"Now that's a real nice sentiment," Patty declared; "you see, it doesn't commit him to anything, and yet it sounds pretty. Oh, I shall end by adoring that young man! Bring me some bowls and things, please, Jane; I want to arrange this flower garden myself."
Jane departed with the box and papers, and returned with a tray, on which were several bowls and vases filled with water.
Patty always enjoyed arranging flowers, and she massed them in the bowls, with taste and skill as to color and arrangement.
"There!" she said, as she finished her task; "they do look beautiful, though I say it as shouldn't. Now, I think I shall sit me down and write a sweet gushing note of thanks, while I'm in the notion. For I've a lot on to-day, and I can't devote much time to this particular suitor."
"Suitor is a slang word, Patty; you oughtn't to use it."
"Fiddle-dee-dee! if I didn't use any slang, I couldn't talk at all! And suitor isn't exactly slang; it's the word in current fashion for any pleasant young gentleman who sends flowers, or otherwise favors any pleasant young lady. Everybody in society knows what it means, so don't act old fogy,—Nancy Dancy."
Patty dropped a butterfly kiss on Nan's brow, and then pirouetted across the room to her writing desk.
"Shall I begin, 'My Dear Suitor'?" she said, and then giggled to see the shocked look on Nan's face.
"It wouldn't matter; he would understand," she said, carelessly, "but I think I can do better than that."
"Well, I'll leave you to yourself," said Nan; "not out of special consideration for your comfort, but because it doesn't interest me to watch anybody write letters."