Patty's Social Season by Carolyn Wells

Patty was singing softly to herself, as she fluttered around her / boudoir at a rather late hour the next morning. Robed in a soft blue / silk negligee, with her golden curls tucked into a little lace / breakfast cap, she now paused to take a sip of chocolate or a bit of a / roll from her breakfast tray, then danced over to the window to look / out, or back to her desk to look up her calendar of engagements for / the day.

"What a flutter-budget you are, Patty," said Nan, appearing at the / doorway, and pausing to watch Patty's erratic movements.

Patty flew across the room and greeted her stepmother with an / affectionate squeeze, and then flew back and dropped comfortably on / the couch, tucking one foot under her, and thereby dropping off a / little blue silk boudoir slipper as she did so.

"Oh, Nan! " she began, "it was the most exciting party ever! What _do_ / you think? Christine and Mr. Hepworth are engaged!"

"Christine! and Gilbert Hepworth! " and Nan was quite as surprised at / the news as Patty could desire.

"Yes, isn't it great! and oh, Nan, what _do_ you think? Christine was / all broken up, -- crying in fact, -- because, -- did you ever know anything / so ridiculous? -- because she thought she was taking him away from me!"

Nan looked at Patty a little curiously. "Well; you must know, Patty, / he certainly thought a great deal of you."

"Of course he did! And of course he _does! _ -- You speak as if he were / dead! -- and I think a great deal of him, and I think a heap of / Christine, and I think they are perfectly suited to each other, and I / think it's all just lovely! Don't you?"

"Yes," said Nan, slowly. "Then, you didn't care for him especially, / Patty?"

"Good gracious, Nan, if you mean was I in love with him, I sure was / _not! _ Little girls like me don't fall in love with elderly gentlemen; / and this particular little girl isn't falling in love anyway. Why, / Nan, I'm only just out, and I do perfectly adore being out! I want / three or four years of good, solid outness before I even think of / falling in love with anybody. Of course I shall marry eventually, and / be a beautiful, lovely housekeeper, just exactly like you. But, if you / remember, my lady, you were some few years older than nineteen when / you married my revered father."

"That's true enough, Patty, and I can tell you I'm glad I didn't / accept any of the young men who asked me before Fred did."

"I'm jolly glad, too; and father was in luck when he got you. But / you're not going to be rid of me yet for a long time, I can tell you / that much. Well, more things happened last night. Philip and I made up / our quarrel, -- which wasn't much of a quarrel anyway, -- and Roger and / Mona are pretty much at peace again; though, if Mona keeps on with / that Lansing idiot, Roger won't stand it much longer. And I'm going to / the opera to-night in the Van Reypen box, and I'm going skating / to-morrow, -- oh, there's the mail!"

Patty jumped up and ran to take the letters from Jane, who brought in / a trayful.

"Quite a bunch for you, Nansome," and Patty tossed a lot of letters in / Nan's lap. "And a whole lot of beautiful, fat envelopes for me. 'Most / all invitations, as you can see at a glance. Two or three requests for / charity, -- they show on the outside, too. A few bills, a few circulars / and advertisements, and all the rest invitations. Isn't it gorgeous, / Nan, to be invited to such heaps of things?"

"Don't wear yourself out, Patty," returned Nan, a little / absent-mindedly, being absorbed in a letter from her mother.

Having weeded out the more interesting looking letters, Patty returned / to her sofa, and curled up there with both feet under her, looking / like a very pretty and very civilised little Turk. With a slender / paper cutter she slashed all the envelopes, and then went through them / one by one, making running comments of delight or indifference as she / read the various contents.

But suddenly a more excited exclamation broke from her. "Oh, my / goodness, gracious, sakes alive! " she cried. "Nan, _will_ you listen / to this!"

"Wait a minute, honey, till I finish this letter," and Nan went on / reading to herself.

Patty dashed through eight pages of sprawly penmanship, and as soon as / she finished she read it all over again.

"Now, Miss Fairfield, what's it all about? " and Nan folded her own / letter and returned it to its envelope.