Patty and Azalea

"I didn't disturb her," said Patty, "for I want her to sleep late, if she can. She is such an active young person, she gets tired,--though she rarely admits it."

"Give me a few minutes of your valuable time all to myself, will you, old chap?" Phil said to Farnsworth, as the two men met in the hall just before the dinner hour.

"On my way East, I met Mr. and Mrs. Bixby on the train. They were pleasant people and Mrs. Bixby was very kind to me in many ways. Then, I learned that they were in the moving-p...

The Farnsworths made no difference in their treatment of Azalea, after her escapade. Bill had scolded her severely for taking the baby away without leave, and sternly forbidden...

Vanity Fair was all that its name implied. By good fortune, the weather was perfect,--ideally pleasant and sunshiny, yet not too warm. Wistaria Porch was transformed into a veri...

"Don't--don't, Elise," begged Patty, her voice shaking; "I don't believe she's kidnapped at all. It's far more likely Azalea took her out for a ride or something. She's crazy ov...

"Now, Azalea, flowers on the table aren't especially grand. I think I should have them,--if I could,--if I were eating in the middle of the Desert of Sahara."

Wistaria Porch was fairly basking in the sunshine, and the flower gardens were already showing their early blooms. The tulip beds were a blaze of bright glory and hyacinths and...

Both Patty and Bill were somewhat suspicious of her and would naturally question her as to where she had been all day. She was tempted to tell them the whole truth and throw her...

By a little adroit manoeuvring Van Reypen managed things so that he and Azalea did not go to New York in the motor with Patty and Mona, but went down by themselves in the train.

Up the steps toward her flew a figure which, as Patty afterward described it, seemed like a wild Indian! A slight, wiry figure, rather tall and very awkward, and possessed of a...

"Now, Azalea, there's no use in your acting like that! You know perfectly well you can't fool _me_! If you really want to know what I mean, I'll tell you. I mean that you picked...

"I refuse to go a step further! This porch of wistaria is the most wonderful thing I ever saw in all my life! When I heard the name of the place, I thought it was crazy,--but of...

"Oh, well, they'll weed them out. Some of them are awful cunning,--and one is a first-class crying spell! They never could get but one of Fleurette crying, she's such a good-nat...

Patty was in the sun parlour, her arms full of a fluttering bundle of lace and linen, and her blue eyes wide with dismay at her small daughter's facial contortions.

"Take her, Daddy," Patty cried, holding up the soft, fragrant little bundle of happy humanity, and Farnsworth grasped the child in his strong careful way, and tossed her up high...

Seated at the head of her own dinner table that evening, Patty felt decidedly in her element. Always of a hospitable nature, always efficient in household matters, she played he...

"Look here, Azalea, you come out with me for a few minutes,--I won't keep you long." Farnsworth took her arm, and led her gently down the verandah steps and along a garden path.