“Thousands!” corrected Elise. And Mona said, “Looks to me like millions!”
“Who sent that last big box, Patty?” asked Nan; “the one that just came.”
“Dunno, Nancy; probably the Czar of Russia or the King of the Cannibal Islands. But I mean to take time to eat my luncheon in peace, even if the flowers aren’t all in place by the time the company comes.”
“We can’t stay very long,” said Elise; “of course, Mona and I have to go home and dress and be back here at four o’clock, and it’s nearly two, now.”
“All right,” said Patty; “the boys are coming, and they’ll do the rest. We couldn’t hang the flowers on the wall, anyway.”
“We ought to have had a florist to attend to it,” said Nan, thoughtfully; “I had no idea there’d be so many.”
“Oh, it’ll be all right,” returned Patty. “Father’s coming home early, and Roger and Ken will be over, and Mr. Hepworth will direct proceedings.”
Even as she spoke the men’s voices were heard in the hall, and Patty jumped up from the table and ran to the drawing-room.
“Did you ever see anything like it?” she exclaimed, and her visitors agreed that they never had.
“It must be awful to be so popular, Patty,” said Roger. “If I ever come out, I shall ask my friends to send fruit instead of flowers.”