CHAPTER IV
VILLA ROSA
"Here we are, chickens," said Uncle Robert, as the footman threw open thecarriage door, "here's your new home, Patty, and you're very welcome toyour Uncle Robert's house."
It was almost dark and Patty could distinguish only the outlines of amagnificent house, so large that it seemed like a palace.
They went up massive stone steps between great stone lions, to a wonderfulveranda bright with electric lights, and lights streamed from every windowand from the wide front doors which flew open as they reached them.
But though all this beauty and elegance impressed Patty like a dream ofFairyland, she paid little heed to it, for she was so shocked and disturbedby the shrieks from within, which were now distinctly audible as those of achild.
"Goodness me!" exclaimed Ethelyn, just as Patty could stand it no longerand was about to ask what it meant, "what can be the matter with Florellethis time? I hope you enjoy squealing, Patty, for you'll hear plenty of itin this house. Don't mind it; little sister has a fearful temper, and wehave to let her squeal it out."
Patty was relieved to learn that it wasn't a case of intentional torture,and by this time she found herself in the great hall.
The grandeur of her surroundings fairly dazzled her, for Patty was aninexperienced little girl, and had lived simply, though very comfortablyall her life. And so she looked with amazement on the walls frescoed inbrilliant colors, the enormous gilt-framed mirrors, the tall palms andmarble statues, the rich draperies and stained-glass windows.
If she had been older and more experienced she would have known that it was_too_ gorgeous, the coloring too bright and garish, and the ornamentationover-showy. But to her childish eyes it all seemed wonderfully fine.
"Oh, Uncle Robert," she cried, "is this your home? How beautiful it is! Inever saw such a lovely place in my life."
This speech pleased Mr. St. Clair beyond measure, for he dearly loved tohave his beautiful home appreciated, and he beamed, and rubbed his handstogether with a general air of satisfaction.
"Yes, yes," he said, "it is fine,--_fine_! There isn't another such placefor miles around."
Then they went into the drawing-room and Patty was presented to her AuntIsabel.
Mrs. St. Clair was a fair, large woman, with golden hair, elaboratelyfrizzed, and kind blue eyes. She was fashionably dressed, and her silksrustled and her bugles tinkled as she came forward to meet her visitor.
"I am charmed to see you, Patty, my dear," she said, kissing heraffectionately.
"And I am very glad to be here, Aunt Isabel," said Patty, and just then shewas interrupted by the violent entrance of what seemed to be a small pinkcyclone.
This was the eight year old Florelle, and without a doubt it was she whowas responsible for the shrieks Patty had heard.
The child wore a short, beruffled dress of pink silk, a huge pink sash, andpink stockings and slippers. Her eyes were reddened with crying and hercheeks were tear-stained, and she ran to Patty, screaming:
"I will! I _will_! She's _my_ cousin, and I'm going to see her _now_."
Then she threw her arms round Patty's waist, and smiled up into her face.She was a very pretty little girl when she smiled, and Patty couldn't helpadmiring her, though so far she had seemed like anything but a lovablecharacter.
"Oh, Florelle," said her mother, mildly, "how naughty you are. I told youto go to bed like a goody girl, and you should see Cousin Patty in themorning."
"But I wanted to see her to-night. So I made nurse dress me, and I'm goingto stay up to dinner."
"Let her stay, mamma," said Ethelyn. "If you don't, she'll yell again, andI'm tired of hearing her."
"Yes, you can stay, baby," said Mrs. St. Clair, "and now, Ethelyn, takePatty to her room, and get yourselves ready for dinner."
The two girls went off together, and Patty discovered that the rest of thehouse was as sumptuous as her first view of it.
The same brilliant coloring and florid ornamentation appeared everywhere,and when at last Ethelyn stopped before an open door, and said, "This isyour room," Patty gave a little cry of delight, for she entered what seemeda veritable fairy bower.
The walls and ceiling were tinted pink and frescoed with garlands of rosesand flying birds. There was a fascinating bay window with latticed panes,and a cozy window-seat with soft cushions. The brass bedstead had a lacecoverlet over pink silk, and the toilet-table had frilled curtains and pinkribbons. There were silver-mounted brushes and bottles and knickknacks ofall kinds. The little work-table was a gem, and there was a lovelywriting-desk with silver appointments and pink blotting-paper. Then therewas a cozy divan, with lots of fluffy pink pillows, and through ahalf-opened door, Patty could see a dear little dressing-room.
