“Oh, Little Billee, you are a friend of mine.”
“Well, something more than a friend, then. Patty,—I must ask you,—are you engaged to Van Reypen?”
“Goodness, no!” and Patty flashed a glance of surprise.
“Then, Patty, mayn’t I hope?”
“That’s a question I never know how to answer,” said Patty, demurely; “if you mean that I’m to consider myself bound by any sort of a promise, I most certainly won’t!”
“No, I don’t mean that, dear, but,——well, Patty, won’t you wait?”
“Of course I’ll wait. That’s exactly what I mean to do for years and years.”
“You mean to,—but you’re so capricious.”
“Oh, no! not that, of all things! And, anyway, what does capricious mean?”
“Well, it means like a butterfly, hovering from one flower to another——”