"Certainly," said Patty, and she ran upstairs, wondering what whim possessed her hostess to send her guest, though ever so willing, on her errand.
Patty had some little difficulty in finding the right handkerchief, in spite of the explicit directions, and when she again reached the drawingroom Mr. Farrington was there, and both he and his wife were smiling broadly. Elise, too, seemed overcome with merriment, and Patty paused in the doorway, saying: "What is the matter with you people? Please let me into the joke, too!"
"Do you want to know what is the matter?" asked Mrs. Farrington, as she took the handkerchief from Patty's hand. "Well, go and look behind those curtains, and see what's in the alcove."
"I suppose," said Patty, as she deliberately walked the length of the long drawing-room, "you've been buying the Venus of Milo, and it's just been sent home, and you've set it up here behind these curtains. Well, I shall be pleased to admire it, I'm sure!"
She drew the crimson curtains apart, and right before her, instead of a marble statue, stood her father and Nan!
Then such an exciting time as there was!
Patty threw her arms around them both at once, and everybody was laughing, and they all talked at the same time, and Patty understood at last why they had been directed to put on their new dresses.
"Can it be possible that this is my little girl!" exclaimed Mr. Fairfield, as he drew Patty down up on his knee, quite as he used to when she was really a little girl.
"Nonsense!" cried Nan; "you haven't changed a bit, Patty, except to grow about half an inch taller, and to be wearing a remarkably pretty dress."
"And you people haven't changed a bit, either," declared Patty; "and oh, I'm SO glad to see you!"