Then the laughing, chattering child, holding fast to Gertrude’s hand, led them up the curving stairway to a beautiful upper room, where they were to lay aside their wraps.
Then down they trooped, looking, so thought the lady who stood waiting in the hall below, like a flock of daintily colored butterflies.
There was a big log cheerily burning on the wide hearth, around which comfortable chairs had been drawn. Miss Ellsworth bade them be seated and for a time they talked together, little Alise, with her excited happy chatter, preventing the occasion from being a formal one.
Rosamond, remembering what had been written on the back of the card among the flowers, looked often at the clock, and, when it was five minutes to three, she glanced meaningly at the girls nearest her, and indeed they were all wondering what the surprise was to be. Just as the bells in a beautiful marble clock were chiming the hour, a door at one side of the fireplace opened, and Arthur Ellsworth entered. He was followed by three other young men who were rather peculiar-looking, as each had long, dark hair and a heavy, drooping mustache. Arthur introduced the newcomers, but their names were so difficult to pronounce that the girls decided that these friends of their host must all be Russians.
Miss Ellsworth took this occasion to slip away to attend to some matter pertaining to the dinner and Alise went with her.
Arthur then asked the girls if they would like to see the gallery which adjoined the library. Rosamond found herself walking by the side of one of the supposed Russians, who seemed to be strangely silent. Believing that he must be very shy, Rose said, “Mr. Mellowisky, your name is such a long one that I am not sure that I have it right.” Then, not knowing what else to say, she inquired, “Is this your first visit to Linden?”
“Yes, Mademoiselle, it is!” was the reply. The girl was puzzled. Surely she had heard that voice before. She turned and looked intently at her companion and saw a pair of blue eyes twinkling with mischievous laughter.
“Bob Angel!” she cried. “If you had not spoken, I never should have recognized you, but you couldn’t disguise a voice that I have heard ever since I was knee-high to a grasshopper.”
How Bob laughed as he pulled off the wig and mustache. Adele, whirling about, clapped her hands merrily. “Oh, Rosie!” she exclaimed, “I recognized Jack the very first minute.”
“And I did Bob,” Bertha confessed, “but I didn’t want to spoil the fun till Rosie found him out.”