Patty's Social Season by Carolyn Wells

Once safely behind her locked door, Patty tore open her blue envelope. / It was only a card, -- but not an ordinary printed Christmas card.

In the upper corner was a spray of apple blossoms, exquisitely / painted; and on the card were some verses, written in a hand that was / small and fine, but unmistakably the same as the address on the / outside of the envelope.

With a little sigh of pleasure, Patty cuddled up in her arm-chair to / read the Christmas message.

But it proved to be not very Christmassy, after all; for this is what / she read:

"MY LADY OF DELIGHT

"My Lady of Delight's a dainty, winsome thing; / She's Queen of Summertime, and Princess of the Spring. / Her lovely, smiling lips are roses set to rhyme, / She has a merry, lilting laugh, like Bluebells all a-chime. / The radiance of her smile, the sunshine in her eyes, / Is like the Dawn of breaking Day upon the summer skies.

"With roguish glances bright, all on a Summer Day, / My Lady of Delight she stole my heart away; / And though I humbly beg and plead with her, alack! / My Lady of Delight, she will not give it back. / I seem to see her now, with tangled golden curl, / With dancing eyes, and smiling lips, -- My Apple Blossom Girl!

"Oh, Lady of Delight, I pray you, smile on me; / Oh, Lady of Delight, your Knight I fain would be; / Oh, Lady of Delight, you set my heart aglow. / I only know / I love you so, / Dear Lady of Delight!"

Patty read the verses over twice, with shining eyes.

"I wonder if he wrote them himself," she mused. "I don't believe he / did; he must have copied them. He knows an awful lot of pretty poetry / like that. And yet it doesn't sound like a real poet's poetry, either. / And he used to call me Apple Blossom, -- such a pretty name. Philip / would never think of such a thing as that. I wonder if I like Little / Billee better than I do Philip. I wonder if he likes me better. But of / course he can't, or he would have written to me in all this time. I / haven't seen him since August, and he never wrote a word, except the / stiffest kind of a line with those flowers he sent me. I thought he'd / forgotten all about me! But I can't think so now, -- unless he just came / across this poem, and it recalled me to his mind. Well, I came awfully / near not getting it! I don't see how Daisy _could_ have been so mean; / I don't like that kind of a joke a bit. But of course she thought it / was just a printed card, like hers and Mona's. Well, she'll never know / it _isn't_, -- that's one thing sure!"

And then Patty tucked her card of verses under her pillow and went to / sleep.

The next morning, as Patty had prophesied, she slept late. Daisy / peeped into her room two or three times before she finally found / Patty's blue eyes open.

"At last! " she said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I thought / you'd never wake up! Patty, what do you think? I've been down in the / library, and I can't find that card! I'm awfully sorry, truly I am; / I'll give you mine if you want it."

"Thank you, Daisy," and Patty smiled at the recollection of Mona's / similar offer. "Bill's cards seem to be a drug in the market! But you / may keep yours, and also set your mind at rest about mine; for I / sneaked downstairs last night in the dark, and fished it out for / myself."

"You did! Oh, Patty, weren't you frightened to prowl around like that, / late at night?"

Patty shook with laughter. "I _was_ frightened," she said, "when I / thought I saw a mouse, -- but it wasn't a mouse, after all."

"Oh, I wouldn't be afraid of a mouse! But you might have met a, -- a / burglar or something?"

"No," and Patty still grinned. "I didn't meet any _burglar_. But I got / the card, Daisy, so that's all right."

"Was it like mine? Let me see it."

"It wasn't exactly like yours, and I won't let you see it. You kept it / away from me, and now it's my turn to keep it away from you. And by / the way, Daisy, that was a mean thing to do, and I don't want you to / do anything like that to me again! " Patty's sweet face showed an / unusually stern expression, and her blue eyes looked straight into / Daisy's as she spoke.