She couldn't have discussed them with a single
human being.

Mr. and Mrs. Underhill had called on their new cousins in Hammersley
Street. And on Washington's Birthday he took the little girl and Ben
over.

The street was still considered in the quality part of the town. The row
was quite imposing, the stoops being high, the houses three stories and
a half, with short windows just below the roof. The railing of the stoop
was very ornate, the work around the front door and the fanlight at the
top being of the old-fashioned decorative sort. They were ushered into
the parlor by a young colored lad.

It was a very splendid room, the little girl thought, with a high,
frescoed ceiling and a heavy cornice of flowers and leaves. The side
walls were a light gray, but they were nearly covered with pictures.
The curtains were a dull blue and what we should call old gold, and
swept the floor. There was a mirror from floor to ceiling with an
extremely ornamental frame, the top forming a curtain cornice over the
windows. At the end of the room was the same kind of cornice and
curtains, but no glass. The carpet had a great medallion in the center
and all kinds of arabesques and scrolls and flowers about it. The
furniture was rather odd, divans, chairs, ottomans and queer-looking
tables, and the little girl came to know afterward that two or three
pieces had been in the royal palace of Versailles.

A very sweet, dark-eyed, dark-haired woman came through the curtain.

"I am Mrs. French," she said, in a soft tone, "and I am very glad to see
you. Is this the little girl of whom I have heard so much? Be seated,
please. Father is out, and he will be very sorry to miss you."

She dropped on an ottoman and drew the little girl toward her.

"Let me take off your hat and coat. There are some children who will be
glad to see you. Mother will be up in a few moments. Do you know that I
have been seriously considering a visit to you? Father and Eugene have
talked so much about you."

"And your grandfather----"

"He is very well to-day. I was in his room reading to him. He will be
pleased you have come."

Mrs. Bounett came in with her daughter, a rather tall, lanky girl of
fifteen, very dark, and with a great mop of black hair that was tied at
the back without being braided. She looked as if she had outgrown her
dress.

This was Miss Luella. After a moment she came over to Ben, and asked him
where he went to school, and if he had any pe