CHAPTER XVI
AN INVITATION DECLINED
Philip Van Reypen went away, and his aunt never knew that he had been toher house on that occasion.
"I'm glad that boy has sense enough to keep away when I tell him to," sheremarked at luncheon, and Patty hastily took a sip of water to hide heruncontrollable smile.
"Yes, he seems to obey you," she said, by way of being agreeable.
"He does. He's a good boy, but too impressionable. He's captivated byevery girl he meets, so I warn you again, Miss Fairfield, not to noticehis pretended interest in you."
Patty tossed her head a little haughtily.
"Do not be alarmed, Mrs. Van Reypen," she said, "I have no interestwhatever in your nephew."
She was a little annoyed at the absurd speeches of the old lady, anddetermined to put a stop to them.
"I should hope not," was the reply. "A person in your position should notaspire to association with young gentlemen like my nephew."
Patty was really angry at this, but her common sense came to her aid. Ifshe elected to play the part of a dependent, she must accept theconsequences. But she allowed herself a pointed rejoinder.
"Perhaps not," she said. "Yet I suppose a companion of Mrs. Van Reypen'swould meet only the best people."
"That, of course. But you cannot meet them as an equal."
"No," agreed Patty, meekly. Then to herself she said: "Only a week ofthis! Only six days now."
That afternoon they went to the dressmaker's.
Patty put on a smart tailored costume, and almost regretted that she hadleft her white furs at home. But she and Nan had agreed that they weretoo elaborate for her use as a companion, so she wore a small neckpieceand muff of chinchilla. But it suited well her dark-blue cloth suit andplain but chic black velvet hat.
The dressmaker, an ultra-fashionable modiste, looked at Patty withinterest, recognising in her costume the work of adept hands.
Moreover, Patty's praise and criticism of Mrs. Van Reypen's new gownsshowed her to be a young woman of taste and knowledge in such matters.
Both the modiste and her aristocratic patron were a little puzzled atPatty's attitude, which, though modest and deferential, was yet sure andtrue in its judgments and opinions.
At last, when Mrs. Van Reypen was undergoing some tedious fitting, Pattyhad an inspiration.
"May I be excused long enough to telephone?" she asked.
"Certainly," said Mrs. Van Reypen, who was in high good humour, becauseof her new finery. "Take all the time you like."
Patty had noticed a telephone booth in the hall, and, shutting herself init, she called up Nan.
By good fortune Nan was at home, and answered at once.
"Oh!" began Patty, giggling, "I've so much to tell you, and it's all sofunny, I can't say a word. We're at the dressmaker's now, and I took thischance to call you up, because I won't be overheard. Oh, Nan, it's greatfun!"
"Tell me the principal facts, Patty. And stop giggling. Is she kind toyou? Is she patronising? Have you a pleasant room? Do you want to comehome? Are you happy there?"
"Oh, Nan, wait a minute, for goodness' sake! Yes, she's patronising--shewon't let me speak to her grand nephew. Oh--I don't mean her grandnephew! I mean her grand, gorgeous, extraordinary nephew. But I don'tcare; I've no desire to speak to him."
"Does he live there?"
"No; and never mind about him, anyway. How are you all? Is father well?Oh, Nan, it seems as if I'd been away from home a year! And what do youthink? I have to dance for her to amuse her!"
"Patty! Not really? Well, you can do that all right."
"Sure I can! Oh, she's a peach! Don't reprove my slang, Nan; I have to beso precise when I'm on duty. Well, I must say good-by now. I'll write youa long letter as soon as I get a chance. To-night we're going to seeMlle. Thingamajig dance, and to-morrow night, to the opera. So you seeI'm not dull."
"Oh, Patty, I wish you'd drop it all and come home! I don't like it, andFred doesn't either."
"Tra-la-la! 'Twill all be over soon! Only six days more. Expect me homenext Thursday afternoon. Love to all. Good-by. Patty!"
Patty hung up the receiver, for she knew if she talked any longer she'dget homesick. The sound of Nan's familiar voice made her long for herhome and her people. But Patty was plucky, and, also, she was doggedlydetermined to succeed this time.
So she went back to Mrs. Van Reypen with a placid countenance, and satfor an hour or more complimenting and admiring the costumes in process ofconstruction.
Somehow the afternoon dragged itself away, and the evening, at thetheatre, passed pleasantly enough.
But the succeeding days went slowly.
Mrs. Van Reypen was difficult to please. She was fretty, irritable,inconsequent, and unjust.
What suited her one day displeased her highly the next.
So long as Patty praised, complimented, and flattered her all went fairlywell.
But if Patty inadvertently disagreed with her, or expressed a contraryopinion, there was a scene.
And again, if Patty seemed especially meek and mild Mrs. Van Reypen wouldsay:
"Don't sit there and assent to everything I say! Do have some mind ofyour own! Express an honest opinion, even though it may differ frommine."
