All the time Patty was dressing she wondered about that letter; and when Mona, ready for dinner, stopped at her door, Patty drew her into the room.

“Mona,” she said, “did you get a Christmas card from Mr. Farnsworth?”

“Yes,” said Mona, “in a big blue envelope. Daisy had one, too. Didn’t you get one?”

“No; Jim said there was one for me, but it got lost somehow. Thrown in the fire, I shouldn’t wonder.”

“Well, don’t mind,” said Mona, cheerfully. “You can have mine. It isn’t very pretty, and Daisy’s isn’t either, but I suppose they’re the best Bill could find out there in Arizona. Do you want it now, Patty?”

“I don’t want it at all, Mona. What would I want with your card, or Daisy’s either? But if Little Billee sent one to me, I’d like to have it, that’s all.”

“Of course you would; but truly, they don’t amount to much.”

“Jim must have been mistaken about there being one for me,” said Patty, and then the two girls went downstairs.

The Christmas dinner was practically a repetition of the feast of the night before; but as AdÈle said, how could that be helped if people would have two Christmas celebrations on successive days?

There were four extra guests, who proved to be merry and jolly young people, and after dinner Hal declared that his reign as Lord of Misrule was not yet over.

“Don’t let’s do any more stunts like we had last night,” said Mona. “They wear me out. Let’s play easy games, like blindman’s buff, or something.”

“Or Copenhagen,” said Hal, but Patty frowned at him.

“We’re too grown-up for such things,” she declared, with dignity. “What do you say to a nice, dignified game of hide and seek?”

“All over the house!” cried Roger. “May we, Mrs. Kenerley?”

“The house is yours,” said AdÈle. “I reserve no portion of it. From cellar to attic, from drawing-room to kitchen, hide where you will and seek where you like,—if you’ll only promise not to wake the baby. She’s taking her afternoon nap.”

“She doesn’t seem to mind noise,” said Roger. “We do make an awful racket, you know.”

“Oh, no, I don’t mean that,” said AdÈle. “I’ve trained her not to mind noise. But I mean if your hiding and seeking takes you into the nursery quarters, do go softly.”

“Of course we will,” said Philip. “I’m specially devoted to that baby, and I’ll see that her nap isn’t disturbed, even if I have to stand sentry at her door. But what larks to have the whole house! I’ve never played it before but what they wouldn’t let you hide in this room or that room. Who’ll be It?”

“Oh, that’s an old-fashioned way to play,” said Hal. “Here’s a better way. Either all the men hide and the girls find them, or else the other way around; and, anyway, don’t you know, whoever finds who, has to be her partner or something.”

“For life?” asked Jim, looking horrified.

“Mercy, no!” said his brother-in-law. “This is a civilised land, and we don’t select life partners that way!”

“You mean just partners for a dance,” said Patty, trying to help him out.

“Well, you see,” said Hal, “it ought to be more than just a dance; I mean more like a partner for a,—for a junketing of some kind.”

“I’ll tell you,” said AdÈle. “There’s to be a masquerade ball at the Country Club on New Year’s Eve, and we’re all going.”

“Just the thing!” cried Hal. “Now, whichever seeker finds whichever hider, they’ll go in pairs to the ball, don’t you see? Romeo and Juliet, or anything they like, for costumes.”

“But we won’t be here,” and Philip Van Reypen looked ruefully at Roger. “We go back to town to-morrow.”

“But you can come up again,” said AdÈle, hospitably. “I hereby invite you both to come back the day before New Year’s, and stay as long as you will.”

“Well, you are some hostess!” declared Roger, looking grateful. “I accept with pleasure, but I doubt if my friend Van Reypen can get away.”

“Can he!” cried Philip. “Well, I rather guess he can! Mrs. Kenerley, you’re all sorts of a darling, and you’ll see me back here on the first train after your invitation takes effect.”

