Patty—Bride. Wells Carolyn
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run off to my own room.”
Van Reypen nodded his head, and Patty took her hands away from her ears.
“All right,” she said, smiling; “if you’ll be just a casual friend, go ahead and be it. But I don’t want to hear any more absurd talk about people’s breaking their engagements.”
“Righto! What shall we talk about?”
“About Bill.”
This might have proved a dangerous subject, but clever Philip would not allow it to be. He was honest and earnest in his love for Patty. He really believed that she had said yes to Farnsworth on the spur of the moment, and that further thought would make her willing to reconsider her decision. Moreover, he was quite willing his rival should know of his own intentions, and he had only feelings of good fellowship for him. Philip had a sportsman’s nature, and his idea was to let the best man win. He did not attach quite so much importance to the fact of the engagement as most people do, and he truly hoped yet to win Patty’s affection and make her both willing and anxious to dismiss Bill in his favour.
Patty had not given him any encouragement for these hopes. In fact, she was so truly in love with Farnsworth, that it never occurred to her that she could ever care less for him, or have any room in her heart for any other man. But she couldn’t seem to say this bluntly to Philip. She found it easier to let matters drift, and now, as he began to speak in praise of Farnsworth, she listened eagerly and assented and agreed to all Philip said.
“Yes, he is splendid,” she acquiesced. “I didn’t know there was such a noble nature in the world. You see, I’ve learned a lot about him since we’ve been engaged.”
“Oh, of course. Yes, old Bill is a corker for bigness in every way. I’m banking on his big nature and his broad outlook, to understand my case.”
“Now, now, you’re not to talk of ‘your case’! You promised not to.”
“With thee conversing, I forget all – promises!” misquoted Philip.
“Well, you mustn’t, or I’ll send you packing! Thank goodness, here comes Nan; now will you behave yourself?”
Mrs. Fairfield came in from out-of-doors, and drew near the blazing log fire.
“Well, children, what are you discussing so seriously?” she began; “Philip, my friend, if you please, will you push that bell and let us have lights and some tea. I’ve been to three committee meetings and I’m just about exhausted. Where’s Billee-boy, Patty?”
“I’m afraid he won’t be here until after dinner. He said it was unlikely he could come before.”
“Well, try to bear it, Patty. Can’t Philip beguile you for a time?”
“Yes, he’s a great little old beguiler, Phil is!” and Patty smiled at her guest.
“Of course I am,” declared Van Reypen. “I can beguile the birds off the trees, – but not Miss Patricia Fairfield, when she is waiting for her big Little Billee. Howsumever, I’ll do my best. Do I gather that I’m asked to dinner in place of the absentee?”
“You are not!” replied Patty, promptly, but Nan said, “Why, yes, Phil, stay. I’ll entertain you, if Patty won’t.”
“Thank you, Ma’am. That would suit me all right.”
“And how about your aviation training? When do you begin that?”
“It’s uncertain. I did expect to start for Wilmington next week, but matters are delayed by a screw loose in some of the red tape, and it may be a couple of weeks before I start.”
“What? I didn’t know you thought of going,” put in Patty, surprised.
“Yes, I’ve settled the preliminaries and I’m waiting further orders.”
“Going to Wilmington? Why, we won’t see you any more, then.”
“You don’t seem terribly upset over that! But, you will see me, I’m afraid. Wilmington is not so very far off, and the course is neither long nor strenuous. Why, it only takes about four months in all.”
“And then will you really fly? Up in the air, in big machines?”
“Such is my firm belief, Mademoiselle.”
“And will you fall and break your neck? They say they all do.”
“I’ll not promise to do that, unless you insist upon it. And it isn’t done as much as formerly, I believe.”
“Why are you two sparring so?” asked Nan, laughingly. “Aren’t you good friends, at the moment?”
“As good as anybody can be, when the lady he admires has been and went and gone and engaged herself to somebody else,” and Philip frowned darkly.
“Oho, so that’s it! Well, our young friend here is certainly engaged to her big Western suitor. Now, shall I look out for a sweet little girl for you?”
“No, thank you, Ma’am, it’s a case of Patty or nobody, where I’m concerned. But the game’s never out till it’s played out. Patty and Farnsworth may one or both of them yet change their minds.”
“You wouldn’t think so, if you saw them together,” laughed Nan. “They’re just about the most engagedest pair you ever saw!”
“Oh, come now,” said Patty, “we don’t show our affection in public, Nan!”
“Well, you have great difficulty not to do so. It’s all you can do, to hide it successfully.”
“And why should they?” asked Phil. “There’s no law against that sort of thing, is there?”
“Tell me more about your aviating,” said Patty, by way of changing the subject. “What do you do to learn?”
“Dunno myself, yet. They say the only way to learn to swim is to be thrown into the water. So I daresay the way to learn to fly, is to get in an aeroplane and start.”
“Nonsense! You have to be taught.”
“Then I will be taught. But I’m going to be a good aviator. I’m sure I’ll like the stunt, and I want to begin as soon as possible.”
“I wish I could do some war work,” and Patty sighed.
“Good gracious!” said Nan, “I don’t know any girl who does more of it than you do, Patty! When you’re not down in that old office doing clerical work, you’re knitting like a house afire. And you are on two or three committees and you write slogans for the Food people and for the Liberty Loan Bonds, and oh, I don’t know what all you do!”
“All of a sudden, isn’t it?” asked Philip, interestedly. “Have you been doing these things long?”
“Some of them,” said Patty. “But I have done more of late. I feel so useless unless I do.”
“Yes,” said Nan, “and then you work beyond your strength, and overtax yourself, and the first thing you know you will be useless indeed!”
“Why, Patty? Why these great works?” asked Van Reypen.
“Oh, because of Bill,” Nan answered for her. “You see he’s so mixed up in war work, that Patty must needs to do a lot also. And she’s such an extremist, she’s not satisfied with doing a bit, it must be a whole lot of bits.”
“Don’t believe her, Phil,” said Patty, gaily. “I do what I can, and no more. Also, I’m going to put a stop to this idea that I’m a delicate plant, – for I’m not. I’m as healthy as – as a backwoodsman.”
“Fine comparison. Your sturdiness is exactly that of a backwoodsman! You could haul logs, if you want to, I dare say.”
“Don’t be funny. But I am heaps stronger than I used to be. It’s a whole lot better for me to do things than to sit around and be coddled.”
“That’s true, Patty. What are you doing, that I can help you with? Any sort of work where you