“Brace up there!” cried Patty, shaking her by the shoulder. “Don’t you faint or do anything silly! I take it all back. Father wouldn’t do such a thing!”
“You misunderstand!” said Christine, smiling faintly through now rapidly falling tears. “I almost fainted from sheer gladness.”
“Oh! I thought you were angry and offended and insulted and mad as hops, and everything like that!”
“Oh, no!” cried the other. “Why, Patty, it isn’t charity; it’s great, big, splendid kindness, and it’s just a loan, you understand. I can pay it back in a couple of years after I once begin to earn money. Patty, you don’t know how sure I am of my own ability now that I understand my limitations. I can’t explain it, but I see success ahead as surely as I see the blue sky out of that window!”
Christine gazed out of the window with rapt eyes, as if she saw visions of the fame and glory that were yet to be her portion.
“You duck!” cried Patty, embracing her. “You’re just splendiferous! That’s the loveliest way you could have taken father’s offer. He is great, big, splendid kindness personified, and I’m so glad you see it.”
That evening Mr. Fairfield ratified Patty’s statements and definitely offered to pay Christine’s board bills for a year.
To Patty’s surprise, Christine showed no shyness or agitation as she answered him.
Only Nan understood that the girl’s gratitude was too real and too deep for any troublesome self-consciousness to disturb it.
“Mr. Fairfield,” she said, “I accept your offer with unspeakable thankfulness. It means my whole career, and I assure you I shall reach my goal. Of course, it is a financial loan, but after a year I shall be in a position to begin to pay it back, and it shall be promptly paid. Do not think I have unfounded faith in my success. I know what I already possess, and what more I need, and though my progress to fame may be slow, and take many long years, yet after a year’s tuition I shall be able to command a comfortable income in return for my work.”