The Adventures of Elizabeth Ann | Page 8

excited. But this, Rosa told her, was only a river.
Then she hurried her into the house before the little girl could, ask more
questions. There was a boy with many brass buttons on his coat who
took their bag and led them to an elevator. Elizabeth Ann tried to count
the floors as they went up, but she could not count fast enough. The
elevator stopped, and she followed Rosa into a green-carpeted hall.
Rosa took a key from her purse and opened a square white door.
"I'll take you right to your room and you can take off your things," said
Rosa kindly. "I guess Annie has breakfast all ready for you."
The room into which she took Elizabeth Ann was beautiful. It was pink
and white and fitted with the prettiest white-enameled furniture she had
ever seen. It was smaller than the usual-sized furniture, too, and the bed
and dresser and table and rocking-chair were all the right height for her.
There were pink curtains at the windows, and when she went to look
out, she saw that her room faced the lovely gray river.
"Your auntie had this room all done over for you," explained Rosa,
hanging Elizabeth Ann's hat and coat in the closet. "She'll be glad to
see you when she wakes up. She was at a party last night and that is
why she had to sleep late this morning."

Elizabeth Ann tried not to feel "queer" as she followed Rosa into the
dining-room. She had counted on finding Aunt Isabel like Mother, and
it was rather disappointing to have to wait to love her. However, she
was a sensible little girl and she did not make other people unhappy
when she could not have her own way.
"I know you're half-starved!" cried a red-faced, stout woman, bustling
into the dining-room with a plate of hot, buttered toast. "There, sit
down, dear, do, and I'll bring you a cup of the best cocoa you ever
drank."
This, Rosa said, was Annie. She surely knew how to make good cocoa.
Before breakfast was over, Elizabeth Ann felt as though she knew Rosa
and Annie very well indeed.
After breakfast Elizabeth Ann did not know exactly what to do. Rosa
had changed her suit and put on a blue house dress and she was helping
Annie. There were more rooms in Aunt
Elizabeth Ann would have bugged her she held her off, it was plain that
she was very glad to see her.
"Would you like to go to bed, dear?" Aunt Isabel asked. "You wouldn't?
I thought perhaps you were tired. I couldn't come to meet you because I
was out late last night and I had to rest up for to-night when I am going
out again. Well, if you don't want to go to sleep again, suppose you get
up and tidy your hair and frock a bit and we'll have lunch."
Elizabeth Ann knew that Aunt Isabel had no little girl, but if she had
not known it before, the way her aunt tied her hair-ribbon would have
told her so. Mother always tied the ribbon in a pretty bow that stood up
nicely, but Aunt Isabel tied it so loosely that it came off before
Elizabeth Ann reached the diningroom. Rosa had to tie it again for her.
Aunt Isabel only laughed and said that perhaps Rosa had better tie all
the hair-ribbons while she was visiting them.
Rosa, in a white apron, served the lunch, and very grown-up and
important Elizabeth Ann felt sitting opposite Aunt Isabel. They had

roses for a center-piece, and so many silver forks and spoons that she
wondered if she could polish them all. At home she always cleaned the
silver for Mother.
The dessert was charlotte russe and while they were eating it Uncle
Ralph came in. Uncle Ralph was Aunt Isabel's husband, and Elizabeth
Ann knew him from his photograph which stood beside Aunt Isabel's
on the mantel at home.
He lifted her right out of her chair and kissed her.
"Well, ready to go to school with me tomorrow?" he asked cheerfully.
Then he kissed Aunt Isabel and sat down at the place Rosa had been
fixing for him at the table.
"You so seldom come home to lunch, Ralph," said Aunt Isabel, pouring
him a cup of coffee. "And haven't you changed your mind about school
for this child?"
"No, her father wants her to go to public school, and I think it's best,
too," Uncle Ralph replied. "You see, Elizabeth Ann," he said, turning to
her, "your daddy thought you'd be happier if you had a little work to do
every day, so we decided to start you in school. Rosa or I will take you
till you think you can