Eleanor looked distressed. "Oh, mamma, is he very ill? Will he have to have a doctor?"
"He will see Doctor Sullivan, but I hope he is not very ill. When your little friend has gone, come and tell me about your afternoon together, but try not to disturb me while I am with papa."
Eleanor promised, and then went down to her playhouse in the garden. It was a pretty place, and the little girl was justly proud of it. She spent much time there, and here she kept her toys, her favorite books and dolls, and here she most frequently entertained her little friends.
It was not long before Bubbles showed Janet into the room. Bubbles, too, was very proud of Miss Dimple's playhouse, and she had quite a grand air as she ushered this new acquaintance into the presence of the owner of the house, saying: "Company, Miss Dimple."
Janet looked around with a critical air, and was immediately seized with a feeling of envy. "It's a right nice little house," she said loftily, "but it isn't as big as the one I had at home in Hartford; and I had real lace curtains to my windows, and Turkey rugs on the floor. Oh, there's only one room, isn't there? My house had two. Do you keep your horse and carriage in that stable, I see out there?"
"No," Eleanor was obliged to confess. "We haven't any horse and carriage. We keep a cow and chickens, though."
"I had a pony and a little cart of my own," said Janet grandly. "How many dolls have you?"
"Six, I think."
"I have twenty. You're not going to let that nigger girl stay in here with us, are you?"
"Why, yes. She often used to play with my Cousin Florence and me."