“If I were you I should feel like a princess in a fairy tale,” sighed little Helen Adams, who had never in her life imagined anything half so splendid.
“I don’t,” said Babe stoutly. “Princesses have to wear long velvet dresses and look sweet all the time. Just as soon as I dare, I’m going to get rid of at least half the servants, so I can roll up my sleeves and go down to the kitchen. I learned to make bread at cooking-school before I was married, and it was a picnic.” Babe paused and gazed joyously at her guests. “I’ve thought what would be a picnic to do right on this very afternoon, before you’ve even seen the rest of the house. To play hide-and-go-seek.”
“Babe,” began Mary Brooks sternly, “you’re still the Perfect Infant. Do you think it befits married ladies like you and me to indulge in children’s games?”
Babe answered by running down the long hall, pulling the reluctant Mary after her.
“John,” she cried when they reached the little library that John had seized upon for his den and in which he was now entertaining the masculine portion of the house party, “John, we’re going to play hide-and-seek all over the house. Isn’t that a grand idea?”
“Great,” agreed the devoted John.
“Then come along, everybody,” ordered Babe. “Will you play too, Father Morton?”
“Of course I will,” said Jasper J. Morton testily. “One of the things this house is intended for is a good game of hide-and-seek. I didn’t forget that you were a little tomboy, child. I didn’t expect you to grow up all at once just because you’d promised to love and obey my boy John.” Jasper J. Morton paused to chuckle. “Some of the best features of this house are still undiscovered. Maybe they’ll come out in the course of this game.”
Babe hugged him rapturously. “We discovered the hidden bowling-alley last week,” she said. “You were a duck to put in so many surprises right under my very nose, when I thought I was picking out everything and doing all the planning myself.”
Mr. Morton laughed gleefully. “You like my surprises, do you? Independently of their being surprises, I mean. When young people build a house they never think of the most important things. For instance, there’s no reason, just because you’re going to have a new house, why you shouldn’t keep to some of the good old ways. Most new houses are no earthly good for little tomboys to play in. Do you hear that, Watson? Too bad I got this place started before I met you. You’d have learned a lot of things about your business if you’d built this house for me.”