ger in your mouth and shriek 'Ouch!' and coquettishly say to the
young man, '_You_ take it off,' as might a young woman who has not
enjoyed your advantages; but, rather, rise to the emergency; say to him
calmly, 'This kettle has become over-heated; may I trouble you to go
into the hall and bring an umbrella?' and when he returns you can hook
it off gracefully and expeditiously as you have seen me do, young
ladies, and the young--"

"Patty, take care!" This from Priscilla.

"O-u-c-h!" in a long-drawn wail. This from Georgie.

Patty hastily set the kettle down on the floor. "I'm awfully sorry,
Georgie. Does it hurt?"

"Not in the least. It's really a pleasant sensation to have boiling
water poured over you."

The Bartlet Twin sniffed. "I smell burning rug."

Patty groaned. "I resign, Pris; I resign. Here, you preside. I'll never
ask to make it again."

"I should like," observed the Twin, "to see Patty entertaining a young
man."

"It's not such an unprecedented event," said Patty, with some warmth.
"You can watch me to-morrow night if it will give you so much
pleasure."

"To-morrow night? Are you going to have a man for the Prom?"

"That," said Patty, "is my intention."

"And you haven't asked me for a dance!" This in an aggrieved chorus from
the entire room.

"I haven't asked any one," said Patty, with dignity.

"Do you mean you're going to have all of the twenty dances with him
yourself?"

"Oh, no; I don't expect to dance more than ten with him myself--I
haven't made out his card yet," she added.

"Why not?"

"I never do."

"Has he been here before, then?"

"No; that's the reason."

"The reason for what?"

"Well," Patty deigned to explain, "I've invited him for every party
since freshman year."

"And did he decline?"

"No; he accepted, but he never came."

"Why not?"

"He was scared."

"Scared? Of the girls?"

"Yes," said Patty, "partly--but mostly of the faculty."

"The _faculty_ wouldn't hurt him."

"Of course not; but he couldn't understand that. You see, he had a
fright when he was young."

"A fright? What was it?"

"Well," said Patty, "it happened this way: It was while I was at
boarding-school. He was at Andover then, and his home was in the South;
and one time when he went through Washington he stopped off to call on
me. As it happened, the butler had left two days before, and had taken
with him all the knives and forks, and all the money he could find, and
Nancy Lee's