"Why! you don't want me to be disappointed because you're not pretty, do you?"
"But I AM pretty."
"Yes; as I said, the beauty of deep thought and education shines from your clear eyes. That is far better than dimples and curls."
Patty shook her curls at the telephone and her dimples came and went with her varying emotions.
"Why, I shouldn't like you half as well if you were pretty," Mr. Cameron went on. "The only things I consider worth while are seriousness and scholarship. These you have in abundance, as I can see at once from your picture."
"And how do you like the way I dress?"
"It suits your type exactly. That large black-and-white check denotes a mind far above the frivolities of fashion, and that stiff white collar, to my mind, indicates a high order of mentality."
"I think you're perfectly horrid!" And this exclamation seemed wrung from the depths of Patty's soul.
A ringing laugh answered her—a laugh so hearty and so full of absolute enjoyment that Patty listened in astonishment.
"Poor little Princess Poppycheek! It's a shame to tease her! WAS she maligned by a bad, horrid man that she doesn't even know? There, Little Girl, don't cry! I know perfectly well that stiff old schoolmarm isn't you! Now, will you tell me who you are, and what you really look like?"