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Page 36
"That doesn't frighten me," declared Patty, calmly. "I've seen
bigger men than that, if it was in a circus! Skip along, girls,
but come back soon. I think this house party is too much given to
staying in the house. Are you for a dip in the ocean before
dinner, Mr. Cromer?"
"No; not if I may sit here with you instead."
"Oh, Aunt Adelaide and I are delighted to keep you here. All the
guests seem to run away from me. I know not why!"
Naughty Patty drew a mournful sigh, and looked as if she had lost
her last friend, which look, on her pretty, saucy face, was very
fetching indeed.
"I'll never run away from you!" declared Mr. Cromer, in so earnest
a tone that Patty laughed.
"You'd better!" she warned. "I'm so contrary minded by nature that
the more people run away from me the better I like them."
"Ah," said Laurence Cromer, gravely; "then I shall start at once.
Mrs. Parsons, will you not go for a stroll with me round the
gardens?"
Aunt Adelaide rose with alacrity, and willingly started off with
the young artist, who gave not another glance in Patty's
direction.
"H'm," said Patty to herself, as the pair walked away. "H'm! I
rather like that young man! He has some go to him." She laughed
aloud at her own involuntary joke, and stood, watching Aunt
Adelaide's mincing steps, as she tripped along the garden path.
As Patty stood thus, she did not see or hear a large and stalwart
young man come up on the veranda, and, smiling roguishly, steal up
behind her. But in a moment, she felt herself clasped in two
strong arms, and a hearty kiss resounded on her pink cheek.
CHAPTER IX
BIG BILL FARNSWORTH
"How are you?" exclaimed a voice as hearty as the kiss, and Patty,
with a wild spring, jumped from the encircling arms, and turned to
face a towering giant, who, she knew at once, must be Mr.
Farnsworth.
"How DARE you!" she cried, stamping her foot, and flashing furious
glances, while her dimpled cheeks burned scarlet.
"Whoopee! Wowly-wow-wow! I thought you were Mona! Oh, can you EVER
forgive me? But, no, of course you can't! So pronounce my doom!
Shall I dash myself into the roaring billows and seek a watery
grave? Oh, no, no! I see by your haughty glare that is all too
mild a punishment! Then, have me tarred and feathered, and drawn
and quartered and ridden on a rail! Send for the torturers! Send
for the Inquisitioners! But, remember this! I didn't know I was
kissing a stranger. I thought I was kissing my cousin Mona. If I
had known,--oh, my dear lady,--if I had KNOWN,--I should have
kissed you TWICE!"
This astonishing announcement was doubtless induced by the fact
that Patty had been unable to resist his wheedlesome voice and
frank, ingenuous manner, and she had indulged in one of her most
dimpled smiles.
With her face still flushed by the unexpected caress, and her
golden curls still rumpled from the baby's mischievous little
fingers, Patty looked like a harum-scarum schoolgirl.
"Be careful," she warned, shaking a finger at him. "I was just
about to forgive you because of your mistake in identity, but if
you make me really angry, I'll NEVER forgive you."
"Come back, and ALL will be forgiven," said the young man, mock-
dramatically, as he held out his arms for a repetition of the
scene.
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