"Oh, papa, is it so late? And I have to get into that new frock!"

"Well, scuttle along, then, and make all the haste you can."

Patty scuttled, but during the process of making all the haste she could,
she very nearly lost her temper.

The new white frock was complicated; the broad white hair-ribbons were
difficult to tie; and, as it was the first time that she had made a
toilette in her new home, it is not at all surprising that many useful or
indispensable little articles were missing.

"Pansy," she called, as she heard the girl in the dining-room, "do, for
mercy's sake, come up and help me. I can't find my shoe-buttoner, and I
can't button the yoke of this crazy dress without it."

Pansy came to the rescue, and just as the Elliott family came in at the
front gate, Patty completely attired, but very flushed and breathless
from her rapid exertions--flew downstairs and tucked her arm through her
father's, as he stood in the hall.

"I'm here," she said demurely, and trying to speak calmly.

"Oh, so you are," he said. "I thought a white cashmere whirlwind had
struck me. I _hope_ you didn't hurry yourself."

"Oh, no!" said Patty, meeting his merry smile with another. "I just
dawdled through my dressing to kill time."