"
"That's a good idea," said Aunt Alice; "let Patty entertain her first
company there, and then come back here for the reaction."
"Well, we'll see," said Patty; "but I'd like to go there the first day of
January, and stay there."
By some unknown methods, Mr. Fairfield managed to stir up the mud-turtle
workmen to greater activity, and the work went rapidly on. The
wall-papers seemed to get themselves into place, and the floors took on
a beautiful polish; bustling men came out from the city and put up
window-shades, and curtains, and draperies; and, under Mr. Fairfield's
supervision, laid rugs and hung pictures.
The ladies of the Elliott household organised themselves into a most
active sewing-society.
Grandma, Aunt Alice, Marian, and Patty hemmed tablecloths and napkins
with great diligence, and even little Edith was allowed to help with the
kitchen towels.
Everybody was so kind that Patty began to feel weighed down with
gratitude. The girls of the Tea Club made the tea-cloth that they had
proposed, and they also brought offerings of pin-cushions, and doilies
and centre-pieces, until Patty's room began to look like a booth at a
fancy bazaar.
One Saturday morning, as the sewing-circle was hard at work, little
Gilbert came in carrying a paper bag, which evidently contained
something valuable.
"It's for you, Patty," he said. "I brought it for you, to help keep
house; and its name is Pudgy."
Depositing the bag in his cousin's lap, little Gilbert knelt beside her.
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