It was all very novel and entertaining, and when Mrs. Hart returned to the apartment Patty was surprised to learn that it was after nine o’clock, and that Grandma had sent word for her to come home.
“Well,” she said, as she sat down in a little chair by her father’s side, “I’ve made three friends, anyway. The Hart girls are awfully nice. They seem to be rather snappy to each other, but they were lovely to me, and I think I shall like them. They’re full of fun and jokes, and Adelaide is the cleverest thing you ever saw. Why, papa, she has a whole fountain right in their drawing-room.”
“And a terrace and a driveway?”
“No, not quite that, but I wouldn’t be surprised the next time I go to find she has built one. She can build anything.”
“Well, I’m glad you’ve found somebody to play with, Puss, and I hope they’ll be more satisfactory than the dismal Lorraine. By the way, what became of her? Did she melt into thin air?”
“I don’t know, I’m sure; I didn’t see her at all after dinner.”
“I suppose she abdicated in favour of Adelaide. But don’t drop her all at once, Puss. Hunt her up to-morrow and offer her a chance to have her share of the fun, whether she takes it or not.”
CHAPTER VIII
A TEA-PARTY
On Saturday, when Patty saw the Harts in the dining-room, she asked them to come to see her that afternoon. Jeannette was going out with her mother, but the other two willingly accepted the invitation.
“I’ll ask Lorraine, too,” said Patty, “and we’ll make tea and have a real cosey time.”