Patty and Azalea | Page 9

agreed Mona, who had a mere pretence of a library in her
own home. "I didn't know you were so literary, Patty."
"Oh, I'm not. It's Little Billee's gigantic intellect that planned this room,
and he's the power that keeps it going. Every week he sends up a
cartload of new books--"
"Oh, come, now, Patty,--I haven't bought a book for a fortnight!"
laughed Farnsworth. "But I've just heard of a fine old edition of Ike
Walton that I can get at--"
"There, there, my son, don't get started on your hobby," implored
Channing. "We're ignoramuses, Mona and I, and we want to talk about
less highbrow subjects."
"Count me on your side," said a smiling girl, whose big gray eyes took
on a look of awe at the turn the conversation had taken. "I don't know if
Ike Walton is a book or a steamboat!"
The speaker was Beatrice Gale, a neighbour of the Farnsworths. She
was pretty and saucy looking,--a graceful sprite, with a dimpled chin,
and soft brown hair, worn in moppy bunches over her ears. She was
called Betty by her friends, and Patty and Bill had already acquired that
privilege.
"Now, Betty," and Patty shook her head at her, "you are a college
graduate as well as a débutante,--you must know old Ike!"
"But I don't! You see, my début meant so much more to me than my
commencement, that all I ever learned at college flew out of my head to

make room for all I'm going to learn in society."
"Have you much left to learn?" asked Elise, looking at the piquant face
that seemed to show its owner decidedly conversant with the ways of
the world,--at least, her own part in it.
"Oh, indeed, yes! I only know how to smile and dance. I'm going to
learn flirting, coquetry and getting engaged!"
"You're ambitious, little one," remarked Van Reypen. "Have you
chosen your instructors?"
"I'm sure you won't need any," put in Elise, who was already jealous of
Philip's interested looks at the new girl. "I think you could pass an
efficiency examination already!"
"You ought to know," said Betty, with such an innocent and demure
look at Elise, that it was difficult to determine whether she meant to be
impertinent or not.
"Let me conduct the examination," said Philip; "shall it be public,--or
will you go with me into a--a classroom?" and he looked toward the
small "den" that opened from the library.
"Oh, have it public!" exclaimed Mona. "Let us all hear it"
"All right," and pretty Betty smiled, non-chalantly. "Go ahead,
Professor."
"I will. You know these examinations begin by matching words. I say
one word, and you say whatever word pops into your head first."
"That's easy enough. Proceed."
"Arden."
"Forest. I always thought this place ought to have been named the
Forest of Arden, because--"

"Don't talk so much. You must say one word only. Concentrate."
"Silence."
"Oh, concentrate wasn't the word! I said that to you--"
"I thought you were talking to me all the time!"
"I am. Now be still! Horse."
"How can I pass my examination if I'm to be still? Wagon."
"Aeroplane."
"You."
"How did you know that I was an aviator?"
"Never mind; go on with the game."
"All right. Beaux."
"Flattery."
"Chaperon."
"Hoodwink."
"Oh, you rascal! Mother."
"Father."
"Father."
"Money."
"Soft-boiled egg."
"Messy."

"American Beauties."
"Mr. Grant,--he often sends them to me."
"Music."
"Dancing."
"You pass. Now for to see if you're thoroughly grounded in the
common branches. Grammar, first. What's a noun, and give examples."
"A noun's a name. As, candy, heart, slipper."
"What's a compound noun?"
"Two names,--as chicken salad,--Philip Van Reypen,--moonlight."
"What's a mood?"
"Something you fall into,--as a ditch,--or love."
"What is an article?"
"A piece of fancy work for sale at a fair."
"What's a conjunction?"
"Anything that joins,--as the marriage ceremony, or hooks and eyes."
"Good. Now for arithmetic. If you are at home of an evening, and a
chap calls on you, and then I come to call, and take half your attention
from him, what is left?"
"The chap!"
"Right! Now, definitions. What do you mean by forever?"
"Until to-morrow!" returned Betty, laughing.

"Never?"
"Not until to-morrow!"
"How do you spell No?"
"Y-e-s."
"Oh, Betty," exclaimed Patty, laughing, "I didn't know you were so
witty!"
"Good gracious! don't call me that! Here, stop this examination right
now! I won't be called witty. Why, don't you know--
"'Though you're sweet and though you're pretty, Men won't love you if
you're witty!'
"I'm always afraid of not being loved!"
Miss Gale looked so frightened at this very idea, that they all broke into
laughter.
"You should worry!" declared Bill. "You haven't enough wit to do any
great harm. Or, at least, if you have, you've compensating
foolishness--I mean--that is--"