"I can't," and Patty laughed up at him. "I'm really engaged to Phil."
"Oh, are you, Patty?" cried Daisy, who was just passing, with Kit Cameron. "I said you'd announce it tonight! What fun! But why are you telling Big Bill all by himself first? You ought to tell all the crowd at once. I'll do it for you. Come on, Kit, let's spread the news! We've Patty's own word for it."
The two ran off, laughing, and Patty looked a bit dismayed. "Kit's such a scamp," she said, ruefully, "he'll tell that all over the room——"
"Isn't it true?"
"Would you care if it were?"
"I care for anything that concerns you or your happiness."
"Or any one else or any one else's happiness! Oh, I know you, Bill
Farnsworth, you want everybody to be happy."
"Of course I do!" and the big man laughed, heartily. "Is that a crime?
But most of all I care to have one little foolish, petulant
Blossom-girl happy."
"Well, then, why don't you make her so? Why aren't you kind and nice to her, instead of being horrid about her friends and her dancing, and acting like a great Lord of something-or-other, frowning on her innocent amusements!"
"Oh, Patty, what an arraignment! But never mind that. May I take you to the supper room?"