Hastings, I won't let 'em trouble you. You sit in this cosy
corner, and if you'll take my advice, you'll nod a bit now and
then,--but don't go really to sleep. Then they'll let you alone."

Susan followed this good counsel, and holding her knitting
carelessly in her lap, she sat quietly, now and then nodding, and
opening her eyes with a slight start. The poor woman was really
most uncomfortable, but Patty had ordered this performance and she
would have done her best had the task been twice as hard.

"You were a villain to tease poor Susan so at the table," said
Patty to Jack, as they sauntered on the veranda between dances.

"She came through with flying colours," he replied, laughing at
the recollection.

"Yes, but it was mean of you to fluster the poor thing."

"Don't you know why I did it?"

"To tease me, I suppose," and Patty drew down the corners of her
mouth and looked like a much injured damsel.

"Yes; but, incidentally, to see that pinky colour spread all over
your cheeks. It makes you look like a wild rose."

"Does it?" said Patty, lightly. "And what do I look like at other
times? A tame rose?"

"No; a primrose. Very prim, sometimes."