"No, I'm not," said Miss Daggett curtly. "I'm going to please myself; and
I called you over here to advise me what to wear. Here are all my best
dresses, but there's none of them made in the fashions people wear
nowadays, and it's too late to have them fixed over. I wish you'd tell
me which one you think comes nearest to being right."
Patty looked in amazement at the great heap of beautiful gowns that lay
upon the bed. They were made of the richest velvets and satins and
laces, but were all of such an antiquated mode that it seemed impossible
to advise anyone to wear them without remodeling. But, as Miss Daggett
was very much in earnest, Patty concluded that she must necessarily make
some choice.
Accordingly, she picked out a lavender moiré silk, trimmed with soft
white lace at the throat and wrist. Although old-fashioned, it was plain
and very simply made, and would, Patty thought, be less conspicuous than
the more elaborate gowns.
"That's just the one I had decided on myself," said Miss Daggett, "and I
should have worn that anyway, whatever you had said."
"Then why did you call me over?" said Patty, moved to impatience by this
inconsistency.
"Oh, because I wanted your opinion, and I wanted to ask you about some
other things. Kenneth is coming to-night, you know."
"Yes, I know it," said Patty, "and I am very glad."
This frank statement and the clear, unembarrassed light in Patty's eyes
seemed to please Miss Daggett, and she kissed the pretty face upturned to
hers, but she only said: "Run along now, child, go home, I don't want
company now."
"I'm glad of it," Patty thought to herself, but she only said: "Good-bye,
then, Miss Daggett; I'll see you this evening."
"Wait a minute, child; come back here, I'm not through with you yet."
Patty groaned in spirit, but went back with a smiling face.
Miss Daggett regarded her steadily.
"You're pretty busy, I suppose, to-day," she said, "getting ready for
your play."
"Yes, I am," said Patty frankly.
"And you didn't want to take the time to come over here to see me, did
you?"
"Oh, I shall have time enough to do all I want to do," said Patty.
"Don't evade my question, child. You didn't want to come, did you?"
"Well, Miss Daggett," said Patty, "you are often quite frank with me, so
now I'll be frank with you, and confess that when your message came I did
wish you had chosen some other day to send for me; for I certainly have a
lot of little things to do, but I shall get them all done, I know, and I
am very glad to learn that you are coming to the entertainment."
"You are a good girl," said Miss Daggett; "you are a good girl, and I
like you very much. Good-bye."
"Good-bye," said Patty, and she ran downstairs and over home, determined
to work fast enough to make up for the time she had lost.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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