Nan was dressed as a gipsy.  She had a marvellous tent in which to tell fortunes, and in the parade she rode on a much-bedecked donkey.

Marian was a dame of olden time, and Bumble was a Japanese lady of high degree.

There were quaint and curious costumes of all sorts, each of which provoked much mirth or admiration from the enthusiastic audience.

After the parade, the fair was announced open, and the patrons were requested to spend their money freely for the benefit of the hospital.

So well did they respond that, as a result of their efforts, the Tea Club girls were able to present Mrs. Greenleaf with the sum of five hundred dollars toward her good work.

CHAPTER XXII

AT THE SEASHORE

Toward the end of August the Barlows’ visit drew toward its close.  Although Patty was sorry to have her cousins go, yet she looked forward with a certain sense of relief to being once more alone with her father.

“It’s lovely to have company,” she confided to her Aunt Alice one day, “and I do enjoy it ever so much, only somehow I get tired of ordering and looking after things day after day.”

“All housekeepers have that experience, Patty, dear,” said Aunt Alice, “but they’re usually older than you before they begin.  It is a great deal of care for a girl of sixteen, and though you get along beautifully, I’m sure it has been rather a hard summer for you.”

So impressed was Mrs. Elliott with these facts that she talked to Mr. Fairfield about the matter, and advised him to take Patty away somewhere for a little rest and change before beginning her school year again.

Mr. Fairfield agreed heartily to this plan, expressed himself as willing to take Patty anywhere, and suggested that some of the Elliotts go, too.

When Patty’s opinion was asked, she said she would be delighted to go away for a vacation, and that she had the place all picked out.

“Well, you are an expeditious young woman,” said her father.  “And where is it that you want to go?”

“Why, you see, papa, the 1st of September, when Bob and Bumble go home from here, Nan isn’t going back with them; she’s going down to Spring Lake.  That’s a place down on the New Jersey coast, and I’ve never been there, and she says it’s lovely, and so I want to go there.”

“Well, I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t,” said Mr. Fairfield.  “It would suit me well enough, if Nan is willing we should follow in her footsteps.”

“I’m delighted to have you,” said Nan, who was in a hammock at the other end of the veranda when this conclave was taking place.

“I wish we could go with the crowd,” said Bob, who was perched on the veranda railing.

“I wish so, too,” said Bumble; “but wishing doesn’t do any good.  After that letter father wrote yesterday, I think the best thing for us to do is to scurry home as fast as we can.”