"Alone! Then let me come up for a few minutes, and chat." "No; Mrs. Van Reypen wouldn't like it, I'm sure. But, oh, Ken, I'm making good this time! On Thursday the week will be up, and I'll get my fifteen dollars. Isn't that gay?" "You're a plucky girl, Patty, and I congratulate you. Is it very horrid?" "No, it isn't exactly horrid, but I'm fearfully homesick. But it's only three more days now, and won't I be glad to get home!" "And we'll be glad to have you. The goldfish are dull and moping, and we all want our Patty back again." "That's nice of you. But, Ken, how did you know where to find me? I made Nan and father promise not to tell." "Well, I may as well confess: I basely worried it out of Miller. I asked him where he took you to last Thursday afternoon." "Oh! I meant to tell him not to tell, but I forgot it. Well, it doesn't matter much, as you chanced to strike a time when I'm alone. But don't call me up again. I'm not supposed to have any social acquaintances." "Good for you, Patty! If you play the game, play it well. I expect you're a prim, demure companion as ever was." "Of course I am. And if the lady didn't have such a fishy nephew I'd get along beautifully." "Oho! A nephew, eh? And he's smitten with your charms, as they always are in novels." "Yes," said Patty, in a simpering tone. "Oh, yes! I can't see you, but I know you have your finger in your mouth and your eyes shyly cast down." "You're _so_ clever!" murmured Patty, giggling. "But now you may go, Ken, for I don't want to talk to you any more. Come round Thursday night, can't you, and welcome me home?" "Pooh, you're late with your invitation. Mrs. Fairfield has already invited me to dinner that very evening." "Good! Well, good-by for now. I have reasons for wishing to discontinue this conversation." "And I have reasons for wishing to keep on. If you're tired talking, sing to me." "'Thou art so near and yet so far,'" hummed Patty, in her clear, sweet voice. "No, don't sing. Central will think you're a concert. Well, good-by till Thursday." "Good-by," said Patty, and hung up the receiver. But she felt much more cheerful at having talked with Kenneth, and the coming days seemed easier to bear. They proved, however, to be quite hard enough. The very next day, when Patty went down to the breakfast room, determined to do her best to please Mrs. Van Reypen, she found that lady suffering from an attack of neuralgia. Though not a serious one, it seriously affected her temper, and she was cross and irritable to a degree that Patty had never seen equalled. She snapped at the servants; she was short of speech to Patty; she found fault with everything, from the coffee to the cat. After breakfast they went to the sunny, pleasant morning room, and Patty made up her mind to a hard day. Then she had an inspiration. She remembered how susceptible Mrs. Van Reypen was to flattery, and she determined to see if large doses of it wouldn't cure her ill temper.