"Well, I didn't really mean to count him. Peggy and I get discouraged, and then we try to think of encouraging things."
"I haven't seen Peggy yet."
"She's coming soon, but she has to help Ruth make that dreadful trousseau. I'm going upstairs and get Madget's doll, and then I'm going to telephone and see where she is."
Solemnly seated on the floor in the guest chamber, Elizabeth found Madget contemplating the Little Red Riding Hood doll that Mrs. Swift had brought for her. It stood upright on the bureau and returned her gaze complacently.
"Is that my present?" Madget said. "I want it."
"You shouldn't have come upstairs without being sent, Madget."
"I was sent. You sent me for a thimble."
"But that was yesterday."
"Here it is," Madget said, producing it with a wide smile.
"Yes, that's your present," Elizabeth said in despair. "Take it."