Patty Fairfield | Page 6

a fancy little muff hung round her neck by a
silver chain.
Her skirts were as short as Patty's, and she seemed like a little girl, and
yet she had a wise, grown-up air, and she began to patronize her cousin
at once.
"Your frock is nice," she said, "but it has no style to it. Well, I suppose
you couldn't get much in the way of dressmakers where you lived, but
Madame Marsala will soon turn you out all right. Mamma says she'll
just enjoy ordering new clothes for you, and your papa told her to get
whatever she chose. Oh, won't we have fun! We always go to New
York for our things, and the shops are just lovely."
"Come, come, children," said Uncle Robert, who had been looking
after Patty's trunks, "the train is made up, let us get aboard."
They went through one of a whole row of little gates in an iron fence,
and Patty wondered at the numerous trains and the crowds of people
moving swiftly towards them.
She wondered if everything at the North were conducted on such a
wholesale and such a hurrying plan. They hurried along the platform
and hurried into a car, then Uncle Robert put the two children into a
seat together, while he sat behind them and devoted himself to his
evening paper.
The girls chatted gaily and Patty learned much about the home she was

going to, and began to think of it as a very beautiful and attractive
place.
The train stopped at Elmbridge, and without waiting for her father,
Ethelyn piloted Patty off the car.
"Here's our carriage," she said, as a handsome pair of horses with
jingling chains came prancing up. A footman in livery handed the
young ladies in, and Patty felt as if she had come among very grand
people indeed.
While they waited for Mr. St. Clair, who was giving the checks to the
baggage-master, Patty admired the pretty little station of rough gray
stone, and the neatly kept grounds and paths all about it.
"Yes, they are pretty," assented Ethelyn, "but just wait till you see our
grounds. We have the finest place in Elmbridge. In summer it's just
lovely."
Then Mr. St. Clair came, and giving the coachman the order "Home,"
he seated himself opposite the two girls.
"Well, Patty, how do you like it, so far?" he asked, genially, of his
niece.
"Oh, Uncle Robert, I think it's beautiful, but I hoped we'd have a
sleigh-ride. I've never been in a sleigh."
"Bless you, child, we don't have much sleighing. However, perhaps we
can scare up a sleigh-ride before the winter is over. We have a pretty
fine sleigh, eh, Ethelyn?"
"Yes, indeed, we have a beautiful great big one, and I have a little
cutter, all my own. I'll take you sleighing, Patty, if we get half a
chance."
Soon they reached the St. Clair home and drove up the long winding
avenue to the house.

Patty saw a brilliantly lighted mansion, and as they drew near it, she
heard the most piercing shrieks and yells, as of a human being in
desperate straits of some kind.
Patty wondered if she were about to enter a Bluebeard's castle, but
deeming it polite to take no notice of the uproar, she tried to appear
unheeding though the shrieks increased in violence as they came up to
the house and the carriage stopped at the front door.
CHAPTER IV
VILLA ROSA
"Here we are, chickens," said Uncle Robert, as the footman threw open
the carriage door, "here's your new home, Patty, and you're very
welcome to your Uncle Robert's house."
It was almost dark and Patty could distinguish only the outlines of a
magnificent house, so large that it seemed like a palace.
They went up massive stone steps between great stone lions, to a
wonderful veranda bright with electric lights, and lights streamed from
every window and from the wide front doors which flew open as they
reached them.
But though all this beauty and elegance impressed Patty like a dream of
Fairyland, she paid little heed to it, for she was so shocked and
disturbed by the shrieks from within, which were now distinctly
audible as those of a child.
"Goodness me!" exclaimed Ethelyn, just as Patty could stand it no
longer and was about to ask what it meant, "what can be the matter
with Florelle this time? I hope you enjoy squealing, Patty, for you'll
hear plenty of it in this house. Don't mind it; little sister has a fearful
temper, and we have to let her squeal it out."
Patty was relieved to learn that it wasn't a case of intentional torture,
and by this time she found herself in the great hall.

The grandeur of her