"Don't remove your wreath," he said, as she raised her hands toward the flowers, "because it is really very becoming. Were you playing alone when I arrived?"
"Oh, no," said Rose, "I was so glad when I saw you, because—" she hesitated.
"Because?" he said, his eyes twinkling.
"Because you aren't OLD. I thought my Uncle John MUST be 'most ninety," she said softly, so that Aunt Lois might not hear.
"And Polly, Princess Polly, was with me. She's my little guest. May I bring her now? She's so beautiful you'll just love to look at her."
"Oh, then, bring Miss Polly at once," he said.
Rose ran to the hall.
"Oh, come, come!" she said, in a whisper so loud that it reached Uncle
John's ear and caused him to laugh softly.
"Come!" she repeated. "He's as handsome as a prince," and clasping
Polly's hand, she returned to the parlor.
He greeted Polly as cordially as he had Rose, and Polly at once decided that Rose's Uncle John was the handsomest man, next to her dear papa, that she had ever seen.