employers. But Patty's
sense of justice was roused.

"Oh, Ethelyn," she said, "how can you speak to your teacher so? You ought
to be ashamed of yourself."

"Oh, Miss Morton don't mind, do you?" said Ethelyn, who was really only
careless, and had no wish to be unkind, "and it's true. I will have her
sent away if she preaches at us, 'cause I hate it; but she won't preach any
more, will you, Morty?" and Ethelyn smiled at her governess in a
wheedlesome way.

"Go on with your lessons," said Miss Morton, in a quiet tone, though she
was with difficulty repressing a desire to tell her pupil what she thought
of her.

"Yes, do," growled Reginald; "how can a fellow study when you're chattering
away with your shrill voice?"

"I haven't got a shrill voice," retorted Ethelyn, "have I, Patricia? Mamma
says a soft, low voice is very stylish,--correct, I mean, and I'm sure mine
is low and soft."

Ethelyn said this in such an affected whisper that Patty had to smile.

But Reginald said:

"Pooh, of course you have when you put on airs like that, but naturally
your voice is a cross between a locomotive whistle and scratching on a
slate."

"It isn't!"

"It is!"

"Well, yours isn't a bit better, anyway."

"I didn't say it was, did I?"

"I didn't say you did say so, did I?"

"I didn't say you said I said so, did I?"

"I didn't say you said, I said--you said,--"

"Children, stop quarreling," said Miss Morton, half laughing at the angry
combatants whose flushed faces showed signs of coming tears.

But Patty laughed outright. "What sillies you are," she said, "to squabble
so over nothing."

When school was over, it was time for luncheon, and after that Ethelyn told
Patty that it was the afternoon for dancing-class and they were all to go.

"You must wear your blue crape, Patricia." she said, "and make yourself
look as pretty as you can, and put on all your jewelry."

"But I haven't any jewelry," said Patty; "papa says little girls oughtn't
to wear any."

"No jewelry? Why, how funny. I have loads of it. Well, no matter, I'll lend
you some of mine; or we'll crib some out of mamma's jewel-case; I know
where she hides the key."

"Thank you, Ethelyn, but I wouldn't wear borrowed ornaments, and I don't
want to wear jewelry anyway. I'm not old enough."

"Oh, you are too! what silly, old-fashioned notions you have. And besides,
while you're with us, mamma said you must do whatever we want you to."

So Patty reluctantly allowed Ethelyn to clasp a necklace round her throat,
and slip several jingling bangles on her wrists.

"There!" said Ethelyn, adding an emerald brooch, which she had selected
from her mother's collection, "now you don't look like a pauper anyhow."

"But I don't feel comfortable, Ethelyn, and besides, suppose I should lose
these things."

"Oh, you won't lose them; and if you should, I don't believe mamma would
scold much. She'd like it better than if I let you go looking like a
nobody, and have the Mahoneys think our cousin was poor."

Ethelyn herself was resplendent in red silk trimmed with spangled lace. She
wore shining slippers with high French heels, and all the jewelry she could
cram on to her small person.

Florelle looked like a fairy in a short little white frock, all fine muslin
and lace, with ruffles and frills that stood out in every direction. The
overdressed little midget was delighted with her appearance, and pranced
around in front of the mirror admiring herself. Reginald too, considered
himself very fine in his black velvet suit, with a great white collar and
immense white silk tie.

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