"Well, so far as I have a voice in this matter, I'd like to go. I
think it's very kind of Mona to ask me, and I'd try not to be a
troublesome visitor. You know, Father Fairfield, how much I would
rather stay in Spring Beach than go to the mountains. And I
suppose I could take my motor-car to Mona's with me."

"Yes, of course," Mona said. "And father says if I don't go to
Europe, he'll buy me a runabout just like yours, and we can have
lovely times going out together."

"Would your aunt come at once?" asked Nan, who wanted to know more
about the chaperon who would have Patty in charge.

"Yes, father will send for her as soon as we decide. But you know,
Mrs. Fairfield, I should keep house, as I always do, and Aunt
Adelaide would only be with us in the cause of propriety."

Nan smiled at the thought of Mona's housekeeping, for "Red
Chimneys" was so liberally provided with servants that Mona's
duties consisted mainly in mentioning her favourite dishes to the
cook.

"Are you sure you could behave yourself, Patty?" asked her father,
teasingly, "without either Nan or myself to keep you in order?"

"Oh, yes," said Patty, drawing down the corners of her mouth
demurely. "In fact, as I should be on my own responsibility, I'd
have to be even more careful of my manners than I am at home."