All through the evening, Patty was gaily whisked from one partner to another, but Kit Cameron never came near her.
She was decidedly chagrined at this, even though she knew she had only herself to blame for it. She had been really rude, and she was reaping the well-deserved consequences.
Often she passed Cameron in the dance, as he whirled by with another girl. He always smiled pleasantly as they passed, and the fact that he was a magnificent dancer only made Patty feel more angry with herself at having been so silly.
Just before the last dance, Patty stood, gaily chatting with several of her friends, when the music struck up, and both Kenneth and Philip claimed the dance.
"You promised it to me, Patty," said Kenneth, reproachfully.
"Why, Ken Harper, I didn't do any such thing!" and Patty's big blue eyes gazed at him in honest surprise.
"Of course you didn't, you promised it to me," said Van Reypen, equally mendacious.
"Why, I didn't promise it to anybody!" declared Patty; "I haven't promised a dance ahead this whole evening."
As she stood, with the two insistent applicants on either side of her,
Cameron walked straight toward her. He said not a word, but held out
his arm, and calmly walking away from her two disappointed suitors,
Patty was at once whirled away.
"Well, Princess Poppycheek,—Princess Pink Poppycheek,—I had to surrender," Cameron said, as they floated around the room. "After your cruel aspersion on my dancing, I was so enraged I vowed to myself I'd never speak to you again. But I'm awful magnanimous, and I forgive you freely, from the bottom of my heart."