PATTY'S DECISION "You see, Nan, it isn't fair.

I don't feel honest to keep Phil in uncertainty, when I don't think--no, I really _don't_ think I'm going to marry him." "But good gracious, Patty, you ought to know by this time! Either you care for him or you don't." "Nan, I've only learned of late that when people say 'care for' they mean love.

I think it's a silly phrase,--why, I care for lots of things----" "There are a good many things you've only learned of late, Patty, and a good many more you've still to learn.

But I really think you ought to make up your mind about Phil Van Reypen." "Well, amn't I making it up as fast as I can?
I'm going right at it now, in dead earnest, and you've got to help me." Nan smiled at the anxious face that looked into her own.
They were in Patty's boudoir, the morning after the Christmas party.

A breakfast tray, with contents only partly demolished, was pushed away, as the importance of the discussion made food seem an intrusive factor.
Patty's cap was askew on her hastily knotted-up curls, and she gathered about her the voluminous folds of a billowy, blue silk affair, that was her latest acquisition in the way of negligees.
"My child," said Nan, "you have given yourself away.