“I’ve moved enough for a while, my child; if I once get seated at my own fireside, I shall stay there.”
“How Christmassy things look,” went on Patty, gazing out of the cab window. “It’s only the middle of December, but the streets are crowded and there are holly wreaths in some of the windows.”
“You won’t have to buy many Christmas presents, will you, Patty?” said Elise. “I suppose you brought home enough Italian trinkets to supply all your friends.”
“Yes, we did,” laughed Patty. “I daresay my friends will get tired of busts of Dante, and models of the Forum.”
“Don’t give those to me. If you have a Roman scarf nobody else wants, I’ll thank you kindly.”
“All right, Elise; I’ll remember that. And if I haven’t, I daresay I can buy one in the New York shops.”
“Wicked girl! Don’t attempt any such deception on your tried and true friend. Oh, Patty, do you remember the day we got lost in Paris?”
And then the two girls plunged into a flood of reminiscences that lasted all the way home.
“Come in? of course we’ll come in!” said Roger, as he assisted them from the cab, and Patty graciously invited him. “That’s what we’re here for! We’re all coming in, and if we’re heartily urged, we may stay to dinner.”
In reality, Mrs. Allen, who was temporarily hostess in her daughter’s house, had invited Kenneth and the two Farringtons to dine, in order to make a gay home-coming for Patty.