"There!" echoed Aunt Louise, still in the dining-room, too. "We told you she would be picking up such things in the alley!"
"Emmy Lou," expostulated Aunt Cordelia, "you didn't mean to say, 'I ain't had nary pair.' You know better. Think hard and see if you can't say it right."
Emmy Lou, the cloak she had brought half on, thought hard. "I ain't had ary pair," she said.
Aunt Katie spoke positively. "I don't think you ought to let her play so much with Sister. Louise and I have said so right along."
Not play with Sister! Emmy Lou was astounded. She loved Sister, smaller than herself! She turned to Aunt Cordelia for corroboration.
Aunt Cordelia was troubled. "Come to me, Emmy Lou, and let me put your cloak on you, and tie your hood. If she were going to be here all the time it would be different," this to Aunt Katie and Aunt Louise. Then to Emmy Lou, "Suppose today you stay next door and play with Izzy?"
Emmy Lou was amazed. "And Minnie?" she asked. "Mayn't I play with Minnie?"
"She means the little girl who works for Mrs. Noble," explained Aunt Cordelia quietly.
"Mrs. Noble is from over the river," said Aunt Louise in tones which, however one may wonder what the river has to do with it, disqualify this lady at once. "She speaks of the child as a little hired girl."
"Emmy Lou," said Aunt Katie, "remember that this side of the Ohio we have servants, not hired girls."