“No, but I don’t feel like laughing.”
“Don’t you ever even feel like smiling?”
“Not often.”
“Didn’t you feel like smiling just a little bit of a happy smile, when I gave you those flowers the other day? Those flowers—from Kitty.”
Sir Otho’s face grew dark.
“How dare you mention her name to me?” he cried. “You are a saucy minx! Go away!”
“I won’t be sent away like that,” declared Patty, looking haughty now. “I’m no child to be scolded for nothing. How dare you speak to me like that? What do you think I am?”
Sir Otho turned red with rage. He choked and stammered and looked like a choleric old gentleman, as indeed he was.
“I think you’re an impertinent Yankee. What do you think I am?”
Patty looked him squarely in the eye. Her chance had come, and she did not flinch.