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Patty Fairfield

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Then Florelle set up such a howl to go, that Patty begged her aunt to take
her, and the child went.

Reginald declined to be left out of such a family affair, so Patty was
amply escorted to her destination.

They went on board the _Priscilla_, a beautiful boat of the Fall River
Line, and Mr. St. Clair soon found Mr. Fleming, who had agreed to meet him
at a certain spot.

Then Patty was introduced to her Cousin Tom, who was a tall young man of
about thirty-five, with a pointed beard, and dark, pleasant eyes.

"So this is my little Southern cousin," he said, cordially, as he took her
hand.

Then he chatted affably with the whole party until the warning gong
announced that they must go ashore.

Ethelyn was heart-broken at the thought of parting, and flinging her arms
round Patty's neck, burst into tears.

This was enough for Florelle, who promptly followed suit, and set up one of
her very best howls.

With a good-bye kiss to his niece, Uncle Robert picked up the screaming
child and marshaled his family off of the boat, and Patty was left alone
with her new-found cousin.




CHAPTER VIII


AN ABSENT-MINDED COUSIN

"Now, Patty," said Cousin Tom, as they walked along the saloon, "I am going
to hand you over to the stewardess, who will show you your stateroom. Go
with her, and she will look after you. I think you would better leave off
that heavy coat, as it is too chilly outside to permit of going on deck,
and the atmosphere within is quite warm. Ah, here she is. Stewardess, this
is Miss Fairfield and here is her stateroom key. See to it that she is made
comfortable."

As Mr. Fleming supplemented his request with a pecuniary argument, the
stewardess made Patty her especial charge, and assiduously looked after her
comfort.

"And, Patty," said her cousin, as she turned away, "when you are ready,
come back and you will find me right here. See, just by this staircase.
Lock your door and bring the key with you."

Patty felt as if she had suddenly grown several years younger, for Cousin
Tom talked to her as to a little child. "It's more like Wonderland than
ever," she said to herself. "Only instead of growing big or little, I grow
old or young. At Aunt Isabel's I was considered a young lady but Cousin Tom
seems to think I'm a small child."

The stewardess, who was a good-natured old colored woman, took Patty to her
stateroom, and then helped her to unpack her traveling-bag, and arrange her
belongings for the night.

As Aunt Isabel had bought her clothes, of course Patty was absurdly
overdressed.

When she took off her blue velvet coat with its ermine collar, her blue
silk, lace-trimmed dress looked far more suitable for a grand reception
than for traveling.

"Laws, missy," said the voluble stewardess, "how handsome you is!"

Patty thought this a reference to her dress, but the remark was meant for
the child herself, whose flower-like face looked out from a most becoming
big hat of plaited blue velvet, and her golden hair fell in a loosely tied
bunch of long thick curls.

When Patty returned to her Cousin Tom, she found him sitting just where he
said he would be, but so deeply absorbed in a book that he didn't see or
hear her approach.

Not wishing to disturb his reading, she sat down in the large chair next to
him and waited.

She didn't mind this at all, for it was very interesting to watch the
people passing up and down, and the saloon itself was beautiful to look at.
Patty sat for a long while, but Cousin Tom never moved, except to turn the
pages of his book. She did not like to speak to him, as she feared he would
think it necessary to lay aside his book and entertain her; she had no wish
to trouble him, and beside, she was quite capable of entertaining herself.

So after she had sat still for a long while, she decided to walk about the
cabin a bit, always keeping in sight of Cousin Tom, if he should raise his
eyes. But he didn't, and Patty strayed farther and farther away from him,
until she had explored all the available parts of the boat.

She was much interested in all she saw, and many admiring eyes followed the
pretty, graceful child as she walked about.

When she reached the dining-room she looked in, and the sight of the
passengers sitting at well-filled tables made her feel very hungry, and she
wondered if Cousin Tom would finish his book in time to give her any
dinner. Somehow she felt sure he never would look up until he _had_
finished the book.

She went back and sat down again beside him with a little sigh. But he
didn't hear the little sigh, and kept on reading.

Patty looked at him curiously. There was little hope of his finishing the
book, for he was only about half-way through it, and he read very slowly,
turning the pages at long intervals. She could see his eyes move eagerly
along the printed lines, as if delighted with what he found there.

She waited a while longer, and then said to herself, "I don't care, I'm
going to speak to him. I've waited a million hours, and the dinner will be
all eaten up."

She didn't speak, but she rose and stood by his side, and then with a
sudden impulse she laid her hand with outspread fingers upon the page he
was reading.