Then, if Patty did this, it would bring down vials of wrath on herinoffensive head. Often she was at her wits' end to know what to say. Buther sense of humour never deserted her, and if she said something,feeling sure she was going to get sorely berated for saying it, she wasable to smile inwardly when the scathing retort was uttered.
Sunday was an especially hard day. It was stormy, so they could not goout.
So Mrs. Van Reypen bade Patty read sermons to her.
When Patty did so she either fell asleep and then, waking suddenly,declared that Patty had been skipping, or else she argued contrary to thedoctrines expressed in the sermons and expected Patty to combat herarguments.
"I'm tired of hearing you read," she said, at last. "You do readabominably. First you go along in staccato jerks, then you drone in amonotone. Philip is a fine reader. I love to hear Philip read. I wishhe'd come in to-day. I wonder why he doesn't? Probably because you'rehere. He must have taken a violent dislike to you, Miss Fairfield."
"Do you think so?" said Patty, almost choking with suppressed laughter atthis version of Philip's attitude toward her.
"Yes, I'm sure he did. For usually he likes my companions--especially ifthey're pretty. And you're pretty, Miss Fairfield. Not the type I admiremyself,--I prefer brunettes,--but still you are pretty in your own way."
"Thank you," said Patty, meekly.
"And you're especially pretty when you dance. I wish you could dance forme now; but, of course, I wouldn't let you dance on Sunday. That's theworst of Sundays. There's so little one can do."
"Shall I sing hymns to you?" inquired Patty, gently, for she really feltsorry for the discontented old lady.
"Yes, if you like," was the not very gracious rejoinder, and, withoutaccompaniment, Patty sang the old, well-known hymns in her true, sweetvoice.
The twilight was falling, and, as Patty's soothing music continued, Mrs.Van Reypen fell asleep in her chair.
Exhausted by a really difficult day Patty also dropped into a doze, andthe two slept peacefully in their chairs in front of the dying embers ofthe wood fire.
It was thus that Philip Van Reypen found them as he came softly in atfive o'clock.
"Well, I'll be excused," he said, to himself, "if I ever saw anything tobeat that!"
His gaze had wandered from his sleeping aunt to Patty, now sound asleepin a big armchair.
The crimson velvet made a perfect background for her golden curls, a bittumbled by her afternoon exertions at being entertaining.
Her posture was one of graceful relaxation, and pretty Patty had neverlooked prettier than she did then, asleep in the faint firelight.
"By Jove!" exclaimed the young man, but not aloud, "if that isn't theprettiest sight ever. I believe th
ere's a tradition that one may kiss alady whom one finds asleep in her chair, but I won't. She's a dear littlegirl, and she shan't be teased."
Then Mr. Philip Van Reypen deliberately, and noiselessly, lifted anotherlarge armchair and, carefully disposing his own goodly proportioned framewithin it, proceeded to fall asleep himself--or if not really asleep, hegave an exceedingly good imitation of it.
Patty woke first. As she slowly opened her eyes she saw Philip dimlythrough the now rapidly gathering dusk.
Quick as a flash she took in the situation, and shut her eyes again,though not until Philip had seen her from beneath his own quivering lids.
After a time she peeped again.
"Why play hide-and-seek?" he whispered.
"What about your promise?" she returned, also under her breath.
"Had to come. Aunty telephoned for me."
"Oh!"
Then Mrs. Van Reypen awoke.
"Who's here?" she cried out. "Oh, Philip, you!"
She heartily kissed her nephew, and then rang for lights and tea.
"Miss Fairfield," she said, not untimidly, but with decision, "you areweary and I'm not surprised at it. Go to your room and rest until dinnertime! I will send your tea to you there."
"Yes, Mrs. Van Reypen," said Patty, demurely, and, with a slightimpersonal bow to Philip, she left the room.
"Oh, I say! Aunty Van!" exclaimed the young man, as Patty disappeared,"don't send her away."
"Be quiet, Philip," said his aunt. "You know you don't like her, and sheneeds a rest."
"Don't like her!" echoed Philip. "Does a cat like cream? Aunty Van,what's the matter with you, anyway? Who is she?"
"She's my companion," was the stern response, "my hired companion, and Ido not wish you to treat her as an equal."
"Equal! She's superior to anything I've ever seen yet."
"Oh, you rogue! You say that, or its equivalent, about every girl youmeet."
"Pooh! Nonsense! But I say, aunty, she'll come down to dinner, won'tshe?"
"Yes--I suppose so. But mind now, Philip, you're not to talk to her as ifshe were of your own class."
"No'm; I won't."
Reassured by the knowledge that he should see her again, Philip was mostaffable and agreeable, and chatted with his aunt in a happy frame ofmind.
Patty, exiled to her own room, decided to write to Nan.
She filled several sheets with accounts of her doings at Mrs. VanReypen's, and gloated over the fact that there were now but four days ofher week left.
