“Do,” said Marian; “I’m sure it would be becoming to you, but perhaps hard on your gloves.”

“Well, there’s one thing certain,” said Patty: 

“I would really rather put my finger in my mouth than to crook out my little finger in that absurd way that so many people do.  Why, Florence Douglass never lifts a cup of tea that she doesn’t crook out her little finger, and then think she’s a very pattern of all that’s elegant.”

“I know it,” said Marian.  “I think it’s horrid, too; it’s nothing but airs.  I know lots of people who do it when they’re all dressed up, but who never think of such a thing when they are alone at home.”

“I wonder what the real reason is?” said Patty thoughtfully.

“It is an announcement of refinement,” said Mr. Fairfield, falling in with his daughter’s train of thought; “and, as we all know, the refinement that needs to be announced is no refinement at all.  We therefore see that the conspicuously curved little finger is but an advertisement of a specious and flimsy imitation of aristocracy.”

“Papa, you certainly do know it all,” said Patty.  “I haven’t any words by me just now, long enough to answer you with, but I quite agree with you in spirit.”

“That’s all very well,” said Frank, “for a modern, twentieth-century explanation, but the real root of the matter goes far back into the obscure ages of antiquity.  The whole habit is a relic of barbarism.  Probably, in the early ages, only the great had cups to drink from.  These few, to protect themselves from their envious and covetous brethren, stuck out their little fingers to ward off possible assaults upon their porcelain property.  This ingrained impulse the ages have been unable to eradicate.  Hence we find the Little Finger Crooks upon the earth to-day.”

“What an ingenious boy you are,” said Patty, looking at her cousin with mock admiration.  “How did you ever think of all that?”

“That isn’t ingenuity, miss, it’s historic research, and you’ll probably find that Florence Douglass can trace her ancestry right back to the aforesaid barbarians.”

“I suppose most of us are descended from primitive people,” said Marian.

And then the entrance of Elsie Morris and her brother Guy put an end to the discussion of little fingers.

“I’m so glad to see you,” said Patty, welcoming her callers.  “Come right into the library, you are our first real guests.”

“Then I think we ought to have the Prize for Promptness,” said Elsie, as she took off her wraps.  “But don’t you count Frank and Marian?”

“Not as guests,” replied Patty; “they’re relatives, and you know your relatives—­”

“Are like the poor,” interrupted Frank, “because they’re always with you.”

“Then, we are really your first callers?” said Guy Morris.

“No, not quite,” said Patty, laughing.  “I spoke too hastily when I said that, and forgot entirely a very distinguished personage who visited me this morning.”