"How dared he?" she exclaimed to herself. "The idea of his thinking I am the sort of girl he can pick up and kiss like that!"
And then her face grew pink with blushes and she buried it in a pillow because she realised she was not nearly so indignant as she ought to be!
"Good heavens!" she thought, frantically. "Am I in love with Little Billee? With a Westerner? A self-made man? Why, he can't hold a candle to Phil for birth and name! And yet—oh, no, I'm not in love with him! He's too—too—he takes too much for granted. It's got to stop! Think how he carried me out of the Studio party! And last night! No wonder he walked off home without seeing me again! I wonder what he will offer by way of apology or explanation. I believe I'll ask him!"
Patty reached out her hand for the telephone, and suddenly stopped.
"I can't!" she whispered to herself, shame-facedly, "I—I don't want any apology from him. I—I—oh, fiddlesticks! I don't know what to do! Guess I'll have a talk with Nan—no, I won't. It was all very well to talk to her about Phil,—because I didn't care about him. But I do care about Billee. Oh! do I 'care for' him? I don't know—but I'm not going to think about it. It gets me all mixed up. I wonder—I wish I could go away. I will! I guess I can do as I've a mind to!"
After a little further thought, and a determined wag of the head, Patty rang her bell, and when the maid came she said, "Bring my chocolate, please, and then get out a suitcase, and pack it for me."
"Yes, Miss Patty," replied Jane, and until her breakfast came, Patty's mind worked rapidly.
"Jane, I'm going to elope," she announced, as the maid reappeared with a tray.
"Yes, Miss Patty," and though Jane's eyes flew wide open, she made no verbal comment.
"Don't look as if you had been shot!" said Patty, laughing; "I'm going alone, but you are to help me get off. Pack the things I tell you and then order the little car for me. I'm not going to tell you where I'm going, for I don't want any one to know. But after I'm gone, you may give Mrs. Fairfield a note I will leave with you. Understand?"