“Oh, fie, fie, Lady Van! You’re trying to buy my young affections? Now, you mustn’t do that. And, too, don’t you know that the best way to make me dislike Phil is to continually urge him upon me.”
Mrs. Van Reypen looked a little taken aback at this, and immediately dropped the subject, for which Patty was devoutly thankful. She did like Philip, but she did not want his aunt arranging affairs for her, for Patty was an independent nature, and especially so where her plans for her own future were concerned.
So she gladly turned the conversation back to the matter of the Children’s Home, and soon realised that Mrs. Van Reypen was greatly in earnest about it, and that it might soon become a reality.
CHAPTER XV
PATTY’S FUTURE
One day Patty was at a matinée with some of the girls, when Mrs. Van Reypen called at the Fairfield home. It being Saturday afternoon, Mr. Fairfield was at home, and the visitor asked to see him as well as his wife.
After greetings were exchanged, the straight-forward old lady went at once to her subject.
“I’ve come to see you about Patty,” she began, “and if you choose to tell me I’m a meddlesome old woman and concerning myself with what is none of my business, you will be quite within your rights.”
“I doubt we shall do that, Mrs. Van Reypen,” said Fred Fairfield, pleasantly. “What is it about Patty?”
“Only this. To put it in plain words, I want her to marry my nephew Philip.”