they went along,
"how many times we have walked--and run, too, for that matter--from Aunt
Alice's over to our house; but this time it's different. We're going to
stay, to live, really to _reside_ in our own home; and whenever we go to
Aunt Alice's again, it will be to visit or to call. Oh, isn't it
perfectly lovely! If I can only live up to it, and do things just as you
want me to."

"Don't take it too seriously, Pattikins; I don't expect you to become an
old and experienced housewife all at once. And I don't want you to wear
yourself out trying to become such a personage. Indeed, I shall be
terribly disappointed if you don't make ridiculous mistakes, and give me
some opportunity to laugh at you."

"You are the dearest thing, papa; that's just the way I want you to feel
about it; and I think I can safely promise to make enough blunders to
keep you giggling a good portion of the time."

"Oh, don't go out of your way to furnish me with amusement. And now, how
about your party to-day? Is everything in tip-top order?"

"Yes, except a few thousand things that I have to do this morning, and a
few hundred that I want you to do."

"I shall see to it, first, that the carving-knife is well sharpened. It's
the first time that I have carved at my own table for a great many years,
and I want the performance to be marked by grace and skill."

"It will be, if you do it, papa; I'm sure of that," and by this time they
had reached the gate, and Patty was skipping along the path and up the
steps, and into the door of her own home.

Mancy and Pansy Potts were already there, and, to a casual observer, it
looked as if there was nothing more to do except to admit the guests.

Patty had set the table the day before, and, to the awestruck admiration
of Pansy Potts, had arranged the beautiful new glass and china with most
satisfactory effects. Pansy had watched the proceedings with intelligent
scrutiny and, when it was finished, had told Patty that the next time she
would be able to do it herself.

"You'll have a chance to try," Patty had answered, "for in the evening
we'll have supper, and you may set the table all by yourself; and I'll
come out and look it over to make sure it's all right."

But, as Patty had said, there was yet much to be done on Thursday
morning, even though there were eight hands to make the work light.

Boxes of flowers had arrived from the florist's, and these had to be
arranged in the various rooms; also, a f