At once she felt three hard stinging blows across it—blows from a ruler the owner of the sharp voice held in her hand.
“Now you march right upstairs,” commanded the sharp voice.
CHAPTER V
TAKEN BOYS
Poor Elizabeth Ann, her hand stinging, her eyes filled with tears, stepped out of the room where the rows of glass jars were stored. As she walked past the woman who held the ruler, that sharp-voiced person gasped.
“For mercy’s sake, who are you? I thought you were Esther,” she said.
“I’m Elizabeth Ann Loring,” said Elizabeth Ann. “I came down here to look for Tony, my cat.”
“Good gracious!” the woman cried—Elizabeth Ann could see her better now, in the light that came from one of the cellar windows. “I never saw you before in my life!”
Elizabeth Ann rubbed her smarting hand and winked back the tears.