"All right," agreed Cromer. "It makes no difference to me, personally, of course. I'm merely designing the Niagara Float as an architect would. I think perhaps a brunette would be better adapted to the part of Maid of the Mist, as I have planned it, but it's as you choose."
"Then we choose this way," declared Patty.
"Run along, Daisy, and Mr. Cromer will tell you just what to get for your misty robes."
Daisy went away, and Farnsworth turned to Patty with a reproachful glance.
"You let her off too easy," he said. "A girl who would do a thing like that ought to be punished."
"Punished, how?" said Patty, quietly.
"Her deceit ought to be exposed before the others. It oughtn't to be hushed up,—it makes it too easy for her."
"Her deceit, as you call it, affected no one but me. Therefore, there's no reason for any one else to know of it. And Daisy has been punished quite enough. I read in her eyes the sorrow and remorse she has suffered for what she did. And I know she did it on a sudden impulse,—an uncontrollable desire to have that particular part in the Pageant. Now, I have forgiven and forgotten it all, it's but a trifle. And I can see no reason why YOU should still hold it against her."
Farnsworth looked steadily into Patty's eyes, and a sort of shamed flush rose to his cheeks.
"You're bigger than I am, Little Girl," he said, as he held out his hand.