"well, i declare, if you ain't just the same," said miss jinny, as patricia piloted her through the crowds to the cab-stand.

elinor, taking judith with her, had said a hasty farewell and hurried off to the academy for her criticism in the night life, with promises to return as soon as possible.

miss jinny, in her fine, last-season's dress, with the usual up-to-date hat on her scanty drab hair, and the twinkle of amusement at the continuous entertainment that life afforded her, was looking so well that patricia voiced her wonder that she should have come to town for doctoring, as her letter had intimated.

miss jinny chuckled huskily. "don't you worry about that," she said, mysteriously. "it ain't my health. it's something i didn't want to write on paper," and she tapped her upper lip suggestively.

patricia, noting the downy line that penciled the corners of her firm mouth, hesitated to put an inquiry that could be delicate enough to indicate the faint moustache without hurting miss jinny's feelings.

"uppers!" said miss jinny, wholly unconscious of patricia's perturbation. "came in on the sly last week to have a new set made. got measured for 'em, and am going to get them day after tomorrow. thought i'd combine business with pleasure and make a visit while they were being filed to fit. i don't reckon that dentist'll hit them off first shot. they mostly never do, you know."

"i hope he doesn't," said patricia, warmly. "for then you'll have to stay longer with us. and we're going to have such a good time!"

in the taxicab she unfolded the plans for the week that miss jinny had promised them, dwelling on each detail with all the ardor of her enthusiastic nature.

"lands alive!" cried miss jinny, enjoying herself hugely in prospect. "i haven't the duds to do credit to such doings. why, i'm all out of style, and you know it, louise patricia kendall! you'll have me running into all sorts of extravagance, dyking out for your tea parties and such like fandangos."

the taxi stopped with a bump at the curb and patricia sprang out, paid the man and joined miss jinny on the sidewalk before the door had opened to admit the little worn trunk that the driver shouldered with such ease.

"why, it's a mansion for sure!" exclaimed miss jinny, gazing with approval at the fine front of the tall, well-kept, brown-stone house. "i was so afraid you girls might be poked away in some stuffy street with never a tree or bit of sky to hearten you, but that park's most equal to the real country."

"it was the park that brought us here," said patricia, leading the way upstairs to the spacious front room where miss jinny was to be domiciled. "and we're so glad we came. mrs. hudson is so kind to us that we don't feel like strangers at all. even ju adores her, and you know how hard she is to suit."

"who's talking about me?" demanded judith's high treble, and they turned to see her in the doorway, silhouetted against the brilliantly lighted hall.

"mercy, judy, where did you drop from?" asked patricia, startled. "i didn't expect you for an hour. is elinor home, too?"

judith explained that although she had been so eager for a visit to the celebrated night life, she had tired of the loneliness of work hours, and had run off home, leaving elinor still expecting her criticism.

"besides, i wanted to see miss jinny," said judith, affectionately twining her arms about miss jinny's waist. "i haven't seen her for a whole month, you know."

much to patricia's surprise, miss jinny seemed not at all unused to the reticent judith's caresses, but stooped and kissed her on her white forehead, rumpling her pale hair with kindly fingers.

"i reckon you're wanting to hear all about mama, and the visit you're going to make us," she said, wisely. "i'll get my old trunk here unstrapped, and we'll talk while i lay out my duds in those nice wide bureau drawers. you'll laugh, i guess, when you see what i've brought you each, but i want you to promise that if you don't like them, you'll say so, and i'll hunt up something that pleases you better."

"oh, we'll be sure to love them, if they come from dear old rockham and you!" cried patricia, gathering an armful of hangers from the deep closet for miss jinny's use. "i'm perfectly crazy to see them, aren't you, judy? i do hope elinor doesn't stay too late tonight. you don't mind waiting for her, do you, miss jinny? it'll be so much more fun when we're all together."

"bless your heart, no indeedy!" replied miss jinny emphatically. "i'd rather keep them a week than to have you slight elinor. we'll have time to take the edge off our tongues, anyhow, before she gets here, and get more settled down, i hope. i haven't felt so flighty in a blue moon, and it's all your fault, patricia louise kendall, with your tales about theaters and parties and the like! we'll have to put a muzzle on her, won't we, judith?—like poor old nero after he nipped georgie smith when georgie tried to make him walk the tight rope."

"oh, do tell me about it," said judith eagerly, settling down on a low stool beside the trunk. "your stories are always so nice and nippy."

miss jinny laughed, as she shook out a creased skirt, and laid it carefully in the long lower drawer.

