“All right,” agreed Patty, who was always ready for a dance.

“I can’t go,” said Farnsworth.  “I have to take the six-thirty train,—­but you others go on.”

“Too bad, old fellow,” said Kenerley; “wish you could go.  But the rest of you will, won’t you?”

They all accepted the invitation, and went away to dress.

Patty hung back a moment to say good-bye to Bill, but Daisy forestalled her.

“Oh, Bill,” she said, “walk with me as far as the rose garden.  I want to say my farewells to you.”

Farnsworth couldn’t well refuse, so he went off with Daisy, giving Patty a pleading look over his shoulder which she rightly read to mean that he wanted to see her again before he left.

But Daisy prolonged her interview as much as possible, with the amiable intention of keeping Patty and Bill apart.

At last Bill said, as they stood on the terrace, “You ought to be dressing, Daisy.  You’ll be late for the club dinner party.”

“No hurry,” she said, shrugging her shoulders, “I can go over later.”

“How?” asked Farnsworth, suddenly interested.

“Oh, Barker will take me over in a runabout.”

“But Barker’s to take me to the station.  You’d better go with the rest, Daisy.”

Something in Bill’s tone made Daisy acquiesce, so she said, shortly, “Oh, very well,” and turned toward the house.

She went to her room, and Farnsworth looked about for Patty.  She was nowhere to be seen, and all the first floor rooms were empty save for a servant here and there.  Finally Bill said to a parlourmaid, “Please go to Miss Fairfield and ask her if she will come down and see Mr. Farnsworth just a minute.”

The maid departed, and a moment later Patty came down.  She was all dressed for the dinner, in a soft, shimmering, pale blue chiffon, and she wore Bill’s wreath in her hair.

“Apple Blossom,” he said, softly, and his voice choked in his throat.

“I’ve been trying to get you a moment alone all day,” he said, “but I couldn’t.  I believe you evaded me on purpose!”

“Why should I?” and Patty looked a little scared.

“I’ll tell you why!  Because you knew what I wanted to say to you!  Because you know—­confound that butler!  He’s everywhere at once!  Patty, come in the drawing-room.”

“Jane’s in there,” said Patty, demurely, and smiling up at Bill from under her long lashes.

“Well, come,—­oh, come anywhere, where I can speak to you alone a minute!”

“Just one minute,” said Patty, “no more!”

“All right, but where can we go?”

“Here!” said Patty, and leading him through the dining-room, she opened the door of the butler’s pantry, a spacious and attractive room of itself.

“James won’t be in here to-night,” she said, “as we are dining out.  But I’ll only stay a minute.”

“But, Patty, darling, I want to tell you,—­you know I’m going away, and I won’t see you again,—­and I must tell you,—­I must ask you—­”