Patty smiled with real cheer, and clasping her quickly, Farnsworth gave her one big, farewell kiss, and rushed out of the door, closing it behind him.
CHAPTER IV
THE BOYS IN KHAKI
“Oh, it was the best plan, but I did hate to have him run off like that.”
“Of course you did, Pattykins, but you would have flown into forty conniption fits if he had stayed longer. I saw you, and you were getting all nervous and ‘stericky!’”
“I was not! You exaggerate so, Bumble, and I won’t stand it! I was upset, of course, at the thought of his going, but I had absolute control of my nerves. It was all my own fault,—having the party, I mean.”
“You had the party for me, my child. Don’t think you can fool your grandmother! But it’s all right, and I promised that Sweet William of yours that I’d chirk you up, and keep you so interested and amused that you’d forget his very existence,—let alone forgetting his absence. Besides, there’s a strong belief current in the best circles that absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
“It can’t ours,—we’re all the fond there is, now!”
“Turtle-doves! Well, give me a bit more chocolate, and we’ll call it square.”
The two girls, in boudoir gowns and caps, were having their morning chocolate in Patty’s room, and had eagerly been rehearsing and discussing the party of the night before.
Helen’s pretty hair was tousled and her cap askew, as, perched cross-legged on a couch, she nibbled toast and sipped chocolate contentedly.