f course. But not the polished type Philip is. He's an aristocrat."

"Oh, fiddlestrings. I'm sick and tired of hearing that Phil Van Reypen
is an aristocrat! If I were an aristocrat, I'd try to hide it!
Anyway, I wouldn't advertise it all the time!"

"Patty! you ought to be ashamed of yourself! Phil doesn't advertise
it!"

"Well, he doesn't employ you to do it for him, either, so you may as
well stop it. I know all about Phil's aristocracy. And it's all
right. I never said it wasn't. But a man has got to be something more
than an aristocrat before I can fall desperately in love with him. And
I must be desperately in love with the man I promise to marry."

Patty spoke seriously, and her blue eyes took on a violet light as she
looked out of the window and far away to the sky beyond the pine trees.

"Of course, you must, Patty. Every girl feels that way. But when Phil
adores you so, how can you resist him?"

"Now, now, Elise, don't ask leading questions. And, also, let's turn
the tables. When a certain nice young man that I wot of, so adores
you, how can you resist him?"

"I don't know that I shall," replied Elise, blushing.

"Oho! Bad as that, eh? Now I see why you're so interested in my
affairs of the heart. Misery loves company."

"But I'm not miserable."

"No, of course not. Howsumever, if you insist on asking Philip Van
down to the circus, I shall advise asking one Mr. Kit Cameron."

"You're a day behind the fair! I've asked him and he can't come."

"Too bad. But, just for that, I won't have Phil, either. Then we can
both be heart-whole and fancy free."

"All right. Bob Riggs has taken a large and elegant notion to you, and
I am engaged in the pleasant pastime of subjugating Hal Merritt, so we
shan't want for rustic swains."

"As if we ever had! But as for me, this circus business seems a piece
of work, and I must apply myself to it, or rejoice in a failure at the
eventful moment."

"You're right. Let's go over to Mme. Beauvais' and see about her
making our costumes."

"Come on, we'll go now."

The next few days the girls devoted all their time to their costumes
and to rehearsals for the circus. It was a more elaborate affair than
Patty had anticipated, and the men who were to represent animals had
marvellous suits of fur that closely imitated the real thing in wild
beasts.

A bear, who was ordinarily Jack Fenn, captivated Patty from the first,
and when she proposed to d