"Oh, come now, Mona," said Elise, laughing, "it isn't such wonderful goodness. People always give things to brides. Patty, if you don't give me a shower like this, I won't get married at all." "Didn't know you thought of it," returned Patty. "But I'll promise the shower all right. When shall I invite the girls, Elise?" "Oh, I haven't picked out the bridegroom yet, so there's no hurry. I've got to get used to having my brother married, before I think of it myself. Mona, we'll soon be sisters. Think of that!" "I've often thought of it, Elise. I've never had a sister, and I shan't know just how to act at first. But I hope----" "There now, don't get sentimental! Not but what I feel that way, too, but you'll get weepy in a minute,--and then it's all up with you!" "You're so emotional, Mona," said Patty, smiling at her, "and so capable, and so generally all-round efficient, you're just the one to get married. Now, when it comes my turn, I don't want all this hullabaloo,--I think I shall get a good old rope ladder and elope." "What! and not have any showers and music and reception and everything?" "Oh, well, I don't know. We'll see when the time comes. But just now, we must put this affair of yours through. I'm glad there are only a few more days. I couldn't stand this excitement very long. Come on, girls, get ready for dinner. The boys will come soon. There's the bell now. If it's Roger, let Mona go down and see him alone. I'm a fine gooseberry, don't you think so?" "It is Roger," Patty announced, a moment later, as she leaned over the banister to see, "skip along, Mona, we'll be down in ten minutes." "Isn't she funny?" said Elise, as Patty returned to her room. "I never saw anybody so crazy." "She's so excited, she doesn't know whether she's on her head or her heels," agreed Patty. "Her nature is volatile, and she has no sense of moderation. She wants everything and all there is of it. That's all." "She's a good one for Roger. He's inclined to take things lazily. Mona will be a sort of spur to him." "They're all right," agreed Patty. "It's an ideal match. Come on, Elise, we've given them enough time alone." The girls went down, and then Van Reypen and Kit Cameron appeared. Dinner was a gay feast, and the elder Fairfields were as much interested in the chatter as the young people. "Assert yourself, Roger," said Mr. Fairfield. "Don't let these girls monopolize the conversation, with their feminine fripperies and millinery muddles." "Models, Dad, not muddles," laughed Patty. "But we don't talk about those much now, they're all finished. Oh, Mona, Genevieve's skirt had to be all made over----" "Oh, no," said her father, "you don't talk about them much! Only all the time, that's all!" "Let 'em," said Roger, magnanimously; "I've learned in the last few days, that the hang of Genevieve's skirt is a matter of enormous magnitude."