her desk again, quite
cheerfully pulled her discarded paper out of the waste-basket and began
re-reading it with evident approval.

Priscilla returned before she had finished. "He didn't ask for me at
all," she announced. "He asked for Miss McKay."

"Miss McKay?"

"That junior with the hair," she explained a trifle vaguely.

"How disgusting!" cried Patty. "I had it all planned how I was going to
live with you in your castle up in the Hartz Mountains, and now it turns
out that Miss McKay is the countess, and I don't even know her. What did
the man look like, and what did he do?"

"Well, he looked rather frightened, and didn't do anything but stammer.
There were two men in the reception-room, and of course I picked out the
wrong one and begged his pardon and asked if he were Mr. Stanthrope. He
said no; his name was Wiggins. So then the only thing left for me to do
was to beg the other one's pardon.

"He was sitting in that high-backed green chair, with his eyes glued to
his shoes, and holding his hat and cane in front of him like
breastworks, as if he were preparing to repel an attack. He didn't look
very approachable, but I boldly accosted him and asked if he were Mr.
Stanthrope. He stood up and stammered and blushed and looked as if he
wanted to deny it, but finally acknowledged that he was, and then stood
politely waiting for me to state my business! I explained, and he
stammered some more, and finally got out that he had called to see Miss
McKay, and that the maid must have made a mistake. He was quite cross
about it, you know, and acted as if I had insulted him; and the other
man--the horrible Wiggins one--laughed, and then looked out of the
window and pretended he hadn't. I apologized,--though I couldn't for the
life of me see what there was to apologize for,--and told him I would
send the maid for Miss McKay, and backed out."

"Is that all?" Patty asked disappointedly. "If I couldn't have a better
adventure than that, I shouldn't have any."

"But the funny thing is that when I told Sadie, she _insisted_ that he
had asked for me."

"Ha! The plot thickens, after all. What does it mean? Did he look like a
detective, or merely a pickpocket?"

"He looked like a very ordinarily embarrassed young man."

Patty shook her head dejectedly. "There's a mystery somewhere, but I
don't see that it affords much entertainment. I dare say that when Miss
McKay came he told her he hadn't asked for her at all; he had asked