"What an ingenious boy you are," said Patty, looking at her cousin with mock admiration. "How did you ever think of all that?"
"That isn't ingenuity, miss, it's historic research, and you'll probably find that Florence Douglass can trace her ancestry right back to the aforesaid barbarians."
"I suppose most of us are descended from primitive people," said Marian.
And then the entrance of Elsie Morris and her brother Guy put an end to the discussion of little fingers.
"I'm so glad to see you," said Patty, welcoming her callers. "Come right into the library, you are our first real guests."
"Then I think we ought to have the Prize for Promptness," said Elsie, as she took off her wraps. "But don't you count Frank and Marian?"
"Not as guests," replied Patty; "they're relatives, and you know your relatives—"
"Are like the poor," interrupted Frank, "because they're always with you."
"Then, we are really your first callers?" said Guy Morris.
"No, not quite," said Patty, laughing. "I spoke too hastily when I said that, and forgot entirely a very distinguished personage who visited me this morning."