A little fatigued with the unusual exertions of the day, Mrs. Elliott went to her room for her nap, and Patty prepared to enjoy herself in her own way. She was tidy by nature, and really enjoyed what she called straightening out. Deciding upon the best places for her belongings, and then arranging them in those places, proved an absorbing occupation, and she spent the whole afternoon thus happily at work.
CHAPTER IV
LORRAINE
Later in the afternoon Kenneth Harper called.
Patty and Grandma Elliott were both glad to see the boy, for though a student at Columbia College, he had visited much at Vernondale, and they were both well acquainted with him.
“It’s awfully jolly, your being in town this winter, Patty,” he said, “and I expect I’ll bother you to death running down to see you. If I come too often, Mrs. Elliott, you must just put me out without any ceremony.”
“I’ll remember that,” said Grandma, smiling, “and if you appear more than once a week, I shall give you a gentle hint.”
“A hint will be sufficient, ma’am; I’m not like the man who hung around until they kicked him downstairs. He thought a while and then the situation dawned upon him; ‘I know what they meant,’ he said; ‘they meant they didn’t want me up there!’ Now I’m not like that; I can catch on much more quickly.”
Patty and Grandma laughed heartily at Kenneth’s funny story, and then the boy unwrapped a parcel which he had brought.
“You see,” he said, “I felt sure you people would want to do a little light farming, so I brought you a plantation.”
As he spoke he removed the papers from a pretty window-box, which was filled with several small plants.