"No, I DON'T mean it! I don't mean anything! Oh, Ken, please DON'T!"
"Don't say that, Patty, because I MUST. Listen, dear; I went to see
your father to-day. And I asked him if I might tell you all this."
Patty looked at him, not quite comprehending.
"You went to see daddy?" she said, wonderingly; "he never told me."
"Why should he? Don't you understand, dear? I went to him to ask his
permission to tell you that I love you, and I want you for my wife.
And your father said that I might tell you. And now,--darling----"
"And now it's up to me?" Patty tried to speak lightly.
"Exactly that, Patty," and Kenneth's face was grave and tender.
"It's up to you, dear. The happiness of my whole life is up to you,-
-here and now. What's the answer?"
Patty sat still a moment, and fairly blinked her eyes in her
endeavour to realise the situation.
"Ken," she said at last, in a small, far-away voice, "are you--are
you--are you proposing to me?"
"I sure am!" and Kenneth's head nodded a firm assent; "the sooner
you get that fact into your head, the better. Patty, DEAR little
Patty, tell me,--don't keep me waiting----"
"But, Ken, I don't WANT to be proposed to,--and least of all, by
YOU!"
"Patty, do you mean that?" and Harper's strained, anxious face took
on a look of despair.
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