“Then, kape him!” returned the voice of the farmer, and they heard his heavy tramp as he strode away.
Patty looked puzzled. She couldn’t understand what it all meant, until Hal Ferris whispered, “It was only Collins; he’s a ventriloquist.”
“Oh,” said Patty, turning to Mr. Collins, delightedly, “was it really you? Oh, how do you do it? I’ve always wanted to hear a ventriloquist, and I never did before.”
“Oh, yes, you did!” said a voice from the other end of the table, and Patty looked up, saying earnestly, “No, I didn’t!” when she realised that the accusation had really come from Mr. Collins.
“Oh, what fun!” she cried, clapping her hands. “Do some more!”
“I’d rather he wouldn’t,” said Adèle, and Patty looked at her in surprise. “Why not, Adèle?” she asked.
Everybody laughed, and Adèle said: “You’re too easily fooled, Patty. That was Mr. Collins speaking like me. He knows my voice so well he can imitate it.”
“He’d better stop it!” came in a deep growl from Jim Kenerley’s end of the table, and Patty was surprised at such a speech from her urbane host. Then she realised that that, too, was Mr. Collins speaking.
“I just love it!” she exclaimed. “I’ve always wanted to know how to do it. Won’t you teach me?”
“You couldn’t learn,” said Mr. Collins, smiling at her.