"i reckon most of the nippiness in this tale is nero's work—not mine," she said, smoothing the long folds of gray lansdown into shape with absent fingers. "you see, it was this way. old miss fell, who lives in that big red brick house——"

"yes, i know," said judith, expectantly, but miss jinny had whisked to her feet and whirled about towards the door.

"i saw you in the looking glass!" she cried gleefully. "you needn't think you can surprise us, young lady!"

she had elinor in her arms, to everyone's great amazement, and elinor, far from being reluctant, was as responsive as though miss jinny were her own mother.

"oh, you're just in time!" she cried, her cheeks flushed and her eyes shining with a great light of happiness. "you were aunt louise's best friend here, and you'll know just how she'd feel. i got my criticism!" she paused, choking with emotion. "he came up behind me, and he stood there so long i was afraid to go on working; and when i stopped, he spoke out loud, twisting his moustache and popping off his eye-glasses."

"what did he say?" burst out patricia, unable to bear the suspense. "don't beat around the bush so long, for pity's sake, norn!"

"he spoke so loud i was ashamed," went on elinor. "he sort of bawled it out. 'remarkable talent, madame, remarkable talent.' and everybody turned around and looked at me till i felt like sinking through the floor."

"how perfectly heavenly!" exclaimed patricia, with rapture. "i wish i'd been there to hear it."

"your aunt louise will rejoice to see this day," said miss jinny solemnly. "for i'm sure she sees it, wherever she is, and i know just how her dark proud eyes would shine. she always got regularly lighted up when she was real pleased—like you look now, child."

"hannah ann will be awfully proud, too," said judith, thoughtfully. "she's regularly wrapped up in elinor, because she's so much like aunt louise, she says."

elinor looked her surprise. "why, i didn't know hannah ann liked me specially," she protested. "i thought miss pat was her favorite."

"she used to be," was judith's frank reply. "but since you've become an artist, like aunt louise, she fairly adores you!"

the idea of hannah ann in any such state of loving frenzy was irresistible, and they all pealed out their appreciation of judith's picture of the grim elderly housekeeper of greycroft.

"you may laugh, but it's true, all the same," said judith decisively. "and i'll prove it to you all before long—see if i don't."

the soft chimes of the dinner gong began their melodious call before anyone could answer, and in the mad scramble to make themselves presentable in the shortest possible time, hannah ann's enthusiasms were forgotten.

that night, after miss jinny's trunk had finally been disposed of, and all the gossip of rockham village and outskirts had been thoroughly aired, and miss jinny, tired from her strenuous day, had gone thankfully to bed, patricia and elinor were talking over the day's happenings as they brushed their hair in the seclusion of their own room.

"isn't it wonderful how miss jinny seems to fit in?" said patricia, brushing the shining ripples till they fairly radiated. "i was so afraid that she might feel strange among such different sort of people, but she didn't care a bit. she's going to be awfully popular, if she keeps on. that nice old mr. spicer talked to her a lot at dessert, and he's awfully exclusive, you know."

"he isn't any older than she is," elinor replied indignantly. "he's gray and pale from his illness. he was asking miss jinny about the air at rockham, and she praised it so that he was much impressed. we may have him for a neighbor next summer."

"you don't mean?" began patricia, incredulously.

"of course, i don't mean as miss jinny's special property, you goose; i was only thinking of him as a pleasant addition to the old ladies' card parties and porch teas,—they need men so badly."

the idea lodged in patricia's fertile brain was not so easily routed out.

"still, in case," she insinuated with a giggle. "i don't think it would be such a bad sort of thing, do you, norn?"

elinor laid down her brush impressively.

"patricia kendall," she said, severely, "don't ever let me hear you even whisper such nonsense to yourself. miss jinny is too nice and sensible to be made fun of in that way, and i won't have it. remember, once for all i won't have it!"

"all right," acquiesced patricia, meekly. "i didn't mean to be silly. i'm a lot fonder of her than you are, and i was only thinking what fun it would be for her, don't you see?"

"i see that you are a feather-headed kitten," said elinor, not at all mollified. "miss jinny will do very well as she is without your romantic nonsense to mortify her. i i'm ashamed of you, indeed i am, patricia. i thought you had more delicacy."

patricia lifted her brows, perplexed and inquiring, and then dropped them with a shrug that seemed to indicate that the matter no longer interested her.

