When Patty Went to College | Page 6

in to make an
afternoon call--Do you follow me, young ladies, or do I speak too fast?
If, while you are engaged in conversation, the kettle should become too
hot, do not put your finger in your mouth and shriek 'Ouch!' and
coquettishly say to the young man, 'You take it off,' as might a young
woman who has not enjoyed your advantages; but, rather, rise to the
emergency; say to him calmly, 'This kettle has become over-heated;
may I trouble you to go into the hall and bring an umbrella?' and when
he returns you can hook it off gracefully and expeditiously as you have
seen me do, young ladies, and the young--"
"Patty, take care!" This from Priscilla.
"O-u-c-h!" in a long-drawn wail. This from Georgie.
Patty hastily set the kettle down on the floor. "I'm awfully sorry,
Georgie. Does it hurt?"
"Not in the least. It's really a pleasant sensation to have boiling water
poured over you."
The Bartlet Twin sniffed. "I smell burning rug."
Patty groaned. "I resign, Pris; I resign. Here, you preside. I'll never ask

to make it again."
"I should like," observed the Twin, "to see Patty entertaining a young
man."
"It's not such an unprecedented event," said Patty, with some warmth.
"You can watch me to-morrow night if it will give you so much
pleasure."
"To-morrow night? Are you going to have a man for the Prom?"
"That," said Patty, "is my intention."
"And you haven't asked me for a dance!" This in an aggrieved chorus
from the entire room.
"I haven't asked any one," said Patty, with dignity.
"Do you mean you're going to have all of the twenty dances with him
yourself?"
"Oh, no; I don't expect to dance more than ten with him myself--I
haven't made out his card yet," she added.
"Why not?"
"I never do."
"Has he been here before, then?"
"No; that's the reason."
"The reason for what?"
"Well," Patty deigned to explain, "I've invited him for every party since
freshman year."
"And did he decline?"

"No; he accepted, but he never came."
"Why not?"
"He was scared."
"Scared? Of the girls?"
"Yes," said Patty, "partly--but mostly of the faculty."
"The faculty wouldn't hurt him."
"Of course not; but he couldn't understand that. You see, he had a fright
when he was young."
"A fright? What was it?"
"Well," said Patty, "it happened this way: It was while I was at
boarding-school. He was at Andover then, and his home was in the
South; and one time when he went through Washington he stopped off
to call on me. As it happened, the butler had left two days before, and
had taken with him all the knives and forks, and all the money he could
find, and Nancy Lee's gold watch and two hat-pins, and my silver
hair-brush, and a bottle of brandy, and a pie," she enumerated with a
conscientious regard for details; "and Mrs. Trent--that's the
principal--had advertised for a new butler."
"I should have thought the old one would have discouraged her from
keeping butlers," said Georgie.
"You would think so," said Patty; "but she was a very persevering
woman. On the day that Raoul--that's his name--came to call, nineteen
people had applied for the place, and Mrs. Trent was worn out from
interviewing them. So she told Miss Sarah--that's her daughter--to
attend to those who came in the evening. Miss Sarah was tall and wore
spectacles, and was--was--"
"A good disciplinarian," suggested the Twin.

"Yes," said Patty, feelingly, "an awfully good disciplinarian. Well,
when Raoul got there he gave his card to Ellen and asked for me; but
Ellen didn't understand, and she called Miss Sarah, and when Miss
Sarah saw him in his evening clothes she--"
"Took him for a butler," put in Georgie.
"Yes, she took him for a butler; and she looked at the card he'd given
Ellen, and said icily, 'What does this mean?'
"'It's--it's my name,' he stammered.
"'I see,' said Miss Sarah; 'but where is your recommendation?'
"'I didn't know it was necessary,' he said, terribly scared.
"'Of course it's necessary,' Miss Sarah returned. 'I can't allow you to
come into the house unless I have letters from the places where you've
been before.'
"'I didn't suppose you were so strict,' he said.
"'We have to be strict,' Miss Sarah answered firmly. 'Have you had
much experience?'
"He didn't know what she meant, but he thought it would be safest to
say he hadn't.
"'Then of course you won't do,' she replied. 'How old are you?'
"He was so frightened by this time that he couldn't remember.
'Nineteen,' he gasped--'I mean twenty.'
"Miss Sarah saw his confusion, and thought he had designs on some of
the heiresses intrusted to her care. 'I don't see how you dared to come