“And we don’t know how to find her. If she is hidden away over there at that Gandy farm, how shall we ever find it out for sure?” wailed Jessie. “I hoped Daddy would get my letter and come and take charge of the search himself.”
“Your idea of taking Henrietta over there and letting her call Bertha is a good one,” declared Amy stubbornly. “Aren’t you going to do it?” 183
“Yes. We’ll drive over early. But it is only a chance.”
They could not interest Henrietta in her Cousin Bertha that evening, save that she said she hoped Bertha would come and see her before she had to take off the silk dress and the other articles of her gay apparel.
She scarcely had appetite for dinner, although Momsy and Jessie tried their very best to interest Henrietta in several dishes that were supposed to appeal to a child’s palate. Henrietta was polite and thanked them, but was not enthusiastic.
She found a tall mirror in the drawing room and every time they missed her, Jessie tip-toed into that long apartment to see Henrietta posing before the glass. The child certainly did enjoy her finery.
The suggestion of bedtime only annoyed Henrietta. But finally Jessie took her upstairs and showed her the twin beds in her own room, one of which the visitor was to occupy, and so gradually Henrietta came to the idea that some time she would have to remove the new clothes.
They listened in on the radio that evening until late, using the amplifier and horn that Mr. Norwood had bought. Henrietta could not understand how the voices could come into the room over the outside wires.
“I’ll tell Charlie Foley and Montmorency 184 Shannon about this,” she confided to Jessie and Amy. “I guess you don’t know them. But they are smart. They can rig one of these wireless things with wires, I bet. And then the whole of Dogtown will listen in.”
“Or, say! Maybe they won’t let poor folks like those in Dogtown have radios? Will they?”