Part 1 (1/2)
Miss Pat at Artemis Lodge.
by Pemberton Ginther.
CHAPTER I
MISS PAT ARRIVES
”The train's in, Elinor, and she'll be here in a jiffy. Bruce said he'd get a taxi, so as not to lose a minute. Do come and watch that corner while I keep my eyes on this one,” said Judith, in a sudden flurry.
She was standing with her nose pressed against the cool gla.s.s of the studio window, staring eagerly out across the wintry square and scanning the opposite streets with intent gaze, and even when she gestured urgently to her older sister, her eyes never left the busy outdoor scene.
”I wish the studio wasn't so high up in the air that we can't possibly see the door,” she regretted. ”I'd so love to see her as she gets out--Miss Pat always makes me feel sort of thrilly and excited when I see her hopping out of a carriage or coming up the walk. Something nice usually happens when she rushes in, all laughing and sparkly, doesn't it, Elinor?” she ended, cuddling up against the tall, slender figure which had joined her at the deep cas.e.m.e.nt.
Elinor smiled and patted her pale hair. ”I think, chick, that the best thing that happens when Miss Pat comes in is--just Miss Pat herself.”
Judith nodded, with her searching eyes on the crowded streets below.
”That must be it,” she agreed thoughtfully. ”I didn't think of it just that way, but I guess you're right. She's so--so--pleasant that she makes the stupid little things that happen seem like big eventful-ish doings. At Greycroft this winter things seemed terribly exciting, and now, when I look back at them, they really weren't so very wonderful.”
”It's the spirit, my dearest Judy, that puts the sparkle into life,”
said Elinor absently, with her flexible artist hands straying idly over the pale ma.s.s of her little sister's straight heavy locks. ”Many girls lead vastly more interesting and exciting lives than our dear Miss Pat, but they have dull spirits, and so we don't notice them; while we're all bursting with enthusiasm over every little thing she happens to be doing. It's her gay, glad spirit that wins our interest, bless her heart.”
Judith nodded again. ”I know,” she said conclusively. ”When Miriam and she went into the chicken business no one got awfully excited over Miriam's part of it, while they were all trying to help Miss Pat make a success of it. And when we were fixing up the Social House, even old Mr.
Peberdy woke up when she scolded him. It's queer, isn't it, how she makes you feel? She----”
A rap-a-tap-tap on the knocker sounded sharply and then, before either Judith or Elinor could move, the door was flung open and Patricia, followed by Bruce and Mrs. Spicer, rushed breathlessly in.
”Oh, you darlings!” she cried, hugging them both at once. ”Oh, how heavenly it is to be here, and how adorable you look! Judy, that's a simply perfect green in that frock, and, Norn, you're lovelier than ever in that queer faded yellow. The studio looks stunning. Oh, I'm so excited that I don't know what I'm doing! To think of actually being here at last!” And she flung down her hat on the long divan and, crumpling her bright hair between both pink palms, she stepped back and faced the group in the middle of the studio with laughing lips and wet eyes.
Elinor, Judith and Bruce, with Mrs. Spicer in their midst, smiled back at her, but did not speak, each feeling, somehow, that this was Miss Pat's moment for utterance. On the brink of her new life--that life she had so ardently longed and planned and worked for--she had become for the moment the first figure in the scene. Tomorrow she would be gone into the ranks of that great army which is building up the beautiful world for others less gifted to live in, but today she was the center of her little world.
”To think, Judy and Elinor and Bruce and Mrs. Jinny-Nat, that I'm here, _here_, all ready to begin too with my music. One little day and then I'll be a real singing student. Why, it takes my breath away--” And she paused with a catch in her voice that threatened tears.
This was too much for the calm and practical Judith. ”But you've been simply crazy to be here, Miss Pat,” she cried reprovingly. ”You've toiled and moiled on chickens and sculpture and candy and boarders and everything just to be able at last to be a real singer. I don't see what there is to be a cry-baby about now.”
Patricia's merry peal rang out wholesomely and she caught Judith by her slim shoulders and gave her a playful shake.
”It takes Ju to show up our little mistakes, doesn't it, Mrs. Nat?” she cried gayly. ”Thank you, Judy, for them kind words. I won't be a cry-baby again; I promise you that. Come, Norn, tell us what you and Bruce have been up to while we've been wandering toward the sunny South this last two weeks. Is your stained gla.s.s window done, Norn, and has Marty been behaving as well as ever? Oh, there's such a lot to talk about, it's hard to know where to begin.”
Mrs. Spicer laid aside her wraps and drew a deep chair to the fire. ”I move we get thawed out while we gabble,” she proposed, with her deep, husky chuckle. ”I'm so frozen that it'll take a week of Sundays to shed my icicles. This zero weather isn't particularly inspiring after the balmy breezes of the Gulf Stream.”
”Oh, do let's stay in for tea and go without any real dinner, Elinor,”
begged Patricia, impulsively. ”Bruce said we were to take dinner at the Ritz as a special treat, but I'd ever so much rather stay home for this one night, if you don't mind.”
Elinor looked inquiringly at her husband, who nodded and disappeared into the adjoining room, and then she smiled at Mrs. Spicer and nodded rea.s.suringly at Judith, whose rather troubled expression did not escape the quick eyes of her impetuous sister.
”Will it disappoint you, Judy?” she asked with slightly dampened ardor.
”I never thought of your being set on it----”
Judith waved her aside with a gesture of calm benignity. ”I should hope,” she said magnificently, ”that I could do without _food_ as well as any of you.” And she seated herself on the stool beside Mrs. Spicer with an air of having settled the matter.