After a long session at the telephone, Bill announced a triumphant success. The Kenerleys would be glad to go. Moreover, Adele would meet Patty and Bill in New York that very day in time for a late luncheon. Then they would get the Farringtons and the others by telephone. Then Patty would go home with Adele for the night, and they would all go to Maine the next day.
“You see it’s very simple,” said Bill, with such an ingenuous smile that Nan went over to his side at once.
“Of course it is,” she agreed. “It’s simply lovely! And Patty wanted to get away from the giddy whirl down here. She’ll have the time of her life!”
But Mr. Fairfield was not so sure. “I think it’s a wild goose chase,” he said. “What sort of a place are you going to? You don’t know! What sort of service and creature comforts? You don’t know! What will you get to eat? You don’t know! That’s a nice sort of outlook, I must say!”
“Oh, easy now, sir. It isn’t as bad as all that. I’ve had rather definite and detailed reports, and if it weren’t all comfy and certain, I wouldn’t take Patty up there. It’s a Lark, you see, a Lark,—and I’m sure we’ll get a lot of fun out of it. And, incidentally, I know it’s a fine section of country,—healthful, invigourating, and all that. And the house is a modern up-to-date hotel. They always close soon after Labour Day, but this year, owing to circumstances, it’s the very day after. That’s where the fun comes in, having a whole hotel all to ourselves. But we must be getting on. The train leaves in twenty minutes.”
“I’m all ready,” said Patty, as she re-appeared, miraculously transformed into a lady garbed for travelling. A silk pongee coat protected her gown and a small hat and veil completed a smart costume.
“I don’t altogether like it——” began Mr. Fairfield, as they got into the motor to go to the train.
“Run along, Patty,” said Nan. “I’ll see to it that he does like it, before you leave the station. Going to Mona’s?”
“Yes, just for a minute. You see her as soon as we’re gone, and tell her all about it. We can only say the barest facts.”
They flew off, Patty’s veil streaming behind, until she drew it in and tied it round her neck.