Patty had bought a number of pictures and statuettes and various Parisian ornaments, which she was delighted to arrange in a room of her very own.  She helped Elise with hers, too, for though Elise had good taste and a fine appreciation of the fitness of things, she had not Patty’s capability of execution and facility of arrangement.

As they sat for the first time around their own family dinner table, Mr. Farrington exclaimed, “Now this is what I call comfortable!  It’s unpretentious, but it’s way ahead of that gorgeously dressed-up hotel, which made one feel, though well taken care of, like a traveller and a wayfarer.  But I expect you were sorry to leave it, eh, Patty?”

“No I wasn’t,” said Patty; “I liked it tremendously for a time, as it was a novel experience for me; but I’m quite as pleased as you are, Mr. Farrington, to be in a home once more.”

“And the next thing to do,” said Mrs. Farrington, “is to get masters for you girls.”

“Shall we go to school, mother?” asked Elise.

“No, I think not.  I don’t like the idea of your going to a French school, and, too, I think you’d enjoy it better, to study a little at home.  You needn’t have a great variety of lessons.  I think if you study the French language and French history, it will be enough for you in the way of school books.  Then Patty ought to take singing lessons, and if Elise wants to learn to paint pictures, she will probably never get a better opportunity to do so.”

This plan seemed to suit perfectly the young ladies most interested, and Mr. Farrington said he would take it upon himself to find the right masters for them.

So the family settled down into a life which was quiet compared with the first few weeks of their stay in Paris.

The masters came every morning except Saturday, and that day was always devoted to sightseeing or pleasures of some sort.  Occasionally, too, a whole holiday was taken during the week, for Mr. Farrington said he had a vivid recollection of a certain proverb which discussed the result of all work and no play.

Patty declared she was never afraid of any lack of play hours in the Farrington family, and she enjoyed alike both her morning tasks and her afternoon pleasures.

Twice a week a professor came to give her singing lessons, and it was arranged that at the same hour Elise should be busy with her drawing master.  Though Elise did not show promise of becoming a really great artist, her parents thought it wise to cultivate such talent as she possessed, if only for the pleasure it might give to herself and her friends.

So Elise worked away at her drawing from casts, and occasionally painted flowers in water colours, while Patty practised her scales, and learned to sing some pretty little French ballads.

Though neither of the girls was possessed of genius, they both had talent, and by application to study they found themselves rapidly improving in their arts.