"I shall win this time," she wrote, "and, though life here is not a bedof roses, yet it is not so very bad, and when the week is over I shalllook back at it with lots of funny thoughts. Oh, Nan, prepare a fattedcalf for Thursday night, for I shall come home a veritable Prodigal Son!Of course, I don't mean this literally; we have lovely things to eathere, but it's 'hame, hame, fain wad I be.' I won't write again, I'llprobably get no chance, but send Miller for me at four o'clock onThursday afternoon."
After writing the letter Patty felt less homesick. It seemed, somehow, tobring Thursday nearer, to write about it. She began to dress for dinner,and, in a spirit of mischief, she took pains to make a most fetchingtoilette.
Her frock was of white mousseline de soie that twinkled into foolishlittle ruffles all round the hem.
More tiny frills gambolled around the low-cut circular neck and nestledagainst Patty's soft, round arms.
Her curly hair was parted, and massed low at the back of her neck, andbehind one ear she tucked a half-blown pink rosebud.
The long, dreamy day had roused in Patty a contrary wilfulness, and shewas quite ready for fun if any came her way.
At dinner Mrs. Van Reypen monopolised the conversation. She talked mostlyto Philip, but occasionally addressed a remark to Patty. She wasexceedingly polite to her, but made her feel that her share of theconversation must be formal and conventional. Then she would chatter toher nephew about matters unknown to Patty, and then perhaps again throwan observation about the weather at her "companion."
Patty accepted all this willingly enough, but Philip didn't.
He couldn't keep his eyes off Patty, who was looking her very prettiest,and whose own eyes, when she raised them, were full of smiles.
But in vain he endeavoured to make her talk to him.
Patty remembered Mrs. Van Reypen's injunctions, and, though herbewitching personality made such effort useless, she tried to beabsolutely and uninterestingly silent.
"Aunty Van," said Philip, at last, giving up his attempts to make Pattyconverse, "let's have a little theatre party to-morrow night. Shall us?I'll get a box, and if you and Miss Fairfield will go, I'll bedelighted."
"I'll go, with pleasure," replied his aunt, "but Miss Fairfield will beobliged to decline. She has been out late too often since she has beenhere, and she needs rest. So invite the Delafields instead, and that willmake a pleasant quartette."
For an instant Patty was furiously angry at this summary disposal ofherself, but when she saw Philip's face she almost screamed withlaughter.
Crestfallen faintly expressed his appearance. He was crushed, and lookedabsolutely stunned.
"How he is under his aunt's thumb!" thought Patty, secretly disgusted athis lack of self-assertion, but she suddenly changed her mind.
"Thank you, Aunty Van," she heard him saying, in a cool, determinedvoice, "but I prefer to choose my own guests. I do not care to ask theDelafields--unless you especially desire it. I am sorry Miss Fairfieldcannot go, but I trust you will honour me with your presence." Philip hadscored.
Mrs. Van Reypen well knew if she went alone with her nephew, under suchconditions, he would be sulky all the evening. Nor could she insist onhaving the Delafields asked after the way he had put it.
She then nobly endeavoured to undo the mischief she had wrought.
"No, Philip, I don't care especially about the Delafields. And if MissFairfield thinks it will not tire her too much I shall be glad to haveher accept your kindness."
His kindness, indeed! Patty felt like saying, "Do you know I am PatriciaFairfield, and it is I who confer an honour when I accept an invitation?"
It wasn't exactly pride, but Patty had been brought up in an atmosphereof somewhat old-fashioned chivalry, and it jarred on her sense of thefitness of things to have Philip's invitation to her referred to as a"kindness."
So she decided to take a stand herself.
"I thank you for your _kindness_, Mr. Van Reypen," she said, with justthe slightest emphasis on _kindness_, "but I cannot accept it. I quiteagree with Mrs. Van Reypen that I need rest."
The speech was absurd on the face of it, for Patty's rosy, dimpled cheeksand sparkling eyes betokened no weariness or lassitude.
But Mrs. Van Reypen accepted this evidence of the girl's obedience to herwishes, and said:
"You are right, Miss Fairfield, and my nephew will excuse you from hisparty."
Philip sent her a reproachful glance, and Patty dropped her eyes again,wishing dinner was over.
At last the ladies left the table, and Philip rose and held aside theportiere while his aunt passed through.
As Patty followed, he detained her a moment, and whispered:
"It is cruel of you to punish me for my aunt's unkindness."
"I can't help it," said Patty, and as her troubled eyes met his angryones they both smiled, and peace was restored.
"After Friday," whispered Patty, as she went through the doorway.
"After Friday," he repeated, puzzled by her words, but reassured by hersmiles.
And then Mrs. Van Reypen sent Patty to her room for the night, and whenPhilip came to the drawing-room he found he was destined to beentertained by his aunt alone.
"Of course," said Patty, to her own reflection in her mirror, "acompanion can't expect to sit with 'the quality,' but it does seem ashame to dress up pretty like this and then be sent to bed at nineo'clock! Never mind, only three evenings more in this house, and thenvictory for Patty Fairfield!"
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Patty's Success Page 16