"She said, 'Come in, Patty dear,' when I knocked on the door. Usually when I have had the honor of being received by her she has somewhat frigidly called me 'Miss Wyatt.' I opened the door with my knees shaking when I heard that 'Patty dear,' and she took my hand and said, 'I am sorry to have to tell you that I have heard bad news from your brother.' "'Tommy?' I gasped. "'No; Robert.' "I was dazed. I racked my brains, but I couldn't remember any brother Robert. "'He is very ill,' she went on. 'Yes, I must tell you the truth, Patty; poor little Robert passed away this morning'; and she laid the telegram before me. Then, when it flashed over me what it meant, I was so relieved that I put my head down on her desk and simply laughed till I cried; and she thought I was crying all the time, and kept patting my head and quoting Psalms. Well, then I didn't dare to tell her, after she had expended all that sympathy; so as soon as I could stop laughing (which wasn't very soon, for I had got considerable momentum) I raised my head and told her--trying to be truthful and at the same time not hurt her feelings--that Robert was not a brother, but just a sort of friend. And, do you know, she immediately jumped to the conclusion that he was a fiance, and began stroking my hair and murmuring that it was sometimes harder to lose friends than relatives, but that I was still young, and I must not let it blast my life, and that maybe in the future when time had dulled the pain--and then, remembering that it wouldn't do to advise me to adopt a second fiance before I had buried my first, she stopped suddenly and asked if I wished to go home to the funeral. "I told her no, that I didn't think it would be best; and she said perhaps not if it hadn't been announced, and she kissed me and told me she was glad to see me bearing up so bravely." "Patty!" Priscilla exclaimed in horror, "it's dreadful. How could you let her think it?" "How could I help it?" Patty demanded indignantly. "What with being frightened into hysterics first, and then having a strange fiance thrust at me without a moment's notice, I think that I carried off the situation with rare delicacy and finesse. Do you think it would have been tactful to tell her it was nothing but a bull pup she was quoting Scripture about?" "I don't see how it was exactly your fault," Georgie acknowledged. "Thank you," said Patty. "If you had a brother like Tommy Wyatt you would know how to sympathize with me. I suppose I ought to be grateful to know that the dog is dead, but I should like to have had the news broken a little less gently." "Patty," exclaimed Priscilla, as a sudden thought struck her, "do you happen to remember that you are on the reception committee of the Dramatic Club cotillion to-morrow night? What will Mrs. Richards think when she sees you in evening dress, receiving at a party, on the very day your fiance has been buried?"