"Oh, how droll! My dear, how droll!" and Miss Blaney went off in contortions of silent laughter. "Just for that, you must call me Alla. I always want droll people to call me by my first name. And your name is——"
"Patty."
"Impossible! You can't be named that! Incredible! Ooh!"
Alla ended with a half-breathed shriek.
"Oh, well," said Patty, hastily, "my name is really Patricia, though no one ever calls me that."
"I shall call you that. Patricia! Perfect! You couldn't have been better dubbed. No, not possibly better dubbed. Patricia, ah, Patricia!"
Patty edged away a little. She began to think her hostess was crazy.
But Alla went on:
"And my brother, Patricia, do you not adore him?"
"Well, you see, I've only seen him a few times. I can't quite agree that I adore him, yet."
"But you will. As soon as you have heard his poems, you will put him on a pedestal, yes, on a high pedestal. And tonight you will hear him read his wonderful lines. What a treat you have in store!"