There were beautiful pictures on the walls, and costly vases andbric-a-brac all about, and it all showed such kind thought on the part ofsomebody, that Patty's heart was touched.
"Is it for me? Who did it all?" she asked, turning to Ethelyn with shiningeyes.
"Oh, mamma did it; she loves to do such things. That is, she planned it,and the servants did the work. Here's my room right next. It's just likeit, almost." So it was, or at least it had been, but it showed signs ofcarelessness and disorder. A lamp globe was broken, and there was a largehole burned in one of the pretty rugs. The toilet table, too, was in saddisarray, and some papers were sticking out of the closed desk.
"Don't look at it," said Ethelyn, apologetically, "I'm so careless. I brokethat globe when I was swinging my dumb-bells, and I've done it so oftenthat mamma declared she wouldn't get me another. And I upset the alcohollamp on the rug. But I don't care; when we have a party it will all getspruced up; mamma has everything put in order then. Now we'll dress fordinner, Patty. What are you going to wear?"
"I don't know; I haven't many dresses. Aunt Isabel is going to buy me some,you know."
"Yes, I know. Let's see what you have."
Ethelyn was already kneeling before Patty's open trunk, and overhauling herbelongings. "Oh, here's a blue crape," she cried, "you must look sweet inthis. Put it on."
"Why, that's my best party-frock, Ethelyn."
"Never mind; wear it to-night, and mamma'll get you some new partyclothes."
So Patty put on the blue crape, and very becoming it was, though somewhatinappropriate for a quiet family dinner.
"We only have one maid between us," explained Ethelyn, calling from her ownroom into Patty's. "Elise will do your hair when you want her, but just nowshe's doing mine."
To Patty's surprise, when she saw Ethelyn again, she was arrayed in a lightgreen silk dress, and her hair was puffed high on her head. Patty wore hersas usual, and felt as if her cousin had suddenly grown up away from her.
"Doesn't my hair look nice?" asked Ethelyn, as the girls went down-stairstogether. "Mamma says I'm too young to have it done up this way yet, but Idon't care what she says. I'm fifteen, and I think I'm old enough to do asI choose. To-morrow we'll make Elise do yours up and see how you look."
"But I'm only fourteen," protested Patty, "and I don't want to be grown upfor years yet. Your hair looks lovely, but I like you better with it down,as it was this afternoon."
"Don't say so before mamma, or shell insist on my wearing it so."
When the girls entered the drawing-room, Mrs. St. Clair smiled amiably ather pretty niece, and bade her come to her side.
"My dear," she said, "you are a pretty little girl, and a sweet one, I'veno doubt, but your name I do not like at all. I can't abide nicknames, soI'm going to call you by your full name. What is it, Martha?"
"Martha!" exclaimed Patty in surprise, "oh, no, Aunt Isabel, I was namedfor my great-grandmother. My name is Patricia."
"Oh, how lovely," cried Aunt Isabel, kissing her niece in the exuberance ofher delight. "We will all call you Patricia. It is a beautiful name andsuits you extremely well. You must stand very straight, and acquiredignified manners in order to live up to it."
This made merry Patty laugh, but
she offered no objection to her aunt'sdecision, and promised to sign her name Patricia whenever she wrote it, andto make no further use of the despised nickname while staying at VillaRosa. Ethelyn was pleased too, at the change.
"Oh," she said, "now your name is as pretty as mine and Florelle's, and wehave the prettiest names in Elmbridge. Here comes Reginald, you haven'tseen him yet."
Reginald St. Clair, a lad of thirteen, advanced without a trace of shynessand greeted his new cousin.
"So it is Patricia," he said, as he took her hand; "I heard themrechristening you. How do you do, Cousin Patricia?"
"Very well, I thank you," she replied, smiling, "and though I meet you thelast of my new cousins, you are not the least," and she glanced up at him,for Reginald was a tall boy for his age, taller than either Ethelyn orPatty.
"Not the least in any way, as you'll soon find out if you stay with us,Cousin Patricia."
Patty almost laughed at this boastful assumption of importance, but seeingthat the boy was in earnest, she humored him by saying:
"As the only son, I suppose you _are_ the flower of the family."
Then dinner was announced, and the beautiful dining-room was a new pleasureto the little visitor. She was rapidly making the discovery that riches andluxury were very agreeable, and she viewed with delight the handsome tablesparkling with fine glass and silver.
"Well, Patricia," said Uncle Robert, who had been warned against using theobjectionable nickname, "how do you like Villa Rosa so far?"
