ushered the expectant Patricia.

The guests were slow to leave and if it had not been necessary for Ted
and Tom to make a certain train in order to get back to college at the
required time, while Hiram was also due at a midnight conference of
geologists at his hotel, they might have gone on with the merriment long
after the last waiter had disappeared and the violets were fading.

"I simply hate to go," confessed Margaret Howes as she stood waiting for
her taxi after the rest had departed. "I've had a gorgeous time and I am
sorry to leave you. Remember you are to meet me in the tea-room at
Artemis Lodge at four-fifteen tomorrow to look over the ground before
Miss Pat plunges in. Wait for me in the corner near the door. I'll be on
time--if I can."

After the elevator had clanged its way down with Bruce and Margaret,
Patricia turned with a passionate gesture to the others.

"Oh, my dears, to think it has really begun!" she cried as though just
realizing the great fact. "Oh, Mrs. Nat, and Judy, and Elinor, you
dear, adorable angels, I'm so happy I don't know what to do."

Elinor and Judith were blowing out the guttering candles, and Mrs. Nat
was hastily rearranging the disordered furniture, but they each stopped
to smile sympathetically at her, and Judith reached out an eager hand.

"Just think of tomorrow, Miss Pat," she said, shaken out of her
composure for once. "Oh, jiminy! Losh keep us all! What fun that's going
to be!"

CHAPTER III

THE TEA-ROOM AT ARTEMIS LODGE

Patricia spent the next morning in a whirl of pleasantly conflicting
emotions, and, while she was posing in the studio for a rapid sketch by
Elinor, her head was humming with a perfect hive of delightful thoughts.

Bruce was off for the day on business, Judith was, of course, at school,
and so the three, Mrs. Nat, Elinor and Patricia, had the place to
themselves. And how they did chatter!

Patricia heard over and over again every particular of the interview
Elinor and Bruce had with the prima donna on their last flying visit to
New York; they discussed the possibilities of getting an attractive room
at Artemis Lodge at the very moderate price Patricia could afford; they
made plans for the welfare of Marty Sneath, who was to arrive and take
up her duties as studio-girl the next day; and, in spite of the fact
that it was only two short weeks since the travelers had left the north,
Patricia insisted on minute inquiries about everyone she kne