"what are you going to do with that lovely old shawl she brought you, elinor?" she asked, tossing the end of her long braid over her shoulder and yawning luxuriantly. "i'd like to make a party dress of that heavenly silk cloak i got, but it seems like cutting up one's own grandmother."

elinor gave a start. "well, i declare, if i didn't forget all about it!" she exclaimed. "we were so excited with the presents and all, that i never told you! it's going to be perfectly gorgeous. i know you'll be crazy over it."

patricia flung herself on her sister, overwhelming her in a flurry of pink kimono and white arms. "tell me!" she cried. "tell me this minute, you aggravating thing! you're getting to be a regular miser of your news—you won't give up till it's dragged out of you. speak, or i'll have your life!"

elinor held her close, laughing with enjoyment at her ardor.

"it isn't anything to kill for, miss pat," she rippled. "it's merely the academy ball that takes place next week——"

patricia flung off the encircling arms, and was on her feet in an instant.

"and we are going?" she demanded breathlessly. "oh, say that we are going, elinor!"

"of course we're going," said elinor, evenly. "what else should we do? and i want you to persuade miss jinny to stay over for it, miss pat."

"that will i!" cried patricia, heartily. "we'll ship judy to mrs. shelly on an afternoon train, and make miss jinny feel it's her duty to chaperone us among the wild and woolly artists. oh, it will be contemptibly easy! but," and her face fell in dismay, "what are we to wear? we haven't any party clothes, you know."

elinor rose, and going to her bag that was still dangling from the chair back where she had flung it in her hurried preparation for dinner, took out a cardcase, and drawing forth three square bits of gray cardboard, handed them to patricia.

"'an arabian nights entertainment,'" read patricia, mumbling in her haste. "'no guests admitted unless in costume' … m-m-m-m … 'the sultan haroun-al-raschid' … oh, i see! we can rig up in anything we choose,—so that it looks sort of turkish. dee-licious! i know what to do with my rose-colored cloak right now!"

"my shawl will be stunning," rejoiced elinor. "they've both come to us in the very nick of time. with that old silk skirt of mine, and that worn-out gold-beaded tunic of aunt louise's that we found in the closet at greycroft, we'll be simply dazzling. see if we're not, patricia louise kendall."

"i wonder what miss jinny will say to a costume?" patricia said, her bright face clouding with the thought.

"i believe she'll like it," declared elinor, confidently. "she does so love variety—and she has entered into everything already with such a vim."

"perhaps she's been hungering for what she calls fripperies," said patricia, hopefully. "she's so tremendously alive that she must need some play, and if she's only willing, we'll see that she gets it, won't we, norn?"

"find out in the morning how she feels about it," said elinor, switching off the light. "i'm pretty sure she'll want to go."

at the earliest permissible hour, patricia slipped into her pink kimono and slippers and sped softly to miss jinny's room, where she tapped lightly, and was admitted at once by miss jinny, fully dressed and with a little book in her hand.

patricia opened her plan with great expedition, pouring out explanation and entreaty in one excited rush, while miss jinny sat opposite her on the side of the bed, her rather protruding pale blue eyes cocked sidewise at her in the meditative way she had when deeply interested.

"so you see, we really need you. and you wouldn't have to wear anything very outlandish, you know," urged patricia, ending up with her strongest argument. "and i'm sure judy would love to be with mrs. shelly alone—they'd have so much more chance for talk together."

miss jinny said not a word for what seemed to patricia a very long minute; then she gave her deep chuckle and said decisively, "i'll go as sinbad the sailor. i've a picture of him at home, and i know just how he's dressed. he's so everlastingly muffled up about his shanks that i used to think he was a lady when i was knee high to a grasshopper."

patricia gave a gasp. "but he wore a turban and great whiskers!" she said, impulsively. "how in the world could you stand that?"

miss jinny cocked her head knowingly. "trust me," she replied, laconically. "i had a cousin who was an actor and i saw him put on a beautiful beard with spirit-gum and creped hair once. that was twenty years ago, but i reckon they can still be had here in town."

patricia hesitated. "but perhaps you'd rather have an easier costume,—aladdin's mother, or——"

miss jinny shook her head. "i always was bent on sea-life and i know a lot about it. i can swap tales that'll make them believe i'm the only genuine sinbad, and i wouldn't miss the chance for a mint," she said conclusively.

patricia was forced to give in gracefully. "i know you'll be splendid," she declared with rather forced heartiness. "i wish we were as well fixed for our parts."

miss jinny, with a glance at the little book in her hand, gave a guilty start and jumped up from the bed's edge with a horrified face.

