I do."

"If I don't, I have little doubt but you can change my views. Will you
have time to drink a cup of tea with me? We can plan so much more cosily
over the teacups."

"Yes, I will," said Patty, consulting her watch.

"Then let us have it served in the library, and not in this depressing
room, which you must associate with stormy outbursts of woe."

Patty laughed, and followed the stately old gentleman into the library,
where tea was soon served.

[Illustration: "'How _much_ pleasanter this is than squabbling'"]

"One lump?" said Patty, holding the sugar-tongs poised over a teacup,
while she put her head on one side and smiled at her host.

"Two, please. It's delightful to have some one make my tea for me, and
you do it very prettily."

"But, alas!" said Patty, in mock despair, "I'll soon be supplanted here,
by that 'obstinate, cross-grained' Lady Kitty."

"Why are you so sure she'll come back here to live?"

"Just give her the chance, and see," said Patty, wagging her head
sagaciously, as she poured her own tea.

"How _much_ pleasanter this is than squabbling," she observed, glancing
happily at her host.

"Yes, or crying," said he, a bit teasingly, and Patty blushed.

"That's past history," she said; "and _now_ I'll tell you my plan."

The details of the plan kept them both talking for some time, and then
Patty had to hurry away to reach home at her appointed hour.

"Now, I won't see you again until then," she said, as they parted at the
door. "But I know you won't fail me."

"Not I!" said Sir Otho, and with his hand on his heart, he made a
profound bow, and Patty drove homeward in the happiest mood she had known
for many a day.

CHAPTER XI

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

Patty's birthday party was a great success.

As a rule, young people love a "dress-up" party, and the guests all
entered into the spirit of the thing.

Lady Hamilton was in her element.

For the occasion, she had engaged a large salon, and aside from the
pretty floral decorations, there were dolls and Teddy Bears and rocking
horses, and all sorts of children's toys and games. On the walls hung
bright-colored prints, intended for nursery use, and little, low chairs
and ottomans stood about.

Of course, Lady Hamilton, as hostess, did not dress like a child, but
wore one of her own lovely, trailing white house-gowns.

When the guests arrived they were shown to dressing-rooms, where
white-capped nurses awaited them, and as