Cousin Tom jumped as if a firecracker had exploded in his vicinity, and he
looked at Patty with a dazed expression.

"Bless my soul!" he said, "why, little one, I forgot all about you. Will
you forgive me? Have you been here long? I was reading, you see, and I
didn't hear you come."

"I've been here an hour, Cousin Tom," said Patty, demurely.

"An hour? No! Is it possible? You poor child, why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh, I didn't mind," said Patty, "and you seemed to be all wrapped up in
your book."

"Yes, I was,--I was. But I'll try to make amends. Come, let's go and have
some dinner."

Taking Patty's hand, Cousin Tom strode along the saloon, and down the
stairs, and Patty almost had to run to keep up with his long steps.

"Now," said he, as they seated themselves at a table and an obsequious
waiter began to put ice and then water into their glasses. "Now, what would
you like to eat?"

"Oh, anything at all," said Patty, gaily, "I'm hungry enough to eat,--I
don't know what."

"Yes, yes, of course you are,--poor child,--so sorry I forgot you,--quite
inexcusable of me."

Mr. Fleming was looking over the bill of fare as he talked, and then he
looked doubtfully at Patty, as if uncertain what he ought to order for her.

"What would you like for your dinner, child? Now don't say you don't care,
or that you'll leave it to me, for little girls always say that, and I
declare I don't know what you ought to have."

"All right," said Patty, who was quite equal to the occasion. "Let's have
some lobster mayonnaise, and some mushrooms under glass, and little tiny
clams, and tutti-frutti and a Dewey Punch."

Cousin Tom stared at her in amazement.

"What are you talking about?" he exclaimed; "you'd be dead if you ate all
those things. Are they on the bill of fare? What is a 'Dewey Punch'?"

"Oh, I don't die so easily as that. Ethelyn and I used to eat worse mixes
than that, whenever we lunched at the New York restaurants, A Dewey Punch
is a lovely kind of ice cream with strawberry jam or something poured all
over it. I don't see it on the list; perhaps they don't have it. Never
mind, we'll take meringue glacé."

"Indeed we won't. I've changed my mind and I'll order this dinner myself.
You shall have some soup, a broiled chicken, some vegetables and a plain
ice cream. There, how do you like that?"

Cousin Tom didn't speak crossly at all, but very decidedly, and there was a
pleasant twinkle in his eye that took away all idea of censure, so Patty
said, amiably:

"I think it will be very nice and I really don't care what we have, only
you told me to suggest something, so I did."

"Certainly, that's all right, but your suggestions were suicidal. Are you
familiar with Bacon?"

Oh, thought Patty, he's going to order the breakfast over night, and I hate
bacon.

"Yes," she said, "but I don't like it at all."

"You don't? What a perverted taste. But Boston will soon change that. We
have a Bacon club, which you shall join. It is a most delightful club, and
you will like it, I'm sure. I fancy that in a few weeks I shall see you
devouring Bacon with intense enjoyment."

Indeed I won't, thought Patty. She was about to say that her Uncle Robert
belonged to a Terrapin Club, but refrained, thinking it might be impolite
to imply disparagement to the more lowly bacon.

So she changed the subject, and said:

"Please, Cousin Tom, tell me something of your family. It's so queer to go
to see people and not know anything about them beforehand. But so far, my
relatives have been very nice."

"Oh, the Flemings are a wonderful family," said Cousin Tom, gaily, "we are
all going to do something great, but somehow we haven't hit it off yet."

"Cousin Elizabeth is an author, isn't she?" inquired Patty, a little
timidly, for she had never seen a real, live author.

"Yes," said Mr. Fleming, "Elizabeth is an author, that is, she writes
novels when she isn't doing anything else; Barbara is a club woman, but she
writes too, more or less."

"And what do you do? Are you literary?"

"Yes, I'm writing a book, myself. It's a treatise on The Will, and I
flatter myself I have some novel theories; and then there's Ruth, you
know."

"Ruth, who is she?"

"Oh, she's our cousin, who lives with us. Not your cousin, you know. She is
father's brother's child, and her people live in the country; so, as she
has a fine mind, she lives with us in order to have the advantage of a
Boston education."

"How old is she?" asked Patty.

"Fourteen or fifteen, I think. She'll be company for you; I think you'll
like her, though she is very different from you."

"What is she like?" asked Patty, much interested in this new and unexpected
comrade.

"Why, she is quiet, and very studious, and--but you'll see her yourself,
to-morrow, so I'll let you form your own opinion."

