“You dear child,” she said. “Of course Mrs. Marsh did not throw away your treasures; she would not have dared to do such a thing. Percy wrote her from Old Point, asking her to keep everything until he could send for them.”
“Oh, I am so happy,” cried Gretel. “I think I’m the happiest person in the world. Did Percy go to see Mrs. Marsh?”
“No, he wrote to her, giving the address, and she sent the parcel at once. Percy also received a note from Miss Marsh, announcing her engagement to a Mr. Pendleton. She expects to be married this month.”
Gretel looked pleased.
“I’m glad,” she said; “I liked Mr. Pendleton; he was always very kind. Once when he came to see Ada he brought me some chocolates.”
“Well, I am glad, too, if you are,” laughed Mrs. Douane, “though I never had the pleasure of meeting Miss Ada. Here comes Higgins, and I am going to leave you to wash off some of that horrid dust while I get ready for dinner. Dust is really the only drawback to motoring.”
But Gretel did not think that even dust could be considered a drawback to such a delightful amusement. She had never been so happy or excited in her life, and it was rather hard work to stand still and have her hair brushed and tied with a fresh ribbon, while there was still so much to see and admire in this beautiful new home. The past month had been a very pleasant one. Mr. and Mrs. Barlow had been as kind as possible, and she and the twins had become the best of friends. They had remained at Old Point until the first of June, and then gone to Washington for a week on their way north. Gretel had seen the Capitol, and the White House, and spent one delightful afternoon at Mount Vernon, wandering about the beautiful old home of General Washington. They had left Washington only that morning, and on reaching the station in New York, Gretel had been met by her brother and sister in their new touring-car. It had been a rather sad parting, for at the last moment, Geraldine—to everybody’s surprise—had suddenly burst into tears, and flinging her arms round Gretel’s neck, had positively refused to be parted from her friend. It was not until Mr. and Mrs. Douane had given the twins a most urgent invitation to visit Gretel in her new home, that Geraldine had at last consented to be torn away, and allow Gretel to depart with her family.
The dinner that evening was another revelation to Gretel. The prettily decorated table, with a big bowl of roses in the center; the neat, white-capped maid, who waited on them, and her sister-in-law, looking lovelier than ever in her white evening dress, all combined to fill the little girl with wonder and admiration.
“It is a palace, and Percy and Barbara are the prince and princess,” she told herself. “I’m Cinderella, and I’ve come to live with them, but oh, how dreadful it would be if it should all come to an end when the clock strikes twelve.”
“What are you thinking of, Gretel?” her brother asked, noticing the look of sudden anxiety on the child’s hitherto radiant face.