“Ridiculous! there must be something else! Have you any stale cake?”
“I don’t know. Yes, wait a minute, there’s plenty of fruit-cake; but it’s locked up in one of the pantry cupboards.”
“Where’s the key? Quick!”
“Why, I don’t know; I suppose it’s in mamma’s desk.”
“Run and get it!” and Patty fairly glared at Clementine. “Fly! and don’t be gone more than half a minute!”
Poor Clementine, bewildered by the awful emergency which she had herself brought about, flew for the key, and luckily found it at once.
She returned with a huge fruit-cake, and in a second Patty’s anxious face broke into smiles.
“The country is safe!” she cried, dancing round the kitchen; “Fate cannot harm us now, nor salt water either.”
“I don’t believe mamma will like just fruit-cake for dessert,” said Clementine, dubiously.
“Huh!” said Patty, tossing her head in the air; “watch the magician! But first, have you any rather large-sized wine-glasses? Tall, you know, with slender stems.”