“Really, papa!” cried Patty, aghast.

“Yes, really.  I remember you expressed a disinclination to leave your home and family, but all the same I have made arrangements for you to do so.  It was the detailing of these arrangements that kept me so late at my office to-night.”

Patty looked at her father.  She understood his bantering tone, and from the twinkle in his eye she knew that whatever plans he may have made, they were pleasant ones; and, too, she knew that notwithstanding his air of authority she needn’t abide by them unless she chose to.  So she waited contentedly enough for his serious account of the matter, and it soon came.

“Why, it’s this way, chickabiddy,” he said.  “Mr. Farrington came to see me at the office this afternoon, and laid a plan before me.  It seems that he and Mrs. Farrington and Elise are going to Paris for the winter, and he brought from himself and his wife an invitation for you to go with them.”

“Oh!” said Patty.  She scarcely breathed the word, but her eyes shone like stars, and her face expressed the delight that the thought of such a plan brought to her.

“Oh!” she said again, as thoughts of further details came crowding into her mind.

“How perfectly glorious!” cried Nan, whose enthusiasm ran to words, as Patty seemed struck dumb.  “It’s the very thing! just what Patty needs.  And to go with the Farringtons is the most delightful way to make such a trip.  Tell us all about it, Fred. When do they start?  Shall I have time to get Patty some clothes?  No, she’d better buy them over there.  Oh, Patty, you’ll have the most rapturous time!  Do say something, you little goose!  Don’t sit there blinking as if you didn’t understand what’s going on.  Tell us more about it, Fred.”

“I will, my dear, if you’ll only give me a chance.  The Farringtons mean to sail very soon—­in about a fortnight.  They will go on a French liner and go at once to Paris.  Except for possible short trips, they will stay in the city all winter.  Then the girls can study French, or music, or whatever they like, and incidentally have some fun, I dare say.  Mr. Farrington seemed truly anxious to have Patty go, although I warned him that she was a difficult young person to manage.  But he said he had had experience in that line last summer, and found that it was possible to get along with her.  Anyway, he was most urgent in the matter, and said that if I agreed to it, Mrs. Farrington and Elise would come over and invite her personally.”

“Am I to be their guest entirely, papa?” asked Patty.

“Mr. Farrington insisted that you should, but I wouldn’t agree to that.  I shall pay all your travelling expenses, hotel bills, and incidentals.  But if they take a furnished house in Paris for the season, as they expect to do, you will stay there as their guest.”

“Oh,” cried Patty, who had found her voice at last, “I do think it’s too lovely for anything!  And you are so good, papa, to let me go.  But won’t it cost a great deal, and can you afford it?”