"Oh, I think it is beautiful, Uncle Robert. Every room is handsomer thanthe last, and my own room I like best of all. You're awfully good, AuntIsabel, to give me such a lovely room, and to spend so much thought andtime arranging it for me."
"And money, too," said her aunt, smiling. "That rug in your room, Patricia,cost four hundred dollars."
"Did it really?" said Patty, with such a look of amazement, almost horror,that they all laughed.
You see, Patty had never been used to such expensive rugs, still less hadshe been accustomed to hearing the prices of things mentioned so freely.
"Oh, Aunt Isabel, I'd rather not have it then. Really, I'd much rather havea cheaper one. Suppose I should spoil it in some way."
"Nonsense, my dear, spoil it if you like, I'll buy you another," said UncleRobert, grandly.
"Never mind rugs," interrupted Reginald. "I say, mother, aren't you goingto give a party for Patricia?"
"Yes, I think so," answered his mother, "but I haven't decided yet whatkind of an affair it shall be."
"Oh, have a smashing big party, and invite everybody."
"No, Reginald," said Ethelyn, "I hate those big parties, they're no fun atall. It isn't going to be a party anyway. It's going to be a tea. Didn'tyou say so, mamma? A tea is a much nicer way to introduce Patricia than aparty."
"Ho, ho," laughed her brother, "a tea! why they're the most stupid thingsin the world. Nobody wants to come to a tea."
"They do so," retorted Ethelyn, "you don't know anything about society.Teas are ever so much stylisher than evening entertainments, aren't they,mamma?"
"Well, I don't know," said Mrs. St. Clair, doubtfully, "the Crandons gave atea when their cousin visited them."
"Ho, the Crandons," sneered Ethelyn, "they're nobody at all; why, they'veonly got one horse."
"I know it," said her mother, "but they're awfully exclusive. They won'tspeak to hardly anybody."
"Then don't speak to them," said Mr. St. Clair. "I just guess we're as goodas the Crandons any day in the week. I don't know as you'd better invitethem, my dear."
"They wouldn't come if you did," said Reginald.
"They would so," snapped Ethelyn, "they'd jump at the chance."
"I bet they wouldn't!"
"I bet they would! You don't know everything in the world."
"Neither do you!"
"Hush, children," said Mrs. St. Clair, mildly, "your Cousin Patricia willthink you very rude and unmannerly if you quarrel so. Florelle is the onlyone who is behaving nicely, aren't you, darling?"
Florelle beamed at this, and looked like a little cherub, until Reginaldslyly took a cake from her plate.
"Oh-h-h!" screamed Florelle, bursting into tears, "he took my cakie, hedid,--give it to me!" and she began pounding her brother with her smallfists.
But Reginald had eaten it, and no other cake on the plate would pacify theangry child.
"No, no," she cried, "I want that same one--it had a green nut on it,--andI wa-a-ant it!"
"But brother can't give it to you, baby, he's eaten it," said her father,vainly trying to console her with other dainties.
But Florelle continued to scream, and Mrs. St Clair was obliged to summonthe nurse and have her taken up-stairs.
"Well, that's a relief," said Ethelyn, as the struggling child was carriedaway. "I told you you'd hear her yell pretty often, Patricia."
Patty felt rather embarrassed, and didn't know what to say; she wasbeginning to think Villa Rosa had some thorns as well as roses.
After dinner, as they sat round the great fireplace in the library, Mrs.St. Clair announced:
"I have made up my mind. I will give a tea for Patricia in order that shemay be properly introduced to the Elmbridge people,--the best of them,--andthen later, we will have a large party for her."
This pleased everybody and amiability was restored, and all fell to makingplans for the future pleasures of their guest.
When Patty went to her room that night, she was so tired out with theexcitements of the day, that she was glad to go to rest.
But first of all she opened the little box that her father had given her atparting. Was it possible that she had left her father only the day before?Already it seemed like weeks.
With eager fingers she broke the seals and tore off the paper wrappings,and found to her great delight an ivory miniature of her mother.
She had seen the picture often; it had been one of her father's chieftreasures, and she prized it the more highly as she thought what asacrifice it must have been for him to give it up, even to his child.
It was in a Florentine gold frame, and Patty placed it in the centre of herdressing-table, and then sat down and gazed earnestly at it.
She saw a sweet, girlish face, which was very like her own, though shedidn't recognize the resemblance.
"Dear mother," she said softly, "I will try to be just such a little girlas you would have wished me to be if you had lived to love me."