Little Maid Marian Part 20

"Are you going to see Patty?" whispered Marian, "and couldn't I go, too?"

Her father looked down at her with a smile. "I'd like you to go if your grandmother is willing."

Therefore before the holidays were over Marian had the pleasure of showing off her new furs as well as her dear papa to Patty and the rest of the Robbinses, and before she came back it was settled that her father was to go to Revell to live. Beyond that nothing of much consequence was decided at that time.

Patty and Marian were jubilant over the arrangement. "Perhaps you will come here to live some day," Patty said to her friend.

"I wish I could," said Marian. "Do you think papa will need me more than the grans, Patty?"

"Of course," returned Patty, "for your grandfather has a wife to take care of him and she has a husband, and it isn't fair they should have you, too; besides a father is a nearer relation than a grandfather, so of course he has a right to you." And this quite settled it in Marian's opinion.

The little girls had two happy days together when Marian enjoyed Patty's tree and her Christmas gifts only in a little less degree than her own. She was pleased to find that Puff was already a great pet, and that Patty had all sorts of mysterious things to tell about him; of how he would steal out at night and become a real prince between midnight and dawn, and of how Miggy Wig had deserted the cave and was no longer a doll, but that she had worked her enchantments only so far as to turn Puff from a toad into a kitten during the day, so the little cat did actually appear to be more than an ordinary animal to both children.

It took only a short time for Marian and her father to become great chums, and they had many good times together sharing many secrets which they did not tell the grans.

Miss Dorothy did not go home very often during the winter, so on Sat.u.r.days and Sundays when her father came home from Revell, Marian took many pleasant walks with the two. Sometimes they made an excursion to the city, when real shopping took the place of make-believes.

Marian went back to school after the holidays and never failed to stop every day to see Mrs. Hunt. It was in the spring that she learned from this good friend that her father did not tell her all his secrets, for one day when they were talking of that happy Christmas day Marian said, "What do you suppose Miss Dorothy did with the Christmas gift I gave her? I have never seen it anywhere and she has never said a word about it."

"What was it?" asked Mrs. Hunt.

"The photograph of papa that he sent me. I wanted to give her something very precious and that was the best thing I had."

To Marian's surprise Mrs. Hunt threw back her head and laughed till the tears came, though Marian could not see that she had said anything very funny.

When Mrs. Hunt had wiped her eyes she remarked: "We shall miss Miss Dorothy next year."

"Why, isn't she coming back to teach?" asked Marian in dismay.

Mrs. Hunt shook her head.

"Oh, why not?"

"Ask your papa; he knows," said Mrs. Hunt laughing again.

But before Marian had a chance to do this, Patty came to make Mrs.

Hunt the long-promised visit, and it was Patty who guessed the secret. "Did you know that Miss Dorothy is not coming back here next year?" was one of Marian's first questions.

Patty nodded. "I heard her say so to Emily."

"Then you will have her and I shall not," returned Marian jealously.

"Oh, yes, I think you will have her as much as I," returned Patty, "for she is making all sorts of pretty things and I think she is going to be married."

"Be married?" Such a possibility had never occurred to Marian. "Oh, dear," she began, then she brightened up as she thought perhaps it might be the new rector Miss Dorothy was going to marry; in that case she would be living in Greenville. She remembered that the young man often walked home with her teacher. It would be a very nice arrangement, Marian thought. "Is she going to live in Greenville?" she asked, feeling her way.

"No," Patty laughed. "I don't think so."

Then perhaps the young rector was going to another town. "Has she told you where she is going to live and who she is going to marry?"

asked Marian coming straight to the point.

"No, but I know she is going to live in Revell, and I hear her and Emily talk, talk, talk about some one named Ralph." Patty put her hand over her mouth, and looked at Marian with laughing eyes.

"Why--why----" Marian looked at Patty for further enlightenment, but Patty was only laughing. "Why, that's my papa's name," said Marian.

Patty nodded. "That's just who I think it is." And that was precisely who it was.