“I’m so glad Ruth is having such a good time; and yet I’m so surprised, for I never saw her so gay and sparkling before.”
“I’m surprised, too,” said Kenneth, “for from what you told me about her, I imagined her a prim little Puritan maiden.”
“I didn’t intend to misrepresent her,” said Patty; “but it must be the influence of New York City that has changed her; she never was like that in Boston.”
“I think it’s your influence,” said Kenneth, “for you always make everybody happy that you have anything to do with.”
“Oh, pshaw; I didn’t do anything for her except to help her pick out that pretty blue frock and give her a good scolding on the way over here.”
“She doesn’t act as though she had been scolded.”
“That’s the result of the scolding. I ordered her to be gay and glad, and she knew she had to obey me. That’s the way to manage a girl like Ruth.”
Ruth’s successful debut in no way detracted from Patty’s popularity. She was always the centre of a merry group, and the boys flocked around her like bees around a blossom. She had more invitations to dance than she could possibly accept, and she enjoyed it all to the fullest extent of her fun-loving nature.
“I thought I’d never get a chance to speak to you,” said Roger Farrington, as he led her away for a dance, “you always have such a crowd around you.”
“Well, you can be part of the crowd,” returned Patty, saucily.