"We could have had separate rooms, but I wanted you with me, and beside, mamma said if you were with me, you couldn't be lonesome."
"Oh, I'd rather be with you," said little Sprite, "and what a lovely room it is!"
She saw every dainty bit of color, every charming detail of the furnishings, she saw the river as she looked from the windows, and the vines peeping in at the windows, and she wondered how it had happened that she now possessed such dear friends, who vied with each other in making her their little guest.
She opened her suit case, and took from it a pale blue frock, with a ribbon of the same tint for her hair.
The frock was of soft mull, and its coloring was like that of a pale aqua marine.
She combed out her long, waving hair, and quickly tied it with the blue ribbon, then, her hand tightly clasped in Polly's, descended the stairs.
Arthur Sherwood entered the hall just in time to see the two pretty figures on the stairway.
"Well, well, and so the little sea nymph has come to live at Sherwood
Hall for a time. My dear little Sprite, I am truly glad to see you."
He took the slender hand that she offered him, and the three chatted gaily until dinner was served.
The fine dinner, exquisitely served, was a rare treat for Sprite, and the pleasant evening that followed made her at once feel that she was, already, a part of the family.