“Then hurrah for our game of hide and seek,” Hal exclaimed. “Jim and AdÈle, you must be in it, too. You needn’t think you can go as Darby and Joan,—you must take your chances with the rest. If you find each other, all right, but if you find anybody else, that’s your fate,—see?”

“I’m willing,” said AdÈle, laughing. “I’m sure I’d be glad to go with any of you beautiful young men.”

“Now, will you listen to that!” cried her husband. “Well, I won’t be outdone in generosity. I’ll be proud to escort any one of this galaxy of beauty,” and he looked at the group of pretty girls.

“Now, we must do it all up proper,” said Hal. “In the first place, we must draw lots to see whether the girls shall hide or we shall. We must have it all very fair.”

He tore two strips of paper, one longer than the other, and holding them behind him, bade AdÈle choose.

“Right!” she said, and Hal put forth his right hand and gave her a paper on which was written “Girls.”

“All right,” went on the master of ceremonies. “Now you girls must hide. We’ll give you fifteen minutes to tuck yourselves away, and then we’re all coming to look for you. As soon as any man finds any girl, he brings her back here to the hall to wait for the others. Now, there’s no stipulation, except that you must not go out of the house. Scoot! and remember, in fifteen minutes we’ll be after you!”

The six girls ran away and made for various parts of the house. The two Misses Crosby, who had come as dinner guests, looked a little surprised at this unusual game, and Patty said to them, kindly: “You don’t mind, do you? You know, you needn’t really go with the man who finds you, if you don’t want to.”

“Oh, we don’t mind,” said the elder Miss Crosby. “I think it’s fun,—only if I should draw that dignified Mr. Van Reypen I’d be scared to death!”

“Oh, he isn’t so awfully dignified,” laughed Patty. “That’s just his manner at first. When you know him better, he’s as jolly as anything. But hurry up, girls, the minutes are flying.”

The girls scampered away, some running to the attic, others going into wardrobes or behind sofas, and Patty ran to her own room.

Then she bethought herself that that was one of the most likely places they would look for her, and she was seized with an ambition to baffle the seekers. With a half-formed plan in her mind, she slipped out of a side door of her own room that opened on a small passage leading to the nursery. In the nursery, she found the baby asleep in her crib, and the FrÄulein lying down on a couch with a slumber-robe thrown over her, though she was not asleep.

Like a flash, Patty’s plan formed itself. She whispered to the FrÄulein, and with a quick understanding the good-natured German girl took off her rather voluminous frilled cap, with its long muslin streamers, and put it on Patty’s head. Then Patty lay down on the couch, with her face toward the wall, and deep buried in the pillows. FrÄulein tucked the slumber-robe over her, and then herself disappeared down into the kitchen quarters.

The search was rather a long one, for the house was large, and the girls had chosen difficult hiding-places.

The two Crosby girls were found first, because not knowing the house well, they had simply gone into hall closets, and stood behind some hanging dresses. They were discovered by Jim Kenerley and Hal; and if the latter was disappointed in his quarry, he gave no sign of it.

The four returned to the hall, and after a while they were joined by Roger and Mona.

“Oho,” said Jim, who loved to tease, “what a coincidence that you two should find each other!”

“Easy enough,” said Roger. “I knew Mona would choose the very hardest place to find; so I went straight to the attic to the very farthest, darkest corner, and there she was, waiting for me!”

“There I was,” said Mona, “but I wasn’t waiting for you!”

“No, you were waiting for me, I know,” said Jim, ironically. “But never mind, Mona, we’ll be partners next time. Hello, AdÈle, is that your terrible fate?” and they all laughed as AdÈle and Mr. Hoyt came in together, with cobwebs on their hair and smudges of black on their faces.

“I thought I’d be so smart, Jim, and I hid in the coal-bin; but Mr. Hoyt found me! By the way, we must have that place cleaned; it’s a disgrace to the house!”

“But you know, my dear, we don’t often use it to receive our guests in.”

“Well, I don’t care, it must be cleaned. There’s no excuse for cobwebs. Now I must go and tidy up. I hope they haven’t wakened the baby. Oh, here’s Daisy.”

