“I should make no objections to that. Indeed, I should be glad and proud to have my daughter become the wife of your nephew. He is a fine man. I feel that I know him well and there is no one to whom I would rather entrust Patty’s happiness.”
“Thank you, Mr. Fairfield. Phil is a good boy, and I have yet to learn a mean or ignoble thing about him. What is your opinion, Mrs. Fairfield?”
“I quite agree with my husband,” returned Nan. “Philip has always been one of my favourites among Patty’s friends, and I, too, should hear of their engagement with pleasure. But, Mrs. Van Reypen, we cannot answer for Patty herself. She is, as you perhaps know, a self-willed young person, and not to be driven or even advised, against her will.”
“But that’s just it. Patty doesn’t know her own will. She takes for granted all the attentions and favours of the young men, and, goodness knows she gets enough of them, but it never seems to occur to her that it’s time she thought about making a choice of one in particular.”
“Oh, come, now, Mrs. Van Reypen, Patty is not yet climbing up on the traditional shelf.”
“I know that, Mr. Fairfield, but the point is, that she is heart-whole and fancy-free, and while she is, I desire to influence her mind toward Philip. Yes, just that. It is not wrong; on the contrary, it is a wise thing to do. In France the girls’ betrothals are always arranged by their elders. In England they frequently are. And there is no reason the plan shouldn’t obtain in our country. We all have Patty’s best interests at heart, and if we can help this thing along,—without letting the child know it, of course,—it is our duty as well as our pleasure to do it.”
“But how, Mrs. Van Reypen?” asked Nan. “Patty would quickly resent any interference or dictation in her affairs; and, too, any hint that we were helping Philip’s cause along, would, I assure you, react disastrously to our effort.”
“Oh, certainly, if she knew it,” and Mrs. Van Reypen spoke impatiently; “but she needn’t know it.”
“How, then, shall it be done?”
“In lots of ways. Let us throw them together whenever possible. See to it that she accepts his invitations here and there. Place them next each other at dinners; in a word, make it clear to the other members of their circle, that they are definitely for each other, and it will shortly be recognized and accepted as a fact. I will give opera parties and dinner parties, and I will see to it, that they are conspicuously paired as partners.”