e really skipped both."

"Then I'll have them both," said Patty with decision. "I'm hungry enough
to eat a house."

Later, Patty insisted on dressing and going downstairs for dinner,
declaring she felt perfectly well, but the exertion tired her more than
she cared to admit, and when Dr. Martin came in the evening, she
questioned him directly.

"I'm not really ill, am I, Dr. Martin? I'll be all right in a day or two,
won't I? It's so silly to get tired just walking downstairs."

"Don't be alarmed," said the old doctor, "you will be all right in a day
or two. By day after to-morrow you can walk downstairs, or run down, if
you like, without feeling tired at all."

"Then that's all right," said Patty. "I suppose I did do too much with my
school work, and the play, and everything, but I couldn't seem to help
it, and if I get over it in a week I'll be satisfied. In fact, I shan't
mind a bit, lounging around and resting for a few days."

"That's just the thing for you to do," agreed Dr. Martin, "and I'll give
you another prescription. After a week or two of rest, you need
recreation. You must get out of the city, and go somewhere in the
country. Not seashore or the mountains just yet, but away into the
country, where you'll have plenty of fresh air and nothing to do. You
mustn't look at a book of any sort or description for a month or two at
least. Will you promise me that?"

"With great pleasure," said Patty, gaily, "I don't think I shall care to
see a book all summer long; not a schoolbook anyway. I suppose I may read
storybooks."

"Not at present," said the doctor. "Let alone books of all sorts for a
couple of months, and after that I'll see about it. What you want is
plenty of fresh air and outdoor exercise. Then you'll get back the roses
in your cheeks, and add a few pounds of flesh to your attenuated frame."

"Your prescription sounds attractive," said Patty, "but where shall I
go?"

"We'll arrange all that," said Mr. Fairfield. "I think myself that all
you need is recreation and rest, with a fair proportion of each."

"So do I," said Patty; "I don't want to go to an old farmhouse, where
there isn't a thing to do but walk in the orchard; I want to go where
I'll have some fun."

"Go ahead," said the doctor, "fun won't hurt you any as long as it's
outdoor sports or merry society. But don't get up any plays, or any such
foolishness, where fun is only a mistaken name for hard work."

Patty promised this, and