Daisy and Mr. Collins came in, laughing, and Mr. Collins declared he had found Miss Dow hanging out the third-story window by her finger-tips.

“Nothing of the sort,” said Daisy. “I was out on a kind of little balcony place, that’s on top of a bay-window or something,—but I put my hands over the sill inside, so that I could say I was still in the house. Wasn’t that fair?”

“Well, it’s fair enough, as long as I found you,” said Mr. Collins. “But when I saw your hands, I really thought you were hanging from the sill!”

“Where’s Patty?” asked Daisy, “and Mr. Van Reypen? Are they still finding each other?”

“I saw Phil,” said Roger, “standing guard at the nursery door, as he said he would. He let us each go in and look around, on condition that we wouldn’t wake the baby. And the baby’s nurse was also asleep on the sofa, so I looked around and sneaked out as fast as I could.”

Just then Van Reypen came downstairs. “I’ve been delayed,” he said, “because I held the fort for the baby, until every man-jack of you had been in the nursery. Now I’m going to begin my search. Who is there left to find?”

“Oh, who, indeed?” said Jim, looking wise. “Oh, nobody in particular! Nobody but that little Fairfield girl, and of course you wouldn’t want to find her!”

“Patty!” exclaimed Philip, as he looked around at the group. “Why, she isn’t here, is she? Where can that little rascal be? You fellows have been all over the house, I suppose?”

“Every nook and cranny,” declared Mr. Hoyt. “It was as a very last resort that I went to the coal-bin and captured Mrs. Kenerley.”

“Been through the kitchens?” asked Philip, looking puzzled.

“I have,” said Mr. Collins. “They’re full of startled-looking servants who seemed to think I was a lunatic, or a gentleman burglar,—I don’t know which.”

“Well, of course she’s got to be found,” said Philip. “There’s no use looking in the obvious places, for Patty’s just cute enough to pick out a most unexpected hiding-place. Come on, Roger; you found your girl,—help me with mine.”

“Oh, it isn’t fair to have help,” said Hal. “Alone upon your quest you go!”

“Here I go, then.” And Philip ran upstairs three at a time. He went first to the attics, and made a systematic search of every hall, room, and closet. He even peeped into the great tank, as if Patty might have been transformed into a mermaid. Then followed a thorough search of the second story, with all its rambling ells and side corridors; he tiptoed through the nursery, smiling at the sleeping baby and casting a casual glance at the still figure on the couch with the long, white cap-strings falling to the floor.

On he went, through the various rooms, and at last, with slow step, came down into the hall again.

“I think she had one of those contraptions like the Peter Pan fairies,” he said, “and flew right out through the roof and up into the sky! But I haven’t searched this floor yet. May I go into the dining-room and kitchens, Mrs. Kenerley?”

“Everywhere,” said AdÈle. “You know I made no reservations.”

Philip strode through the rooms, looked under the dining-room table and into the sideboard cupboards; on through the butler’s pantry, and into the kitchens. Needless to say, he found no Patty, and returned, looking more puzzled than ever.

“I’m not going down cellar,” he said. “Something tells me that Patty couldn’t possibly stay down there all this time! It’s more than an hour since she hid.”

“What are you going to do about it?” inquired Jim. “Give it up? I’ll ring the Chinese gong for her to come back to us. That was to be a signal in case of an emergency.”

“No,” said Philip. “I’m going to reason this thing out. Give me a few minutes to think, and I believe I can find her.”

“Don’t anybody disturb him, let him think!” said Mona, gaily, and going to the piano, she began to play “Alice, where art thou?” in wailing strains that made them all laugh.

All at once Philip jumped up. “I know where she is!” he exclaimed. “Sit still all of you, and I’ll bring her back with me!”

“Wait a minute,” said AdÈle, curiously. “How did you find it out?”

“Do you know where she is?” and Philip looked at her intently.

“No, I haven’t the slightest idea,” said AdÈle, honestly. “But I wondered how you could know, just from thinking about it.”