After dinner they had a short promenade on deck, but the wind was so
strong, that Patty was glad to return to the warm, light saloon, and they
sat down on one of the red velvet sofas. Cousin Tom didn't resume his book,
and Patty felt that he was politely trying to entertain her.

So with a desire to entertain him in return, she asked him to tell her
about the book he was writing.

This seemed to please him immensely, and he eagerly launched into a
description of its scope and plan.

As the subject was far above Patty's comprehension, she listened without
understanding it clearly at all, and after a half hour or so, the
continuous conversation, and the soothing motion of the boat caused the
little girl quite unintentionally to fall sound asleep.

Mr. Fleming kept on talking for some time after this, when suddenly it
occurred to him that his cousin sat very still, and peering round the
corner of the big blue velvet hat, he discovered that his audience was
quite oblivious to his learned discourse.

At first he looked a little annoyed, then he smiled compassionately, for
the tired child seemed to be very peacefully resting, and her pretty head
made a lovely picture against the red velvet sofa.

Mr. Fleming sent for the stewardess, and then awoke the little sleeper.

"Come, Patty," said he, gently tapping her on the shoulder, "it's bedtime,
little girl, and you must run away to your bunk."

Patty opened her eyes and stared about her.

"Oh, Cousin Tom," she said, as she remembered the circumstances under which
she had fallen asleep, "I'm _so_ sorry,--I didn't mean to go to sleep, and
I _was_ interested."

"That's all right, my small cousin," said Mr. Fleming, "and now go along
with the stewardess, and go to sleep and get a good night's rest." Patty
did as Cousin Tom directed, and never wakened until she heard the steamer
scraping against the dock early the next morning.

She rose and dressed quickly, and when the stewardess came for her, she was
quite ready to go to meet Cousin Tom, who awaited her in the cabin.

"I shall give you a roll and a cup of coffee," he said, as if half afraid
that Patty would want to order unheard-of dishes, "for they are expecting
us home to breakfast, and we have only fifteen minutes before our train
starts for Boston."

Patty drank her coffee and ate her roll with a relish, and declared herself
ready to start. A short ride in the cars brought them to Boston. They left
the train and entered the waiting-room, where Cousin Tom placed Patty in a
seat, and told her to stay there and not move while he attended to her
trunks.

Patty obediently sat still, and soon she saw Cousin Tom returning. But just
before he reached her, he met a man whom he evidently knew, and whom he
seemed overjoyed to meet. The two men talked earnestly together, and then
both turned and walked away.

Patty had seen instances of her cousin's absent-mindedness, even since he
had neglected to take her to dinner the night before, and she guessed at
once that he had forgotten her existence, and was going away with his
friend.

She had no intention of being deserted in this way, so she left the bags
and wraps which she was supposed to be guarding, and ran after him.

"Cousin Tom!" she cried as she caught up with him, "where are you going?"

"Bless my soul!" he exclaimed, staring at her, "I forgot you were with me.
What shall I do? Allow me to present Mr. Harding. Ted, this is my cousin,
Miss Patty Fairfield; I am supposed to be escorting her home, but if what
you tell me is so, I must go at once to see Varian. Wait, I have it, Patty;
I'll send you home by a messenger; you don't mind, do you?"

"No, indeed, Cousin Tom," said Patty; "send me any way you like."

So Mr. Fleming called a messenger-boy, and giving Patty, and all the wraps
and bags into his charge, he sent them to his mother's house. "Tell them I
met Harding, and had to go away with him on some very important business,"
he said to Patty. "I'll be home to-night,--good-bye."

And with a hasty hand-shake, he turned again to his friend and they walked
rapidly away.

"Come this way, miss," said the messenger, who was a tall youth, polite and
deferential, and who appeared not at all surprised at the order given him.
"I'll take you along all right."

He piloted Patty with great care and after riding for some distance on the
street cars, they arrived at Mrs. Fleming's house.




CHAPTER IX


THE FLEMINGS

The messenger-boy rang the door bell, and a white-capped maid opened the
door. When she saw the uniformed youth, she held out her hand for his book,
signed it and dismissed him.

Then turning to Patty, she said, "This way, miss," and ushered her into a
small reception room.

As Patty wrote to her father afterwards, she felt like a package sent from
a department store, and she looked down, almost expecting to find herself
wrapped in paper and tied with a string.

After she had waited about ten minutes, a tall young woman came quickly
down-stairs and passed along the hall. She had on a hat and jacket, and was
evidently going away in a great hurry.

