Chocolate is only for the very slim.”
“Surely you are that,” ventured Patty, glancing at the graceful form of the new acquaintance.
“But I wouldn’t be, if I indulged in sweet things. Enjoy them while you may, my dear, in after years you’ll be glad you did.”
“What are you doing here, Maudie?” asked Channing. “Are you alone?”
“Yes; I’m having a concert tonight, and I’m in such trouble. You see,” she turned to Patty, “I’m a sort of professional entertainer. I give concerts or recitals, and I get performers of the very best and usually they are most dependable and reliable. But tonight I have a concert scheduled, and my prima donna is lacking. If she doesn’t come on this next train, I don’t know what I shall do. I suppose I shall have to give back the ticket money, and call the affair off, and that means a great loss to me. For I have to pay the other performers their price just the same.”
“That’s a shame,” said Channing, sympathetically. “But she’ll surely come.”
“I’m afraid not. I’ve telegraphed and I can’t get her anywhere. I can’t help thinking she deliberately threw me down because she received a better offer, or something of the sort. But I mustn’t bore you with my troubles. Forget it, Miss Fairfield, and don’t look so concerned.”
“I’m so sorry for you,” said Patty, “to go to all that trouble and expense, and have it all for nothing.”
“Less than nothing,” said Chick, “for you stand to lose considerable, I suppose.”
“Yes, well over five hundred dollars. Oh, here are the motorbuses from the train. Now we’ll see.”
But though many guests arrived at the hotel the singer was not amongst them.
“No,” said Miss Kent, scanning them sadly, “she isn’t here. Oh, what shall I do?”
Patty’s mind was working fast. She knit her brows as she tried to think calmly of a wild project that had come into her mind.
“Miss Kent,” she began, and stopped; “I wonder – that is – ”
“Well, my dear, what is it? Do you want to ask something of me? Don’t hesitate, I’m not very terrifying, am I, Chick?”
“No, indeed. What is it, Patty?”
“Oh, of course, it wouldn’t do, – I hate to suggest it, even, – but you see, Miss Kent, I can sing – ”
“And Patty can impersonate the absent singer! And nobody would ever know the difference! Great!” cried Channing. “Oh, Maudie, your trouble is at an end!”
“Now wait,” said Patty, blushing. “I am not a professional singer, but I have studied with good masters, and I have a voice, not so very big, but true. Forgive this plain speaking, but if I could help you out, Miss Kent, I should be so glad.”
“You’re a little darling!” exclaimed Maud Kent; “I wonder if we could carry off such a thing. You see, your coming here, as you just did, a stranger, and talking to me only, looks quite as if you were the arriving singer. That part’s all right. As to your voice, I have no doubts about that, for you didn’t say you sang ‘a little.’ And any way, even a fair singer would do, in addition to the talent I have. But Miss Fairfield, I can’t accept this from you. Will you take just the price I expected to give M’lle Farini?”
“I couldn’t accept money, Miss Kent. That would be impossible. I’m glad to do this to help you out, for it’s no trouble for me to sing, I love to do it. And don’t bother about the payment. Give it to some charity, if you like.”
“Oh, I can’t accept your services without pay! But if you knew what a temptation it is!”
“Yield to it, then,” and Patty smiled at the troubled face. “But first, you must hear my voice. You can’t decide before that. Where can we go?”
“Come up to my apartment, no one will hear us there, and if they should, it’s no great harm. One may practise, I suppose. You may come too, Chick, if you like.”
The three left the tea-room, and as they disappeared through the door, Farnsworth caught sight of Patty’s face.
“What does that mean?” he cried, so angrily that Daisy was startled.
“What does what mean?”
“Did you see who went out that door?”
“No; who?”
“Patty and Chick Channing and Maudie Kent.”
“I know the first two, but who is Maudie Kent?”
“An actress! A woman Channing and I knew in San Francisco a good while ago. What can she be doing here? And how did she get hold of Patty? Though of course, Chick is responsible for that. But what are they up to? I’m going after them.”
“Bill, don’t do anything so foolish! Patty has a right to visit the lady if she wants to. It isn’t your business.”
“But Patty – with that woman!”
“Why, isn’t she a nice woman?”
“She’s an actress, I tell you.”
“Well, lots of actresses are lovely ladies. Isn’t this one?”
“Yes, of course, she’s a lovely lady. But Patty oughtn’t to be racing round with her.”
“Patty wasn’t racing! She wouldn’t do such a thing in Poland Spring House. Now, Bill, put it out of your mind. There’s no occasion for you to get stirred up because Patty has made a new acquaintance. And I guess Chick Channing can take care of her, he wouldn’t let her know anybody who wasn’t all right.”
“Chick is thoughtless. He likes Maudie, and so do I. But she’s no fit companion for Patty.”
“Why? Is Patty Fairfield better than us common people? Is she made of finer clay? Wouldn’t you want me to meet the Maudie lady?”
“Oh, you. Why, that wouldn’t matter so much.”
“Bill Farnsworth! What a speech! I guess I’m every bit as good as Patty Fairfield.”
“Of course you are, Daisy. Don’t be silly. But you’re more – more experienced, you know, and a little less – less conventional. Patty has never had half the experience of the world that you have. I don’t want her mixed up with that sort of people, and I won’t have it!”
“Well,” and Daisy spoke coldly, “I don’t see how you can help it. They’ve gone off, and you can’t very well follow them, or have them arrested. Probably Chick and Patty are starting for home. And I’m sure it’s time we did.”
“But I can’t go off and leave Patty here!”
“You can’t do anything else. You’re not Patty’s keeper, Bill, and it’s silly to act as if you were.”
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