And then a second rose followed the first, and others, at intervals, until a good-sized heap lay at Patty's feet.
Laughing in spite of herself, she went to the window, and peeped out between the curtains.
"Why, it's you!" she exclaimed, as if she hadn't known it all the time.
"Yes," and Big Bill smiled at her over the armful of roses he still held. "I've completely stripped the rose garden, but I had to bombard you with something!"
"Are you a bombardier?"
"No, I'm a beggar. I'm begging you to come out here for a few minutes and see the moonlight on the ocean."
"Why, there isn't any moon!"
"That's so! I mean the sun."
"Well, the sun isn't QUITE up yet!"
"That's so! Well, I mean the—the stars,—there, I knew SOMETHING was shining!"