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      CHAPTER VI

      AUNT ADELAIDE

      The next morning Patty was making one of her "peregrinating toilettes." She could dress as quickly as any one, if occasion required; but, if not, she loved to walk slowly about as she dressed, pausing now and then to look out of a window or into a book. So she dawdled through her pretty rooms, brushing her curly golden mop, and singing softly to herself.

      "Come in," she said, in answer to a tap at her door, and Mona burst in, in a wild state of excitement.

      "Aunt Adelaide has arrived!" she exclaimed.

      "Well, that isn't a national calamity, is it?" returned Patty. "Why this look of dismay?"

      "Wait till you see her! SHE'S a National Calamity!"

      "Well, then, we must get Susan back again! But what's wrong with your noble aunt?"

      "Oh, Patty, she's so queer! I haven't seen her for some years, but she's not a bit as I remembered her."

      "Oh, don't take it too seriously. Perhaps we can make her over to suit ourselves. Did you expect her so early?"

      "No; but she said she came early to avoid the midday heat. It's almost eleven. Do finish dressing, Patty, and come down to see her."

      "Hasten me not, my child. Aunt Adelaide will keep, and I'm not in rapid mood this morning."

      "Oh, bother; come on down as you are, then. That negligee thing is all right."

      "No; Aunt Adelaide might think me a careless young person. I shall get into a tidy frock, and appear before her properly."

      "Well, go on and do it, then. I'll wait for you." Mona sat down to wait, and Patty dropped into a chair before her dressing-table, and soon twisted up her curls into presentable shape.

      "I declare, Patty," Mona said, "the quicker you twist up that yellow mop of yours, the more it looks like a coiffure in a fashion paper."

      "And, as a rule, THEY look like the dickens. But describe the visitor to me, Mona."