r friends
would be patronesses."

"It would seem to me," said Frank, "that Miss Patty Fairfield, now
being an old and experienced housekeeper, could qualify as a
patroness herself."

"No, thank you," said Patty. "I'm housekeeper for my father, and in my
father's house, but to the great outside world I'm still a shy and
bashful young miss."

"You don't look the part," said Frank; "you ought to go around with your
finger in your mouth."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" said Patty. "I shall begin to cultivate
the habit at once."

"Do," said Marian; "I'm sure it would be becoming to you, but perhaps
hard on your gloves."

"Well, there's one thing certain," said Patty:

"I would really rather put my finger in my mouth than to crook out my
little finger in that absurd way that so many people do. Why, Florence
Douglass never lifts a cup of tea that she doesn't crook out her little
finger, and then think she's a very pattern of all that's elegant."

"I know it," said Marian. "I think it's horrid, too; it's nothing but
airs. I know lots of people who do it when they're all dressed up, but
who never think of such a thing when they are alone at home."

"I wonder what the real reason is?" said Patty thoughtfully.

"It is an announcement of refinement," said Mr. Fairfield, falling in
with his daughter's train of thought; "and, as we all know, the
refinement that needs to be announced is no refinement at all. We
therefore see that the conspicuously curved little finger is but an
advertisement of a specious and flimsy imitation of aristocracy."

"Papa, you certainly do know it all," said Patty. "I haven't any words by
me just now, long enough to answer you with, but I quite agree with you
in spirit."

"That's all very well," said Frank, "for a modern, twentieth-century
explanation, but the real root of the matter goes far back into the
obscure ages of antiquity. The whole habit is a relic of barbarism.
Probably, in the early ages, only the great had cups to drink from. These
few, to protect themselves from their envious and covetous brethren,
stuck out their little fingers to ward off possible assaults upon their
porcelain property. This ingrained impulse the ages have been unable to
eradicate. Hence we find the Little Finger Crooks upon the earth to-day."

"What an ingenious boy you are," said Patty, looking at her cousin with
mock admiration. "How did you ever think of all that?"

"That isn't ingenuity, miss, it's