Everything's all right."

"Come for a stroll on the veranda, Patty," said Jack Pennington,
coming up to her. "Mayn't I take her, Mrs. Hastings, if I'll be
very careful of her?"

"Shure an' ye may, sir," said Susan, heartily, caught off her
guard by this sudden request.

Jack Pennington stared at her, and Susan's eyes fell and her face
turned red in deepest dismay lest she had disgraced her beloved
Miss Patty. In a despairing effort to remedy her indiscretion she
assumed a haughty tone and said, "You have my permission. Go with
the young gentleman, Miss Patty." And with an air of having
accomplished her duty successfully, Susan picked up her knitting.

Patty's twitching lips and flushed cheeks made quick-witted Jack
Pennington suspect a joke somewhere, but he gravely offered his
arm, and as they reached the broad veranda and walked toward a
moonlighted corner of it, he said, "Interesting lady, that new
aunt of Mona's, isn't she?"

"Very," said Patty, trying not to laugh.

"I always like that foreign accent," went on Jack; "is it,--er--
French?"

"Well, no," opined Patty. "I don't think Mrs. Hastings IS French."

"Ah, German, then, perhaps. I've heard that particular accent