Patty's Summer Days Read online

  PATTY'S SUMMER DAYS

  by

  CAROLYN WELLS

  Author of "Idle Idylls," "Patty in the City," etc.

  Illustrated

  New York Dodd, Mead & Company 1909

  Copyright, 1906, byDodd, Mead & Company

  Published, September, 1906

  ToELEANOR SHIPLEY HALSEY

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE I A Gay Household 1 II Wedding Bells 13 III Atlantic City 27 IV Lessons Again 40 V A New Home 53 VI Busy Days 66 VII A Rescue 79 VIII Commencement Day 92 IX The Play 105 X A Motor Trip 118 XI Dick Phelps 130 XII Old China 143 XIII A Stormy Ride 155 XIV Pine Branches 169 XV Miss Aurora Bender 182 XVI A Quilting Party 195 XVII A Summer Christmas 208 XVIII At Sandy Cove 221 XIX Rosabel 234 XX The Rolands 246 XXI The Crusoes 259 XXII The Bazaar Of All Nations 271 XXIII The End Of The Summer 287

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  "Patty fairly reveled in Nan's beautiful trousseau" 8

  "'There, you can see for yourself, there ain't no chip orcrack into it'" 147

  "Although a successful snapshot was only achieved aftermany attempts" 176

  "Patty arrayed herself in a flowered silk of Dresden effect" 203

  "In a few minutes Patty was feeding Rosabel bread and milk" 234

  PATTY'S SUMMER DAYS

  CHAPTER I

  A GAY HOUSEHOLD

  "Isn't Mrs. Phelps too perfectly sweet! That is the loveliest fan I everlaid eyes on, and to think it's mine!"

  "And _will_ you look at this? A silver coffee-machine! Oh, Nan, mayn't Imake it work, sometimes?"

  "Indeed you may; and oh, see this! A piece of antique Japanese bronze!Isn't it _great?_"

  "I don't like it as well as the sparkling, shiny things. This silver traybeats it all hollow. Did you ever see such a brightness in your life?"

  "Patty, you're hopelessly Philistine! But that tray is lovely, and of anexquisite design."

  Patty and Nan were unpacking wedding presents, and the room was strewnwith boxes, tissue paper, cotton wool, and shredded-paper packing.

  Only three days more, and then Nan Allen was to marry Mr. Fairfield,Patty's father.

  Patty was spending the whole week at the Allen home in Philadelphia, andwas almost as much interested in the wedding preparations as Nan herself.

  "I don't think there's anything so much fun as a house with a weddingfuss in it," said Patty to Mrs. Allen, as Nan's mother came into the roomwhere the girls were.

  "Just wait till you come to your own wedding fuss, and then see if youthink it's so much fun," said Nan, who was rapidly scribbling names offriends to whom she must write notes of acknowledgment for their gifts.

  "That's too far in the future even to think of," said Patty, "andbesides, I must get my father married and settled, before I can think ofmyself."

  She wagged her head at Nan with a comical look, and they all laughed.

  It was a great joke that Patty's father should be about to marry her deargirl friend. But Patty was mightily pleased at the prospect, and lookedforward with happiness to the enlarged home circle.

  "The trouble is," said Patty, "I don't know what to call this augustpersonage who insists on becoming my father's wife."

  "I shall rule you with a rod of iron," said Nan, "and you'll stand so inawe of me, that you won't dare to call me anything."

  "You think so, do you?" said Patty saucily. "Well, just let me informyou, Mrs. Fairfield, that is to be, that I intend to lead you a dance!You'll be responsible for my manners and behaviour, and I wish you joy ofyour undertaking. I think I shall call you _Stepmamma_."

  "Do," said Nan placidly, "and I'll call you Stepdaughter Patricia."

  "Joking aside," said Patty, "honestly, Nan, I am perfectly delighted thatthe time is coming so soon to have you with us. Ever since last fall Ihave waited patiently, and it seemed as if Easter would never come. Won'twe have good times though after you get back from your trip and we getsettled in that lovely house in New York! If only I didn't have to go toschool, and study like fury out of school, too, we could have heaps offun."

  "I'm afraid you're studying too hard, Patty," said Mrs. Allen, looking ather young guest.

  "She is, Mother," said Nan, "and I wish she wouldn't. Why do you do it,Patty?"

  "Well, you see, it's this way. I found out the first of the year that Iwas ahead of my class in some studies, and that if I worked extra hard Icould get ahead on the other studies, and,--well, I can't exactly explainit, but it's like putting two years' work into one; and then I couldgraduate from the Oliphant school this June, instead of going thereanother year, as I had expected. Then, if I do that, Papa says I may stayhome next year, and just have masters in music and French, and whateverbranches I want to keep up. So I'm trying, but I hardly think I can passthe examinations after all."

  "Well, you're not going to study while you're here," said Mrs. Allen,"and after we get Nan packed off on Thursday, you and I are going to havelovely times. You must stay with me as long as you can, for I shall bedreadfully lonesome without my own girl."

  "Thank you, dear Mrs. Allen, I am very happy here, and I love to staywith you; but of course I can stay only as long as our Easter vacationlasts. I must go back to New York the early part of next week."

  "Well, we'll cram all the fun possible into the few days you are herethen," and Patty's gay little hostess bustled away to look after herhousehold appointments.

  Mrs. Allen was of a social, pleasure-loving nature. Indeed, it was oftensaid that she cared more for parties and festive gatherings than did herdaughter Nan.

  Nobody was surprised to learn that Nan Allen was to marry a man manyyears older than herself. The surprise came when they met Mr. Fairfieldand discovered that that gentleman appeared to be much younger than heundoubtedly was.

  For Patty's father, though nearly forty years old, had a frank, ingenuousmanner, and a smile that was almost boyish in its gaiety.

  Mrs. Allen was in her element superintending her daughter's wedding, andthe whole affair was to be on a most elaborate scale. Far more so thanNan herself wished, for her tastes were simple, and she would havepreferred a quieter celebration of the occasion.

  But as Mrs. Allen said, it was her last opportunity to provide anentertainment for her daughter, and she would not allow her plans to bethwarted.

  So preparations for the great event went busily on. Carpenters came andenclosed the wide verandas, and decorators came and hung the newly madewalls with white cheese cloth, and trimmed them with garlands of green.The house was invaded with decorators, caterers, and helpers of allsorts, while neighbours and friends of Mrs. Allen and of Nan flew in andout at all hours.

  The present-room was continually thronged by admiring friends who nevertired of looking at the beautiful gifts already upon the tables, orwatching the opening of new ones.

  "There's the thirteenth cut-glass ice-tub," said Nan, as she tore thetissue paper wrapping from an exquisite piece of sparkling glass. "Ishould think it an unlucky number if I didn't feel sure that one or twomore would come yet."

  "What are you going to do with them all, Nan?" asked one of her girlfriends; "shall you exchange any of your duplicate gifts?"

  "No indeed," said Nan, "I'm too conservative and old-fashioned toexchange my wedding gifts. I sha
ll keep the whole thirteen, and then whenone gets broken, I can replace it with another. Accidents will happen,you know."

  "But not thirteen times, and all ice-tubs!" said Patty, laughing. "You'llhave to use them as individuals, Nan. When you give a dinner party oftwelve, each guest can have a separate ice-tub, which will be veryconvenient."

  "I don't care," said Nan, taking the jest good-humouredly, "I shall keepthem all, no matter how many I get. And I always did like ice-tubs,anyway."

  Another great excitement was when Nan's gowns were sent home from thedressmaker's. Patty was frankly fond of pretty clothes, and she fairlyrevelled in Nan's beautiful _trousseau_. To please Patty, the bride-electtried them all on, one after another, and each seemed more beautiful thanthe one before. When at last Nan stood arrayed in her bridal gown, withveil and orange blossoms complete, Patty's ecstacy knew no bounds.

  "You are a picture, Nan!" she cried. "A perfect dream! I never saw such abeautiful bride. Oh, I am so glad you're coming to live with us, and thenI can try on that white satin confection and prance around in it myself."

  They all laughed at this, and Nan exclaimed, in mock reproach:

  "I'd like to see you do it, Miss! Prance around in my wedding gown,indeed! Have you no more respect for your elderly and antiquatedStepmamma than that?"

  Patty giggled at Nan's pretended severity, and danced round her, pattinga fold here, and picking out a bow there, and having a good timegenerally.

  The next day there was a luncheon, to which Mrs. Allen had invited anumber of Nan's dearest girl friends.

  Patty enjoyed this especially, for not only did she dearly love a prettyaffair of this sort, but Mrs. Allen had let her help with thepreparations, and Patty had even suggested some original ideas whichfound favour in Mrs. Allen's eyes.

  Over the table was suspended a floral wedding bell, which was suppliedwith not only one clapper, but a dozen. These clappers were ingeniouslittle contrivances, and from each hung a long and narrow white ribbon.After the luncheon, each ribbon was apportioned to a guest, and at agiven signal the ribbons were pulled, whereupon each clapper sprang open,and a tiny white paper fluttered down to the table.

  "Patty fairly reveled in Nan's beautiful trousseau"]

  These papers each bore the name of one of the guests, and when openedwere found to contain a rhymed jingle foretelling in a humorous way thefate of each girl. Patty had written the merry little verses, and theywere read aloud amid much laughter and fun.

  As Patty did not know these Philadelphia girls very well, many of herverses which foretold their fates were necessarily merely graceful littlejingles, without any attempt at special appropriateness.

  One which fell to the lot of a dainty little golden-haired girl ran thus:

  Your cheeks are red, your eyes are blue; Your hair is gold, your heart is too.

  Another which was applied to a specially good-humoured maiden read thus:

  The longer you live the sweeter you'll grow; Your fair cup of joy shall have no trace of woe.

  But some of the girls had special hopes or interests, and these Pattytouched upon. An aspiring music lover was thus warned:

  If you would really learn to play, Pray practice seven hours a day, And then perhaps at last you may.

  And an earnest art student received this somewhat doubtful encouragement:

  You'll try to paint in oil, And your persistent toil, Will many a canvas spoil.

  Patty's own verse was a little hit at her dislike for study, and hertaste in another direction:

  Little you care to read a book, But, goodness me, how you can cook!

  Nan's came last of all, and she read it aloud amid the gay laughter ofthe girls:

  Ere many days shall pass o'er your fair head, Your fate is, pretty lady, to be wed; Yet scarcely can you be a happy wife, For Patty F. will lead you such a life!

  The girls thought these merry little jingles great fun, and eachcarefully preserved her "fortune" to take home as a souvenir of theoccasion.

  Bumble Barlow was at this luncheon, for the Barlows were friends and nearneighbours of the Allens.

  Readers who knew Patty in her earlier years, will remember Bumble as thecousin who lived at the "Hurly-Burly" down on Long Island.

  Although Bumble was a little older, and insisted on being called by herreal name of Helen, she was the same old mischievous fly-away as ever.She was delighted to see Patty again, and coaxed her to come and staywith them, instead of with the Allens. But Mrs. Allen would not hear ofsuch an arrangement, and could only be induced to give her consent thatPatty should spend one day with the Barlows during her visit inPhiladelphia.

  The short time that was left before the wedding day flew by as if onwings. So much was going on both in the line of gaiety and entertainment,and also by way of preparation for the great event, that Patty began towonder whether social life was not, after all, as wearing as the moreprosaic school work.

  But Mrs. Allen said, when this question was referred to her, "Not a bitof it! All this gaiety does you good, Patty. You need recreation fromthat everlasting grind of school work, and you'll go back to it next weekrefreshed, and ready to do better work than ever."

  "I'm sure of it," said Patty, "and I shall never forget the fun we'rehaving this week. It's just like a bit of Fairyland. I've never had suchan experience before."

  Patty's life had been one of simple pleasures and duties. She had a greatcapacity for enjoyment, but heretofore had only known fun and frolic of amore childish nature. This glimpse into what seemed to be really trulygrown-up society was bewildering and very enjoyable, and Patty found itquite easy to adapt herself to its requirements.