“Haven’t asked anybody! I thought you had planned this house party!”
“Well, you see, I just got the telegram last night, and it was on the train coming up here this morning that I planned it—so the plans aren’t—aren’t entirely completed as yet.”
“Oh, you fraud! You made it all up on the spur of the moment——”
“Yes’m, I did. But what a spur the moment is! Now, see here, it’s clear sailing. We can get the Kenerleys and they’ll be the chaperons. Now, all we have to do, is to corral a few guests. You and I are two. How about Mona Galbraith?”
“She’d go if she could,” said Patty, “but she’s having a party this afternoon. Chick Channing is over there.”
“Chick Channing! Is he really? Well! Well! I haven’t seen that boy for years. We must make them come. And Daisy? Is she there?”
“Don’t be alarmed, you little man-eater, you! The Farringtons will go, maybe; and Kit Cameron and his pretty cousin. Oh, I’ve a list of possibles, and we’ll get enough for a jolly little crowd. You’ve no objections, have you?” and Farnsworth looked anxiously at the elder Fairfields.
“N-no,” began Nan, “but it isn’t all clear to me yet. Suppose the Kenerleys can’t go?”
“That puts the whole plant out of commission. Unless,—oh, by Jove! wouldn’t you two go? That would be fine!”
But Mr. Fairfield and Nan refused to be drawn into any such crazy scheme. It was all right for young people, they said, but not for a comfort-loving, middle-aged pair.
“Well, I’ll tell you,” said Farnsworth, after a moment’s thought. “I’ll get the Kens on the long distance, and find out for sure. Meantime, Butterfly, you be packing a few feathers, for sumpum tells me Adele will go, anyway, whether old Jim does or not.”
“Might as well throw some things in a suitcase I s’pose,” said Patty; “it’s better to be ready and not go than to go and not be ready.”
After a long session at the telephone, Bill announced a triumphant success. The Kenerleys would be glad to go. Moreover, Adele would meet Patty and Bill in New York that very day in time for a late luncheon. Then they would get the Farringtons and the others by telephone. Then Patty would go home with Adele for the night, and they would all go to Maine the next day.
“You see it’s very simple,” said Bill, with such an ingenuous smile that Nan went over to his side at once.