Miss Pat at Artemis Lodge | Page 9

"Oh, isn't it too jolly for words to be
really going to get my room and all! I'm so excited I simply can't wait
for the time to come."
But of course she did wait and with the very best grace in the world.
For she helped Elinor pack a box of warm half-worn clothing for the
worthless Sneaths in Rockham, and made some necessary repairs in her
own slightly travel-worn clothes.
"I want to be as fresh as possible, without being too wealthy looking,"
she said with a smile as she laid out her newest blouse and brushed her
hat with great nicety when the hour for getting ready for the tea-party
had arrived.
Judith had come in and was hurrying through her toilet at an unusual
rate of speed, but she paused and critically surveyed her sister with her
head first on one side and then on the other.
"You may as well give up trying to look like the deserving poor, Miss
Pat," she said emphatically. "You'll always be sort of rich-ish looking,
not real luxuriant, you know, but--but--" She hesitated for just the right
phrase. "Well, anyone would know you used a bath-brush and took care
of your hair," she ended lamely.
Patricia bubbled with mirth. "What a left-handed compliment, Judy. Is
that the best you can do for me? I'm glad I appear clean, anyway."
Judith began to fasten her frock, undisturbed. "You know perfectly well,
Miss Pat, that you're quite good-looking--not so lovely as Elinor, but
heaps prettier than Miriam or--or--me," she ended rather forlornly.
Patricia had come to understand the longing after beauty which was in
the depths of her small sister's secret heart and was quick to offer balm.
"Look at us," she said, pulling Judith to the mirror beside her. "'Fess up
now Miss, that you are quite as fascinating as your elderly relative. You
forget that you've been growing and changing a lot since I've been

away."
Judith gazed at the reflection in the glass which showed her as a slender
childish figure with a lengthening mop of pale, ashy hair and a face of
delicate intensity. She really had not changed at all in Patricia's short
absence, but the different surroundings made both girls view her with
other eyes, and she seemed to have taken on new height and color.
"I'm growing!" cried Judith rapturously, turning from the mirror to rush
into Elinor's room with the glorious news. "Oh, Elinor, I'm nearly up to
Miss Pat's ear-tip now."
Patricia heard Elinor's laughing comments with a smile of satisfaction
curving her pink lips. She knew that Judith did not measure a fraction
of an inch more than when she left Rockham, but she was glad that the
images in the glass had cheered the critical Judith, whose lamentations
about her size and coloring were always loudest when she faced a
looking-glass.
It was only a very little thing, this incident of cheering Judith, but it
warmed Patricia's already glowing heart and added the final drop to her
cup of happiness, and she started off on their expedition to the Artemis
tea-room with such a radiant face that Judith commented on it.
"Miss Pat," she whispered with a warning nudge as they fell behind the
other two in the crowded pavement, "you ought to take a tuck in your
smile. Everybody will be looking at us if you go along grinning like
that."
But Patricia only smiled the more at this and Judith gave her up in
despair of making any impression on her abounding good humor.
"She's perfectly dreadful, Mrs. Nat," she confided as she slipped to her
old friend's side, leaving Patricia to Elinor for the rest of the walk. "She
doesn't care a bit about how she looks. Lots of people turned to stare at
us."
Mrs. Spicer nodded approval of Patricia's reckless course. "Don't you

fret, my dear," she soothed Judith. "Miss Pat is worth looking at any
time and folks like to see a real happy person once in a while. Land
knows why we're all so afraid to show our joyful side to the world. Let
her alone. Good times don't last too long for any of us."
Judith meditated on this bit of wisdom and she watched Patricia closely
when they reached the street where the house was located. There was
no clouding of the bright face, however, at the sight of the substantial
graystone building, and Judith drew a sigh of relief that Patricia's happy
hour was lengthened by so much.
"Isn't it a perfect duck of a place?" said Patricia as they stood at the
wide entrance door. "It's just like some of the old houses I saw in
Belgium last summer--only fresher and newer, of course."
"Margaret said it was modeled after an