Patty’s sunny disposition and invariable good humour exerted a beneficial influence on Lorraine, though the effects were slow and gradual. But the girl herself was trying to be more optimistic in her general attitude toward life, and to a degree she was succeeding.
But one afternoon she came up to Patty’s apartment to sit with her for a while, and the expression of her face was quite as dark and gloomy as of yore.
Patty noticed this at once, but did not remark it; instead, she began chatting in a merry vein, hoping by this means to cheer up her dismal caller. But it was of no avail, for Lorraine evidently had a trouble of some sort on her mind.
At last she exclaimed, in a stormy way, “I just hate Elise Farrington!”
“Oho,” thought Patty to herself, “so that’s the trouble, is it?”
But aloud she only said: “Why do you hate her? She doesn’t hate you.”
“Yes she does. She just snubs me right and left, and she doesn’t invite me to her Casino, or anything.”
“Now look here, Lorraine, you are unjust and unfair. Elise doesn’t snub you, or if she does, it’s because you don’t give her a chance to be nice to you. You’re my friend, but Elise is my friend, too, and I want fair play all around. I’ve seen you with Elise Farrington, and you snub her worse than she does you; and I don’t wonder she doesn’t invite you to see her!”
Patty didn’t often scold Lorraine as hard as this, but her sense of justice was aroused, and she determined to give it full play for once.
Lorraine began to cry, but Patty knew they were not tears of repentance, so she went on: