"Wistaria, too?"

"Yes, of course."

"Lead me to it!" and Elise jumped up, and made for the house.

Then they all strolled through the wide hall and out at the back door on
to the tea-porch. This was furnished with white wicker tables and chairs,
and indeed, was prepared for immediate use, for a maid was just bringing
the cakes and crumpets as the party arrived.

"Goody!" cried Elise, "can we have tea now, Patty? I'm famished."

"Yes, indeed," and Patty took her place at the tea table with a matronly
air, and began to pour for her guests.

"It's just as pretty as the other porch," Elise decided, looking
critically at the festoons of wistaria, which was on three sides of the
house. "But I'll adopt the first one. Anybody looking for me will find me
there--'most always."

"We're always looking for you," said Channing, gallantly, as he took up
his teacup, "and it is a comfort to know where to find you. Of late
you've been inaccessible."

"Not to you," and Elise glanced coquettishly from under her eyelashes.

"To me, then," put in Van Reypen. "I've not seen you, Elise, since I came
back from Over There. You've grown a lot, haven't you?"

"Taller?"

"Mercy no! I mean mentally. You seem more--more grown up like."

"Everybody is, since the war work. Yes, Phil, I have grown,--I hope."

"There, there," warned Patty; "no serious talk just now, please,--and no
war talk. For the moment, I claim your attention to my new house and its
surroundings."

"Some claim you've staked out," and Chick grinned. "I want to see it all.
And,--moreover,--I want to see the rest of the family!"

Patty beamed. "You dear!" she cried; "do you really want to see my
daughter?"

"_My_ daughter," Farnsworth added; "but I didn't know you chaps would
be interested in our infant prodigy. I never cared about seeing other
people's babies."

"I do," stoutly insisted Channing. "I'm a connoisseur on kiddies. Let me
see him."

"He isn't him," laughed Patty, "he's a she."

"So much the better," Chick avowed. "I love girl babies. Where is she?"

"You can't see her now, she's probably asleep. To-morrow she'll be on
exhibition. I hear a car! It must be Mona!"

"I'll go and fetch her," said Farnsworth, springing up, and after a short
time he returned with two newcomers, Mona Farrington and her husband,
Roger.

Then there was more greeting and exclamation and laughter, as the latest
guests admired the new home, and accepted Patty in her becomi