As she went by the reception room, she caught sight of Patty through the
open door, and stopped in surprise.

"Good-morning," she said, in a quick, hurried way. "Did you wish to see
me?"

"I don't know," said Patty, uncertain whether this was a cousin or a
visitor at the house. "I am Patty Fairfield."

"Oh, yes, of course,--our cousin from the South. I'm so glad to see
you,"--she shook Patty's hand hastily,--"but I must ask you to excuse me
this morning, as I am just going to a meeting of the 'Current Events' Club,
and I am already five minutes late."

With an apologetic smile she hastened away, and Patty waited again.

Then she heard another step on the stairs, and another lady entered the
room. This time it was Aunt Hester. She was a delicate looking little woman
with silver hair, but Patty knew her at once from her resemblance to her
father, who was Mrs. Fleming's brother.

"My dear child," said her aunt, as she kissed Patty, affectionately, "we
are very glad to have you with us. But where is Tom?"

"He met a friend, Mr. Harding, and went away with him on very important
business. He said to tell you he would be home to-night, and he sent me
here by a messenger-boy."

"Very well; I am glad you reached here safely. Are you hungry? Have you
breakfasted?"

"I had coffee and rolls on the boat, but I _am_ hungry," said Patty,
frankly.

"Of course you are; well, you shall have something to eat. Let me look at
you. Yes, you do look a little like brother Fred. How old are you?"

"Fourteen," replied Patty.

"Ah, just the age of Ruth Fleming, who lives with us, and who will be
pleasant company for you. I hope you will be happy with us, my dear, and
you mustn't mind being left to yourself a bit, for we are very busy people.
Life is too short to be wasted in idleness."

"Yes," assented Patty, thinking that this aunt was indeed very different
from Aunt Isabel.

"And now," continued Mrs. Fleming, "I am going to send Molly to you, and
she will show you to your room, and afterwards give you some breakfast. I
must ask you to excuse me this morning, as I have to go to the
sewing-class. Ruth is at school, but we will all meet at luncheon which is
served promptly at one."

Mrs. Fleming went away, not hurriedly, but with a quick, decided step, and
in a few moments Molly, the maid appeared.

She was a merry-looking Irish girl, and her pleasant smile was such a
contrast to the preoccupied manners of the ladies, that Patty felt friendly
towards her at once.

"Come with me, Miss Fairfield," she said, and taking up Patty's
hand-luggage, she led the way to a room on the third floor. It was a
good-sized room, very neat and well-furnished, but with none of the luxury
and beauty of Patty's room at Villa Rosa.

There was a square dressing-table and exactly in the centre of it was a
square pincushion, with a glass toilet bottle on either side and behind it
a smaller glass bottle to match. The chairs were stiff and straight, and
there was a haircloth sofa with a small, square pillow at each end and one
in the middle.

In the centre of the room was a table with books on it, and writing
materials, and a drop-light hung over it from the chandelier above.

Though plain in its appointments, the room was light and airy and
exquisitely neat and well-kept.

Molly deftly unfastened Patty's bag and shawl-straps, and then said:

"Now, miss, I'll go below, and when you're ready, come down three flights
of stairs to the dining-room, and I'll give you some breakfast."

Patty thanked her, and when she had left the room, Patty sat down in the
small, straight-backed rocking-chair to "think herself out," as she
sometimes expressed it.

She felt a little homesick for the warm-hearted friends at Villa Rosa, and
yet she felt sure her Boston relatives were going to be very nice, if only
they could ever find time to talk to her.

She wondered if the ladies were always hurrying off to club-meetings, and
if Ruth were always studying. She would be glad when Cousin Tom came home,
for she was very sure she liked him.

She looked critically at her surroundings and decided that when her trunks
came, and she could put the pretty things that she owned all about, the
room would look much more cozy and attractive, and so, though her reception
had chilled her a little, she thought that perhaps she would have a good
time in Boston after all.

She jumped up and began to arrange such things as she had brought with her.

Her pretty silver brushes and trays looked somewhat out of place on the
prim dressing-table, but Patty thought them a decided improvement. Then she
unwrapped her mother's portrait, and placed it on the writing-table.

"It's a funny place, this, motherdy," she whispered to the picture, "and I
don't know whether we'll like it or not; but we'll be happy together, you
and I. And I think we'll like Aunt Hester, for she's papa's sister, you
know, so she must be nice."

Then Patty went down the three flights of stairs, as directed, in search of
Molly.