"do you know that it's sunday morning, and i ought to be reading my two chapters?" she demanded severely. "this town life is making me forget my religion already, and as for you, you worldly-minded young sinner, you ought to be ashamed of yourself, beguiling me with your heathenish dance parties. go along now and let me get my mind in order again."

"oh, let me stay," urged patricia. "you can read out loud, and i'll slip in bed here to keep warm. what part are you reading now?"

"you'll hear," returned miss jinny, settling herself with a jerk.

patricia curled up cozily while miss jinny read the two sunday chapters in a full, melodious voice, beginning with the ineffable words, "in my father's house are many mansions."

she laid down the little worn book just as the soft notes of the gong floated up from the lower hall.

"mercy on us!" she ejaculated, rising hurriedly. "i've gone and made you late for breakfast!"

patricia wriggled out from her warm nest reluctantly. "there's lots of time," she assured miss jinny. "that's the first call. we've got half an hour yet."

"i'll come over to your room in just twenty-five minutes to the dot," called miss jinny after her, as she gathered her draperies about her and fled down the hall.

the day passed delightfully, with morning service at the famous dr. arnold's stately church, a specially sociable dinner at home, and a 'bus ride through the crisp sunshine of the afternoon into the snowy outskirts, with a cozy little tea in miss jinny's big front room, where they could watch the twilight gather among the bare trees of the park and the lamps sparkle out among the shadows. after supper mr. spicer invited them in to see his collection of photographs which he had taken in all parts of the civilized and barbarous world, before the long illness, contracted in the swamps of west africa, had put a stop to his active, adventurous life as a collector for the university.

the girls enjoyed this surprising revelation of the quiet, elderly gentleman's vigorous taste, but miss jinny fairly reveled in such close contact with the life she so ardently envied, and it was nearly midnight when they said good-night and hurried to their rooms, miss jinny declaring that she'd never spent such a satisfactory day in her life, and all three full of the ideas for their costumes which mr. spicer's photographs had suggested to them.

the week that followed flew on winged feet. the costumes, simple enough at first, grew in detail with every day and absorbed so much of their spare time that patricia frankly gave up any thought of work and yielded herself to the enjoyment of miss jinny and the day's pleasure without any effort at serious work.

"the best thing about you, miss pat," said elinor, the day before the party, "is that you know when to stop. i simply haven't accomplished a thing the last two days, and yet i couldn't have the courage to shirk the academy. you stay away joyously, and get the full benefit."

"why not?" returned patricia, her fingers busy with sinbad's girdle. "you can't do two things at once, to do them well. i'm commonplace enough to realize that, but you geniuses go on trying to tear yourselves into little pieces, and then howl because you aren't making masterpieces in every department."

"i know it," said elinor, sinking wearily into a chair. "i've tried to keep up with you all at home here, and do my work, too, but it hasn't worked. i believe i'll stay home today and take a real holiday."

patricia nodded. "you'll be in better shape to begin on the library design next week," she said briskly. "i'm not going to start my study till i feel just like it. doesn't pay to push yourself too hard. we've had a glorious week, with the concerts and theater and the museums and all, and i've learned more than i should have at the school. just living teaches you lots, if you'll learn, and i don't believe in turning up my nose at things just because they aren't in a roster."

miss jinny, who had been out scouring the town for the materials for sinbad's beard, broke in on them breathlessly.

"what do you think?" she cried, her eyes popping with pleasurable excitement. "the haldens are in town for over sunday, and the girls are going to the party tomorrow night! they've just landed yesterday and were in the customer's hunting up suits when i ran across them."

"how splendid!" said patricia, glowing. "to think that we'll meet them here in town after all. are they going to rockham this summer?"

"going right up on monday," said miss jinny, taking off her things. "the two older girls go back to college, but the rest of the family go right home and stay there."

"i wonder what they are like, and if they'll like us," mused elinor, her gaze on the fire that was snapping on the hearth in miss jinny's room where the sewing was being done.

"we'll find out tomorrow night," said patricia, readily. "and now that the costumes are all done, tomorrow night can't come too soon for me."

"i'm about ready, too," chimed in miss jinny. "i reckon they'll be quite astonished when they meet with their old friend sinbad the sailor."