Patty's eyes lighted up.
"Yes," she said; "isn't it ridiculous? But I do really believe that's my
ambition. To keep house just perfectly, you know, and have everything go
not only smoothly but happily."
"You ought to have been a _chatelaine_ of the fourteenth century," said
Nan.
"Yes," said Patty eagerly; "that's just my ambition. What a pity it's
looking backward instead of forward. But I would love to live in a great
stone castle, all my own, with a moat and drawbridge and outriders, and
go around in a damask gown with a pointed bodice and big puffy sleeves
and a ruff and a little cap with pearls on it, and a bunch of keys
jingling at my side."
"They usually carry the keys in a basket," observed Marian; "and you
forgot to mention the falcon on your wrist."
"So I did," said Patty, "but I think the falcon would be a regular
nuisance while I was housekeeping, so I'd put him in the basket, and set
it up on the mantelpiece, and keep my keys jingling from my belt."
"Well, it seems," said Nan, "that Patty has more hopes of realising her
ambition than either of us."
"Speak for yourself," said Marian.
"I think I have," said Patty. "I have all the keys I want, and I'm quite
sure papa would buy me a falcon if I asked him to."
CHAPTER XXIV
AN AFTERNOON DRIVE
The next Saturday Mr. Fairfield proposed that they all go for a drive
to Allaire.
"What's Allaire?" said Patty.
"It's a deserted village," replied her father.
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