CHAPTER XVI
A SUCCESSFUL PLAY
Mr. Hepworth came again to visit Boxley Hall, and while there heard aboutthe play, and became so interested in the preparations that he offered topaint some scenery for it.
Patty jumped for joy at this, for the scenery had been their greateststumbling-block.
And so the Saturday morning before the performance the renowned New Yorkartist, Mr. Egerton Hepworth, walked over to Library Hall, escorted by adozen merry young people of both sexes.
As a scenic artist Mr. Hepworth proved a great success and a rapidworkman beside, for by mid-afternoon he had completed the one scenethat was necessary--a view of Mount Olympus as supposed to be at thepresent date.
Though the actual work was sketchily done, yet the general effect wasthat of a beautiful Grecian grove with marble temple and steps, andsurrounding trees and flowers, the whole of which seemed to be a sort ofan island set in a sea of blue sky and fleecy clouds.
At least, that is the way Elsie Morris declared it looked, and though Mr.Hepworth confessed that that was not the idea he had intended to convey,yet if they were satisfied, he was. The young people declared themselvesmore than satisfied, and urged Mr. Hepworth so heartily to attend theperformance--offering him the choicest seats in the house and as many ashe wanted--that he finally consented to come if he could persuade hisfriends at Boxley Hall to put him up for the night. Patty demurelypromised to try her best to coax her father to agree to this arrangement,and though she said she had little hope of succeeding, Mr. Hepworthseemed willing to take his chances.
At last the great day arrived, and Patty rose early that morning, forthere were many last things to be attended to; and being a capable littlemanager, it somehow devolved on Patty to see that all the loose endswere gathered up and all the minor matters looked after.
Kenneth Harper had been down twice to rehearsals, and had already becomea favourite with the Vernondale young people. Indeed, the cheery,willing, capable young man couldn't help getting himself liked whereverhe went. He stayed with his aunt, Miss Daggett, when in Vernondale, whichgreatly delighted the heart of the old lady.
The play was to be on Friday night, because then there would be no schoolnext day; and Friday morning Patty was as busy as a bee sorting tickets,counting out programmes, making lists, and checking off memoranda, whenPansy appeared at her door with the unwelcome announcement that MissDaggett had sent word she would like to have Patty call on her.Unwelcome, only because Patty was so busy, otherwise she would have beenglad of a summons to the house next-door, for she had taken a decidedfancy to her erratic neighbour.
Determining she would return quickly, and smiling to herself as shethought that probably she would be asked to do so, she ran over to MissDaggett's.
"Come in, child, come in," called the old lady from the upper hall, "comeright up here. I'm in a terrible quandary!"
Patty went upstairs, and then followed Miss Daggett into her bedroom.
"I've decided," said the old lady, with the air of one announcing adecision the importance of which would shake at least two continents,"I've decided to go to that ridiculous show of yours."
"Oh, have you?" said Patty, "that's very nice, I'm sure."
"I'm glad you're pleased," said the old lady grimly, "though I'm notgoing for the sake of pleasing you."
"Are you going to please your nephew, Mr. Harper?" said Patty, not beingexactly curious, but feeling that she was expected to inquire.
"No, I'm not," said Miss Daggett curtly. "I'm going to please myself; andI called you over here to advise me what to wear. Here are all my bestdresses, but there's none of them made in the fashions people wearnowadays, and it's too late to have them fixed over. I wish you'd tellme which one you think comes nearest to being right."
Patty looked in amazement at the great heap of beautiful gowns that layupon the bed. They were made of the richest velvets and satins andlaces, but were all of such an antiquated mode that it seemed impossibleto advise anyone to wear them without remodeling. But, as Miss Daggettwas very much in earnest, Patty concluded that she must necessarily makesome choice.
Accordingly, she picked out a lavender moire silk, trimmed with softwhite lace at the throat and wrist. Although old-fashioned, it was plainand very simply made, and would, Patty thought, be less conspicuous thanthe more elaborate gowns.
"That's just the one I had decided on myself," said Miss Daggett, "and Ishould have worn that anyway, whatever you had said."
"Then why did you call me over?" said Patty, moved to impatience by thisinconsistency.
"Oh, because I wanted your opinion, and I wanted to ask you about someother things. Kenneth is coming to-night, you know."
"Yes, I know it," said Patty, "and I am very glad."
This frank statement and the clear, unembarrassed light in Patty's eyesseemed to please Miss Daggett, and she kissed the pretty face upturned tohers, but she only said: "Run along now, child, go home, I don't wantcompany now."
"I'm glad of it," Patty thought to herself, but she only said: "Good-bye,then, Miss Daggett; I'll see you this evening."
