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Page 13
"The saints presarve us, Miss Patty, it wuddent go halfway round
me!"
"No; so it wouldn't. Well, I'll find something. Oh, there's a gown
in the attic that Mrs. Allen left here--she's Nan's mother,
Mona,--that will be just right. It's grey satin and silver lace. Oh,
Susan, you'll look GREAT!"
Mona still seemed a trifle unconvinced.
"Patty," she said, "you know I usually think what you do is all
right,--but this,--well, this seems so very crazy."
"Mona, my child," said Patty, serenely, "I warned you that our
ways might clash, and you said I might do exactly as I chose while
at 'Red Chimneys.'"
"So I did, Patty,--and so I do. I'll go home now, and leave the
rest of this performance to you. Come over soon, won't you?"
"Yes," said Patty, "I'll be there for dinner. Good-bye, Mona."
After Mona had gone, Patty turned to Susan.
"You know, Susan, this is to be a dead secret. Don't ever tell
anybody. And you must obey my orders implicitly. I'll pay you
something extra for your trouble."
"Sure, it's no trouble at all, Miss Patty. I'd do anything for ye,
whativer. But you must be afther tellin' me just what to do."
"Of course I will. And, first of all, Susan, you must go home,--I
mean, to your sister's,--get your dinner there, and then come to
'Red Chimneys' about half-past seven and ask for me. They'll bring
you right up to my room, and I'll dress you up as I think best.
Then we'll take you down to the drawing-room, and all you'll have
to do, Susan, is to sit there all the evening in a big easy chair.
Can you knit, Susan?"
"Yes, Miss Patty."
"Well, bring a piece of knitting work, not an old grey thing,--a
piece of nice, fleecy white wool work. Have you any?"
"I've not, Miss, but I'll get some white yarn from my sister, and
start a shawl or a tippet."
"Yes; do that. Then you just sit there, you know, and knit and
glance around the room now and then, and smile benignly. Can you
smile benignly, Susan?"
Susan tried, and after one or two lessons from Patty, was
pronounced proficient in that art.
"Then, Susan, if there's music, you must listen, and wag your head
in appreciation, so! When we dance, you must look on with interest
and again smile benignly. Not many of the young people will talk
to you, except to be introduced at first, but if they do, answer
them pleasantly, and use your brogue as little as possible. Do you
understand, Susan?"
And as Susan possessed the quick wit and ready adaptability of her
race, she did see; and as she adored her young mistress above any
one on earth, she was only too willing to please her; and, too,
the occasion had its charms for a good-hearted, hard-working
Irishwoman.
She declared her willingness to obey Patty's orders, promised to
keep it all a profound secret, and then went away to her sister's
house until the appointed time.
CHAPTER IV
A PERFECTLY GOOD CHAPERON
It was nearly six o'clock when Patty reached "Red Chimneys." She
carried a bandbox, and Miller, who followed her, carried a large
suitcase, and various other parcels.
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