“It’s clairvoyance,” said Philip, with a mock air of mystery. “You see, I know all the places where she isn’t, so the one place I have in mind must be where she is. By the way, Mrs. Kenerley; baby always takes an afternoon nap, doesn’t she?”

“Yes, always.”

“And does the FrÄulein, her nurse, always take a nap at the same time?”

“Oh, no! She never naps in the daytime.”

“She did to-day,” began Roger, but Philip was already flying upstairs again.

He went softly into the nursery. The baby was still asleep, the figure on the couch still lay quietly beneath the knitted afghan.

Philip went over and stood beside the couch. The face was buried in the pillow, but beneath the edge of the cap he saw some stray golden curls.

“H’m!” he mused, in a low voice, but entirely audible to Patty. “I thought baby May’s nurse had dark hair. She must have bleached it!”

Patty gave no sign that she heard, but cuddled her head more deeply in the soft pillows.

“Why, it isn’t the FrÄulein at all!” said Philip, in tones of great surprise. “It’s the Sleeping Beauty!”

Still Patty gave no intimation of being awake, though, of course, she was.

Then Philip leaned down over her and murmured: “And I’m the Prince; and when the Prince finds the Sleeping Beauty, there’s only one course for him to pursue.”

At this, Patty opened her eyes and prepared to spring up, but she was not quite quick enough, and Philip lightly kissed the top of her little pink ear, before she could elude him.

“How dare you!” she cried, and her eyes flashed with indignation.

But Philip stood calmly smiling at her.

“It’s entirely permissible,” he said, “when any Prince finds a Sleeping Beauty, to kiss her awake.”

“But I wasn’t asleep!” stormed Patty, “and you knew it!”

“You gave such a successful imitation of it, that I consider myself justified,” he returned. “And, anyway, it was only a little bit of a butterfly kiss, and it doesn’t really count.”

“No,” agreed Patty, rather relieved, “it doesn’t count.”

“But it counts that I have found you,” went on Philip. “You know the rest of the story, after the Prince kissed the Sleeping Beauty?”

“She had to go to the Country Club ball with him,” said Patty, laughing, as she danced away from him. “Be careful, Philip; we’ll wake baby May. Come on downstairs.”

“I found her,” announced Philip, somewhat unnecessarily; “and I was a blooming idiot not to know she was there all the time!”

“You sure were!” said Roger, when he heard the story. “Did you get a good rest, Patty?”

“Yes; only it was interrupted so soon,” and Patty returned Philip’s meaning glance with a saucy smile.

“Well,” Roger went on, “now you two will have to go to the masquerade together. I suppose you’ll go as Jack and Jill?”

“No,” said Philip, “I think fairy tales are much prettier than Mother Goose rhymes. We’re going as the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, and the Fairy Prince. Only, of course, the Sleeping Beauty will be awake for the occasion. Shall I bring up your costume when I return next week, Patty?”

“I might like to have a voice in deciding on the part I shall take,” said Patty, with a show of spirit.

“But you did decide it! I never should have thought of appearing as ‘Prince Charming,’ if you hadn’t——”

“That will do, Philip!” said Patty, turning very pink.

“Go on, Phil!” cried Roger. “If she hadn’t what?”

“If she hadn’t said I’d look so sweet in a light blue satin coat,” replied Philip, pretending to look confused.

“Oh, pshaw! She didn’t say that,” declared Roger. “And beside, you won’t!”

“Oh, yes, he will,” said Patty. “Those court suits are lovely,—all silver lace and cocked hats! Oh, Philip, do wear one of those! And I’ll write to Nan, to get me a costume. What are you going to wear, Mona?”

“But we mustn’t tell!” said AdÈle, in dismay. “This is a masquerade, not merely a fancy dress ball.”

“Oh!” said Patty. “Then we’ll have to change our plans, Philip. The Sleeping Beauty game is all off!”

“Only for the moment!” And Philip threw her a challenging glance.