"Wait a minute, child; come back here, I'm not through with you yet."
Patty groaned in spirit, but went back with a smiling face.
Miss Daggett regarded her steadily.
"You're pretty busy, I suppose, to-day," she said, "getting ready foryour play."
"Yes, I am," said Patty frankly.
"And you didn't want to take the time to come over here to see me, didyou?"
"Oh, I shall have time enough to do all I want to do," said Patty.
"Don't evade my question, child. You didn't want to come, did you?"
"Well, Miss Daggett," said Patty, "you are often quite frank with me, sonow I'll be frank with you, and confess that when your message came I didwish you had chosen some other day to send for me; for I certainly have alot of little things to do, but I shall get them all done, I know, and Iam very glad to learn that you are coming to the entertainment."
"You are a good girl," said Miss Daggett; "you are a good girl, and Ilike you very much. Good-bye."
"Good-bye," said Patty, and she ran downstairs and over home, determinedto work fast enough to make up for the time she had lost.
She succeeded in this, and when her father came home at night, bringingMr. Hepworth with him, they found a very charming little hostess awaitingthem and Boxley Hall imbued throughout with an air of comfortablehospitality.
After dinner Patty donned her Diana costume and came down to ask herfather's opinion of it. He declared it was most jaunty and becoming,and Mr. Hepworth said it was especially well adapted to Patty's style,and that he would like to paint her portrait in that garb. This seemedto Mr. Fairfield a good idea, and they at once made arrangements forfuture sittings.
Patty was greatly pleased.
"Won't it be fine, papa?" she said. "It will be an ancestral portrait tohang in Boxley Hall and keep till I'm an old lady like Miss Daggett."
When they reached Library Hall, where the play was to be given, Patty,going in at the stage entrance, was met by a crowd of excited girls whoannounced that Florence Douglass had gone all to pieces.
"What do you mean?" cried Patty. "What's the matter with her?"
"Oh, hysterics!" said Elsie Morris, in great disgust. "First she gigglesand then she bursts into tears, and nobody can do anything with her."
"Well, she's going to be Niobe, anyway," said Patty, "so let her go onthe stage and cut up those tricks, and the audience will think it'sall right."
"Oh, no, Patty, we can't let her go on the stage," said Frank Elliott;"she'd queer the whole show."
"Well, then, we'll have to leave that part out," said Patty.
"Oh, dear!" wailed Elsie, "that's the funniest part of all. I hate toleave that part out."
"I know it," said Patty; "and Florence does it so well. I wish she'dbehave herself. Well, I can't think of anything else to do but omit it. Imight ask papa; he can think of things when nobo
dy else can."
"That's so," said Marian, "Uncle Fred has a positive genius forsuggestion."
"I'll step down in the audience and ask him," said Frank.
In five minutes Frank was back again, broadly smiling, and Mr. Hepworthwas with him.
"It's all right," said Frank. "I knew Uncle Fred would fix it. All hesaid was, 'Hepworth, you're a born actor, take the part yourself'; andMr. Hepworth, like the brick he is, said he'd do it."
"I fairly jumped at the chance," said the young artist, smiling down intoPatty's bright face. "I was dying to be in this thing anyway. And theytell me the costume is nothing but several hundred yards of Greekdraperies, so I think it will fit me all right."
"But you don't know the lines," said Patty, delighted at this solution ofthe dilemma, but unable to see how it could be accomplished.
"Oh, that's all right," said Mr. Hepworth merrily. "I shall make up mylines as I go along, and when I see that anyone else wants to talk, Ishall stop and give them a chance."
It sounded a little precarious, but as there was nothing else to do,and Florence Douglass begged them to put somebody--anybody--in herplace and let her go home, they all agreed to avail themselves of Mr.Hepworth's services.
And it was fortunate they did, for though the rest of the characters werebright and clever representations, yet it was Mr. Hepworth's funnyimpromptu jokes and humourous actions in the character of Niobe thatmade the hit of the evening. Indeed, he and Kenneth Harper quite carriedoff the laurels from the other amateurs; but so delighted were theVernondale young people at the success of the whole play that they weremore than willing to give the praise where it belonged.
Perhaps the only one in the audience who failed to appreciate Mr.Hepworth's clever work was Miss Rachel Daggett. She had eyes only for herbeloved nephew, with an occasional side glance for her pretty youngneighbour.
After the entertainment there was a little dance for the young people;and Patty, as president of the club, received so many compliments and somuch congratulation that it's a wonder her curly head was not turned.But as she walked home between her father and Mr. Hepworth, she declaredthat the success of the evening was in no way consequent upon herefforts, but depended entirely on the talents of the two travellingcomedians from the city.