“Hide me, Patty,” urged Mona. “That’s a dear. Let me get behind you two.”
Mona slipped around behind Patty and Philip, but, anxious to help her, Patty said: “Back into the arbour, Mona; we’ll keep in front of you. Hurry! here comes Roger.”
“Have you seen Miss Galbraith?” asked Roger, coming up to them, entirely unsuspicious of Mona’s whereabouts.
“We’ve just strolled out here,” said Patty, innocently. “Why don’t you look on the veranda, Roger? Does she know you’re looking for her?”
“Of course she does! On the veranda, you say?” and Roger was off like a shot.
Patty and Philip, stifling with laughter, turned back to Mona, who stood with her finger on her lips, cautioning silence.
And as, in obedience to her gesture, they were still, they all distinctly heard a voice speaking on the other side of the arbour. The speaker could not be seen, and the hearers had no intention of eavesdropping, but it was Kenneth’s voice, and his tone was tense and angry.
“I tell you, Elise,” he said, “I don’t believe Patty ever said that!”
“She did,” said Elise, with the accent of one who reiterates.
It was Philip Van Reypen’s impulse to walk round the arbour at once, and make their presence known, but Patty silently put her hand on his arm and led him toward the house.