Patty's Social Season by Carolyn Wells

All the time Patty was dressing she wondered about that letter; and / when Mona, ready for dinner, stopped at her door, Patty drew her into / the room.

"Mona," she said, "did you get a Christmas card from Mr. Farnsworth?"

"Yes," said Mona, "in a big blue envelope. Daisy had one, too. Didn't / you get one?"

"No; Jim said there was one for me, but it got lost somehow. Thrown in / the fire, I shouldn't wonder."

"Well, don't mind," said Mona, cheerfully. "You can have mine. It / isn't very pretty, and Daisy's isn't either, but I suppose they're the / best Bill could find out there in Arizona. Do you want it now, Patty?"

"I don't want it at all, Mona. What would I want with your card, or / Daisy's either? But if Little Billee sent one to me, I'd like to have / it, that's all."

"Of course you would; but truly, they don't amount to much."

"Jim must have been mistaken about there being one for me," said / Patty, and then the two girls went downstairs.

The Christmas dinner was practically a repetition of the feast of the / night before; but as Adele said, how could that be helped if people / would have two Christmas celebrations on successive days?

There were four extra guests, who proved to be merry and jolly young / people, and after dinner Hal declared that his reign as Lord of / Misrule was not yet over.

"Don't let's do any more stunts like we had last night," said Mona. / "They wear me out. Let's play easy games, like blindman's buff, or / something."

"Or Copenhagen," said Hal, but Patty frowned at him.

"We're too grown-up for such things," she declared, with dignity. / "What do you say to a nice, dignified game of hide and seek?"

"All over the house! " cried Roger. "May we, Mrs. Kenerley?"

"The house is yours," said Adele. "I reserve no portion of it. From / cellar to attic, from drawing-room to kitchen, hide where you will and / seek where you like, -- if you'll only promise not to wake the baby. / She's taking her afternoon nap."

"She doesn't seem to mind noise," said Roger. "We do make an awful / racket, you know."

"Oh, no, I don't mean that," said Adele. "I've trained her not to / mind noise. But I mean if your hiding and seeking takes you into the / nursery quarters, do go softly."

"Of course we will," said Philip. "I'm specially devoted to that baby, / and I'll see that her nap isn't disturbed, even if I have to stand / sentry at her door. But what larks to have the whole house! I've never / played it before but what they wouldn't let you hide in this room or / that room. Who'll be It?"

"Oh, that's an old-fashioned way to play," said Hal. "Here's a better / way. Either all the men hide and the girls find them, or else the / other way around; and, anyway, don't you know, whoever finds who, has / to be her partner or something."

"For life? " asked Jim, looking horrified.