!"

"Oh, Patty, that I should live to hear you talk such lingo! I thought you
were going to be sensible."

"How can anybody be sensible with a baby like that! Isn't she the very
wonderfullest ever! Oh, Billee, look at her angel smile!"

"Angel smile? More like a mountebank's grin! But I'm sure she means well.
And I'll agree she is the most wonderful thing in the world."

Bill tossed the child up and down, and chuckled at her evident
appreciation of his efforts for her amusement.

"Be careful of my baby, if you please," and Patty eyed the performance
dubiously. "Suppose you drop my child?"

"I hardly think I shall, ma'am. And, incidentally, I suppose she is my
child?"

"No; a girl baby is always her mudder's own--only just her very own
mudder's own. Give her to me! Let me has my baby,--my ownty-donty baby!"

Farnsworth obediently handed Patty her property, and put another pillow
behind her as she sat in the low willow chair. Then he seated himself
near, and adoringly watched his two treasures.

It was mid-April and the Farnsworths had been married more than a year.
On their return from France, they had looked about for a home, and had at
last found a fortunate chance to buy at a bargain a beautiful place up in
Westchester County. It was near enough to New York for a quick trip and
yet it was almost country.

The small settlement of Arden was largely composed of fine estates and
attractive homes. This one which they had taken was broad and extensive,
with hundreds of acres in lawns, gardens and woodland. It was called
Wistaria Porch, because of an old wistaria vine which had achieved
astounding dimensions and whose blooms in the spring and foliage later
were the admiration of the whole countryside.

The house itself was modern and of the best Colonial design. Indeed,
it was copied in nearly every detail from the finest type of Colonial
mansion. Though really too large for such a small family, both Patty and
Bill liked spacious rooms and lots of them, so they decided to take it,
and shut off such parts as they didn't need. But no rooms were shut off,
and they revelled in a great library beside their living-room and
drawing-room. They had a cosy breakfast room beside the big dining-room
and there were a music room and a billiard room and a den and great hall
with a spreading staircase; and the second story was a maze of bedrooms,
guest rooms and bathrooms.

It took Patty some days even to learn her way round,