"It's funny," she said to herself, "to go down cellar to breakfast. But I'm
sure she said three flights," and sure enough, when she reached the
basement, Molly met her with a kindly smile, saying,

"Come this way, miss," and Patty found that the front basement was the
dining-room.

Its large windows were protected by iron railings, and the whole room had
an air of solemn dignity rather than cheerfulness, but Molly was so
pleasant and cordial that Patty felt cheerful at once.

The smiling Irish girl brought her some fruit, an omelet, hot rolls and
delicious coffee, and after she had finished her solitary meal, Patty felt
better able to cope with whatever might be awaiting her.

But apparently, nothing awaited her.

It was about ten o'clock, and as luncheon was announced for one, Patty
wondered what she was expected to do in the meantime.

She asked Molly where Miss Elizabeth Fleming was.

"Laws, miss," said Molly, rolling her eyes, "don't make no attempt for to
see her. She's writin' a novel, and she's up in her den on the fourth
floor. We don't even call her to her meals. If she wants to come, she
comes; and if she don't, I takes a few things up and sets 'em outside her
door."

"Oh," said Patty, with great interest, "can't you speak to people when
they're writing novels?"

"Indade, no, miss. It spiles the whole thing, and they has to begin all
over again if a word is spoken to them."

"I think that's wonderful," said Patty, much impressed, "and I'm just crazy
to see my Cousin Elizabeth. And Ruth, where is she?"

"Miss Ruth, she's at her school, miss, around on the next block. She'll be
home at one o'clock and then you'll see her. Now why don't ye go and lie
down and rest yerself?"

"But I'm not tired," said Patty, "I just want to get started; get to living
here, you know. Can't I go into the library and look at some of the books?"

"Yes, miss, sure, if there's nobody there. I'll shlip up an' peep."

Molly went softly up-stairs, and Patty followed on tiptoe. It seemed
strange to be so quiet, for at Villa Rosa everybody seemed to try to make
all the noise possible.

"You can go in," said Molly, after her peep, "nobody's there; but the
chairs is all settin' in rows, so I guess a club or somethin' is comin'.
But go in, miss, dear, an' amuse yerself."

So Patty went in the library, which was a large back room on the main
floor.

It has been said that a house without a library is like a body without a
soul, and surely the library was the soul of the Fleming home. It was a
beautiful room, built out behind the rest of the house, with a large
skylight of stained glass, and a wide bay window whose cushioned seats
looked very attractive.

Patty sat down and looked about her. The room was furnished with many
well-filled bookcases, several small desks and tables, and a number of
reading-chairs, whose broad arms held books and magazines.

Patty began at once to examine the titles of the books, and was delighted
to find a large case full of children's books, containing all her old
favorites, and many more that she had never read.

She selected "The Water Babies," which belonged to the latter class, and
curling herself up on the window-seat, was soon absorbed in the story.

A little later, she heard the street door open and shut, and then Cousin
Barbara whisked hurriedly into the library. She didn't see Patty at first,
but sat down at a desk at the other end of the room, and hastily sorted
over some papers.

"Ten-thirty to eleven-thirty, pigs," she murmured; "eleven-thirty to
twelve, write paper on Choctaw costumes; twelve to one, attend Bootblacks'
dinner. Ten-thirty! Why it's time for the pigs now."

"Will I interfere with the pigs if I stay here, Cousin Barbara?" said
Patty, curious to see the animals appear, but not wishing to intrude.

"What! are you there, Patty? Yes, you may stay if you like, but make no
noise or disturbance of any kind."

"I won't," said Patty, and then Miss Barbara proceeded to ignore her small
cousin's presence, and in her hurried way, prepared her books and papers,
and laid small slips of paper and pencils in various chairs, and
occasionally jotted down something in a small note-book which she took from
her pocket.

Soon several strange ladies were ushered into the room by Molly, and Patty
was much disappointed by the fact that they brought no pigs with them, and
was just hoping that they would arrive later, when the meeting was called
to order, and she learned that it was a committee from the Town Improvement
Association, to consider ways and means for the amelioration of the general
condition of the Common Pig.

Patty thought this was very funny, and wanted to laugh when the ladies
discussed it seriously and with great enthusiasm. Sometimes several talked
at once, and then Cousin Barbara rapped on her desk with a little hammer
and they began all over again.

At half-past eleven, they all went away, and Cousin Barbara whipped out her
packets of papers once more. Then she selected several books from the
shelves, and sat down to write. Presently she looked up, bewildered.

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